20160212 (expert limits)

Some scientist recently wrote 

That because we evolutionarily

Depended on our mother’s

Unconditional acceptance of

Us as infants our brains were

Shaped by this dependency to

Have a universal infantile

Pattern of thinking which is the

Ground of “religious dependence”

On some being outside us

When we grew beyond parental

Dependence. From this base

He drew the likelihood of

Evils flowing from misplaced

Reliance on priests, saints,

Authority figures and the like

Which explain churchly greed,

Sexual abuse of altar boys,

Of young girls who respected

Their confessors too much, and

How authorities generally tolerated

Too long the criminality of

The faithful of any sort: Christian,

Jewish, Islamic, etc. The man

In question was a computational

Biologist/chemist and identified

As respected. For all I care he

Could have been a carpenter.

It’s the ideas and the conclusions

That count. I’m not too impressed

That evolutionary thinkers hold

The infants of primates ending up

As us could be described as having

Brains that formed along lines of

Trusting an external source of 

Unconditional love. Can you 

Imagine what becomes of the sort

Who don’t? I can’t, except for

Those fledglings who refuse to

Suckle, accept food, and die.

Not much chance of passing on

Those genes, ay? Like the old

Joke about the young man who

Was told he was sterile and 

Remarked, “Does that mean my 

Kids will be sterile, and their 

Kids too?”  It’s kind of a big

Jump from accepting that we

Have a neural basis for seeking

A caretaker when we are young

To conclude we will remain

Dependent and infantile, never

Maturing subconsciously.

You’d have to set aside whole 

Ranges of missionaries who faced

Unbelieving masses and

Martyrs who refused to deny

Their beliefs or religious activists

Who rise up to defy their 

Religious kin to overcome

Oppression and ignorance. His

Suggestions were innovative.

Perhaps the writer overplayed 

His theories and certainties. But 

The days are gone when even the

Children believe their athletic 

Heroes really eat Wheaties.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016