This Is How You Play

By Lying, We Deny Others A View Of The World As It Is. Our Dishonesty Not Only Influences The Choices They Make, It Often Determines The Choices They Can Make—and In Ways We Cannot Always Predict. Every Lie Is A Direct Assault Upon The Autonomy Of Those We Lie To.

The Idea, Therefore, That Religious Faith Is Somehow A Sacred Human Convention—distinguished, As It Is, Both By The Extravagance Of Its Claims And By The Paucity Of Its Evidence—is Really Too Great A Monstrosity To Be Appreciated In All Its Glory. Religious Faith Represents So Uncompromising A Misuse Of The Power Of Our Minds That It Forms A Kind Of Perverse, Cultural Singularity—a Vanishing Point Beyond Which Rational Discourse Proves Impossible.

Human Well-being Is Not A Random Phenomenon. It Depends On Many Factors - Ranging From Genetics And Neurobiology To Sociology And Economics. But, Clearly, There Are Scientific Truths To Be Known About How We Can Flourish In This World. Wherever We Can Have An Impact On The Well-being Of Others, Questions Of Morality Apply.

We Do Not Know What Awaits Each Of Us After Death, But We Know That We Will Die. Clearly, It Must Be Possible To Live Ethically-with A Genuine Concern For The Happiness Of Other Sentient Beings-without Presuming To Know Things About Which We Are Patently Ignorant. Consider It: Every Person You Have Ever Met, Every Person You Will Pass In The Street Today, Is Going To Die. Living Long Enough, Each Will Suffer The Loss Of His Friends And Family. All Are Going To Lose Everything They Love In This World. Why Would One Want To Be Anything But Kind To Them In The Meantime?

We Rely On Faith Only In The Context Of Claims For Which There Is No Sufficient Sensory Or Logical Evidence.