Black Smoke

As a rather sad percentage of the world's population awaits with baited breath the selection of the new Pope, black smoke rose from the Vatican today, signaling that a new pontiff will not be elected until at least tomorrow.

As part of the estimated 15% of the world that is non-religious, I find myself in the minority on one of the most important questions that nobody really wants to talk much about: the existence of a divine power, a creator - a God.

This blog, in it's infancy, will attempt to tackle this discussion. I won't pretend to have an unbiased point of view - I starkly believe that there is no such thing as anything "divine" or "supernatural". I believe in science and, above all else, logic. Is it logical to me that what amounts to magic is responsible for life as we know it? No. 

I actually have an easier time believing that the Ancient Alien theory is true than I do that some sort of omnipresent being created everything I see. 

For those unfamiliar with the Ancient Alien Theory, I will attempt to summarize it briefly, while also strongly suggesting you read Erich Von Daniken's "Chariot of the Gods" to get a full idea. In short - any "angels" or "demons" or "gods" from all the religions of time (not just modern religions, but ancient ones now considered mythology) were not actually angels or demons, but misinterpreted astronauts from technologically advanced planets far, far away. If this sounds crazy to you, I agreed at first. Until one specific argument to the logic behind the theory was presented to me, that is:

"You always hear about the gods descending to the Earth in chariots of fire. Now, the chariots of fire reference is the key here. We know that there is no possible *logical* way that a chariot on fire could carry anyone down from the sky. But, if you lacked the technological reference that we have today, you might have described something you were seeing the best way you could. A "chariot of fire" sounds an awful lot like a modern day rocket ship, does it not?"

When I first heard this, my brain imploded. "Holy (hehe) crap! That makes SENSE. It's logical... WOW!" I thought to myself. In that moment, I thought of the countless religious and mythological stories with the lens of the Ancient Alien Theory - and they all kind of made a LOT more sense.

Now, I'm not going to blog about Ancient Aliens. I'm simply illustrating a point here - something that sounds, to a lot of people, like something absolutely crazy, actually is more logical, to me, than religion. 

Which brings me back to the beginning of this inaugural post: the conclave. In this modern day and age, when we know what we know and we have discovered what we have discovered, it is absolutely mind-boggling to me that 85% of the world still believes in organizations that elect their leaders in secret, wearing odd robes and odd hats, waving smoking pots (hehe) around and using smoke signals to communicate with the rest of the world from their secret clubhouse if they are done their popularity contest. Well, more like an estimated 17% of the world's population that is Catholic (part of the 33% of the entire world that is Christian), but work with me on this one. 

If you ask me, the entire religious world can go blow black smoke up it's collective keisters.