A common opinion in our secular society is that religious influence hinders progression. It is said that humanity is held back by superstitions and unfounded values, resulting in delayed scientific advancements while paving the way for discrimination and bigotry.

On first glance this may seem like a perfectly reasonable argument to make. After all, excerpts from the Old Testament clearly condemn homosexual acts and have been used through the ages to justify discrimination of homosexual individuals while there has been numerous cases of religious groups and societies destroying scientific works, deeming it blasphemous. At this point, however, there are two things that need to be considered:


1. These are isolated occurrences. The only thing that has been proven is that religion can be detrimental to societal progression.

2. The alternative to religion is even worse.


So what is this alternative? Just plain atheism? No, this issue runs far deeper than that.

In spite of all the bad things that religion has caused, there is one thing that it did absolutely right: It kept the human population in check, preventing it from fully expressing itself the way it desired. Today, when religion is largely seen as something that you leave at home when going to work, the dire consequences of our recent liberation are becoming increasingly apparent:


- People today are more entitled than ever before. They watch movies and listen to music for free, oftentimes illegally, then shamelessly go on to criticize its content on the internet. The youth has no problem asking their parents for new smarthphones and tablets every year, even if they are in a frail financial situation. Ungratefulness and poor manners spread like a disease as all responsibility is shifted towards someone else, oftentimes a politician or caretaker.

- Popular culture is more intellectually toxic than ever before. People have no second thoughts about idolizing even the most dimwitted celebrities; claiming to reward their "open-mindedness". Repetitive, vulgar songs regularly reach the top in terms of revenue and recognition. Simple, cheap video games are favored by the masses over games with extensive lore and great thought behind its music and gameplay concept.  What was previously known as "art" is gradually replaced with uninspired, provocative works as interest in true art fades away. And the list goes on and on.

- Critical thinking is overlooked. Instead, in a truly animalistic fashion, the loudest voice is the one that holds the most authority. Namely, the person who receives the most likes on youtube/facebook, the person with the most followers on twitter and the person whose reviews has the most readers. Popularity declares whether your word holds any value, rather than the word's content itself.


Needless to say, it has never been more apparent that freedom as we know it is severely overrated. When people have no god to look up to, they worship themselves and their own ideals in its place regardless of how destructive those ideals may be to the growth of our species.

As a non-believer myself I don't know how exactly this new religion should be formed or what beliefs it should entail. All I know is that the liberty that the people of today has obtained is unbridled and needs to be restrained as soon as possible if we are to solve this issue. Otherwise, the human population may never be humble again.