BrianJarrett.com

So, I was driving past my favorite church the other day (the same church ordering me to vote no on amendment 2 some months back) and I read their newest offering:

“Whose voice are you listening to and following?”

This question struck me. It occurred to me that this is one of, if not the, fundamental difference between religious and non-religious people. I asked myself the question, since I was already on the subject, and the answer was “my own voice”. I listen to my own voice, my own reason, my own conscience and I make my own decisions. I live by the Ethic of Reciprocity (or The Golden Rule) which means “treat others as you would like to be treated”. Sounds familiar right? Some are familiar with this as “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Supposedly that came straight from the mouth of Jesus. It means the same thing. It’s not only one of the teachings of Christianity, but also one of the central teachings of almost every other major religion. The golden rule would even satisfy Hobbes, I believe, since this rule also satisfies self-interest. It’s probably the perfect rule and I don’t need other people to mix their own brands of poisonous conservative rules in with it and tell me it’s the same thing.

Back to the original question; whose voice was I listening to? My own. Once again I’m reminded of Julian Rotter’s theory of a locus of control. Ultimately I think most people fit into either one or two categories, those with a primarily internal locus of control and those with a primarily external locus of control. Those with an internal locus of control will ask themselves for guidance, and those with an external loci of will look elsewhere. More often than not I’ve found that those with a primarily external locus of control are more religious than those with a primarily external locus of control.

I think if there is a god he (or she or it) would want me to do unto others as I would have them do unto me. Everything else is made up bullshit. I’ll keep listening to that voice inside my head, the one that comes from within, because the owner of that voice doesn’t want to control me for power and profit. That voice is my conscience, and it wants only for me to be happy and allow others to be happy. Is that voice God? I don’t know for sure, but I trust it more than any voice of religion.