People who are sure that Satan exists, lurking always to play on their fears and weaknesses, never tell me when they see him, or in what form. I can’t help thinking that they see him dancing around and dancing away with the gift of reason.

Reasoning, after all, is the religion of reality. It’s company that organized religion prefers not to  keep. Yet it’s company that I believe churches have to learn to keep in order to survive, and to find the unity that will make them more constructive of a better world.

I see it coming through religion’s discovery and pursuit of an affinity for science, especially  natural science. What better shield for those who fear Satan than knowing that science has no room for him?

Churches claim they are devoted to truth, just as science is. Will enlightenment allow them to take ownership of the discoveries of science, and to use that ownership to grow faith through reason that glorifies the universe, instead of fighting it?

As the author of darkness, the devil wants no part of enlightenment.

EVIL. What is the origin of evil? Let’s pin it all on Satan. A convenience as tempting as any sin.  Sadly, it’s a poor fit. Satan has but one hue: dark and black. Evil and sin come in more shades than a rainbow.

Blaming human nature may make more sense. It makes us responsible for our sins, just as we should be. They’ll never be beaten by anything else. Money can’t be the root of all evil, as some say. Its effect is what we make it. If we go on letting greed rule, then we kiss democracy goodbye.

But isn’t blaming human nature too easy also? It leaves us doubting our ability to do better, doesn’t it? These questions leave me knowing that evil can’t be blamed on the universe, or any higher power that may be creating it.

Yes, evil comes too often from one source: doubting ourselves. It turns so easily into excuses for our shortcomings, our failures. It makes it too easy to say, “I knew I couldn’t do it.”  If you have to personify it, then yes, doubt is the devil.

But as freely and loosely as it plays on in the world, as it has in history, it obviously needs no more than people to propagate it. The abuses we see decimating the earth and dimming the fate of humanity tell us all too clearly that the devil is US. The root of those abuses is the worship of wealth.  It doubts and mocks the redeeming power of reason. Justice grows only from reason.

Doubt can work as both friend and foe. It’s our Satan when we give in to it. When we defeat it by reason, it’s the friend that pricked us to prove we could do it, a triumph of the religion of reality.

–  Frank Mensel       June 2012