Thumotics and Religion, Part One

This is part one of series of posts that contrast Thumotics and religion in Western civilization.

In my view, at the heart of religion in Western civilization since the rise to dominance of Christianity, is an extremely low and devaluing view of human beings. The view assumes that we human beings are so deeply flawed (fallen, sinful, lost in the dark) that we are incapable of knowing and understanding the world and making decisions for ourselves about how best to live our lives. 

We must depend on Jewish prophets like Moses and Isaiah and most of all on the messiah and savior, Jesus of Nazareth, and his apostles and teachers to know the truth about the world and how best to live. They have special knowledge, revealed to them by God, written in books, that we must hear and believe in order to know the truth about the world and how best to live.

In this religious view, that remains dominant to this day, we humans are insufficient and must  depend on religious authorities and their divinely inspired writings to know the truth about the world and how to live. We must simply believe what they say because there is no way for us to verify the truthfulness of revealed knowledge. 

We either believe them or not. They promise that if we believe, we will live in peace, love, and light for all eternity after we die. If we do not, we will live in unimaginable pain and suffering in hell for all eternity.