As I was driving home from work today, I passed a car with a bumper sticker I’ve seen before: “Know Jesus Know Peace/No Jesus No Peace.” Bleh, I thought, as I usually do when I see puerile bumper stickers (the “Senseless Acts of Beauty” one severely annoys me) but then (probably because I was bored, commuting is a massive waste of lifetime) I thought, “There is a point there.” I have casually read about at least a few studies that show that genuinely religious people are on average more content than the self-described nonreligious. So, there you go, I thought…it’s true…know Jesus etc. etc. 

I still consider it Bleh, though. How often do I hear about the sunny natures that people with Downs syndrome so often possess? I bet nobody can compete for lack of mental stress with the comatose. A person whose spouse is cheating and doesn’t have a clue is a happier person than the person who has found their spouse out. In other words, translated in a secular cliché rather than a religious one…”Ignorance is bliss.” So it is, frequently. With knowledge comes decisions, actions, choices, all frequently unpeaceful events. The ultimate peace is, of course, the peace of the grave. Wonder if that’s what that bumper sticker really means…? 

This line of thought reminded me of a Dinesh D’Souza column I read a few nights ago. Dinesh’s claim (this particular claim) was a fairly novel one to me—he claims that we have Christianity to thank for our glorious technology and scientific discoveries. He says:

“Consider science. Although there have been many civilizations in history, modern science developed in only one: Western civilization. Christians were the first ones who envisioned the universe as following laws that reflected the rationality of God the creator. These laws were believed to be accessible to man because man is created in the image of God and shares a spark of the divine reason. “

He’s steppin’ pretty carefully around GREECE; see, ATHENS; see, ARISTOTLE SOCRATES HYPATIA PYTHAGORUS---but let’s go with his specification of modern science, by which I’m guessing he means, post-Renaissance science. But it really, really kills me to read that last part. “…these laws were believed to be accessible to man because man is created in the image of God and shares a spark of the divine reason…”

Let’s see what God had to say about that.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Now the serpent said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

And the LORD God said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

And the man said, The woman gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, I did eat.

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil

Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

Yes, the basis of the worship of the Christian God, the Genesis of the World, really encourages men and their spark of divinity to seek knowledge, don’t it? But don’t feel bad, Dinesh. The Christian God is way far from being the first and only to attempt to keep his sheep in a state of blissful ignorance…for their own good, of course…oh, wait. That isn’t ever the reason that God gives, is it..? (…Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil…so he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life…) Just read the stories of Prometheus and Pandora. 

"The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality."

-- George Bernard Shaw