A letter to K

While Muslims are preparing for the Hajj which starts on Wednesday, and Christians and Jews begin preparations for Christmas and Hannukah, while catholic bishops ban a Kennedy from communion(abortion issue) and wingnuts right and left decry the Hadron collider's search for even smaller particles of matter, I wonder why religion no longer works. Putting it simply, religion is founded on a view of the cosmos. that view constantly changes. In the 1500's Copernicus and Galileo faced heresy charges for suggesting that the earth revolved around the sun rather than the other way around. Our Judeo-Christian-Islamic cosmic model dates from about 1500 BC when the book we call the bible was being put together. It postulated a Bronze age cosmos, a flat earth, an earth centered universe, to just name a few. Christianity and islam added their own myths. Laws set down in the Mosaic books of the Bible, the New Testament and the Quran reflect that world view of Bronze age 1500BC. Well it served its purpose , although Greek thinkers circa 400 BC, Islamic scholars circa 1000AD and the European renaissance began to point out its flaws. Darwin created panic in 1860 that's still being debated. The fact of the matter our view, our mythology doesn't work anymore. Its 4500 years behind the times. And as fundamentalists Christian, Muslim and Jewish are faced with this, they panic. They panic into fear. The very life of their God is at stake, their souls at risk. Hence all the hullabaloo about literal interpretation of the holy books. The holy books are not wrong, they are outdated. Religion creates dogma and dogma can't change.
Our understanding of the cosmos grows daily, it always will. It will always approach God, but never get to him, because God as i understand him is not understandable. We will never understand the whole of god, because the whole of god is always in motion. It brings to mind a Lakota(Sioux) phrase for god, Skan Taku Skan Skan. Something in motion always in motion. Sceince does not not shatter my faith in god, it only increases the awe I have for this ever expanding, ever changing cosmos we call God. Holy men come and go, religions change, but they never "get it' and probably never will. Even if we invent anew religion, write a new holy book, it will be obsolete before its printed.
I have always been interested in man's evolution. The concept given to me in the 50's is no longer a working model. Discoveries like Lucy(australopithecus afarensis) and Ardi(ardipithecus ramidus) have given new direction to our past. As a child I corresponded with Louis Leakey( the premier paleontologist of the 50's) He was right about a few things and wrong about somethings. I still admire him. He was a seeker.His explanation of human evolution fit the 1950's, based on the knowledge we had. Leakey accepted new discoveries and was comfortable with the progress, even though some of his calls were off. Religion must take the stand of Louis Leakey and be thankful when discoveries are made to increase our knowledge and closeness to god.
Grace Slick said in Go Ask Alice, "Feed your head"
Have a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends, but remember Thanksgiving day should be every day.