Josh Gough's Page

Hello everyone! I have a collection of other free-thought writings at http://joshuagough.blogspot.com/search/label/free-thought if you are interested to read them.

I also wrote and recorded an audio book during the last few years, which has some humanistic, free-thought content in it at http://www.methodeternal.com

Finally, I invite you to visit my great-grandmother's web site. She was the best mentor anyone could ever have. Her paintings have touched thousands of lives and she will be remembered forever: http://www.CarolaGough.com.

Perhaps I am a bit of a mixed bag to many of you. I love religion and mythology. And, I love parables. I love trying to understand the underlying motivations and impulses that lead people to form the ideas they have. I do not believe in things like miracles, risen saviors, or supernatural controlling beings, but I do not think it is wise to ignore 100% of the rituals, traditions, and wisdom of religions and mythology.

One of my favorite modern parables about the danger of separatist thinking is The Physician and The Priest, available here: http://www.jhuger.com/phandpr. You can listen to me reading it aloud here: http://www.joshuagough.com/Podcast.aspx?path=/Audio/NarratedWorks/Fiction/Parables/

Instead of overt positional combat against religious ideas, I think they have to be recast in the light of modern science and rational thought. I'm not entirely optimistic that this is going to be successful, given the climate of modern culture and and religiously motivated terrorism, but I likewise cannot see billions of people converting to "atheism" or "free-thought" simply by the forced weight of rational argument and logic. Therefore, as a minority, I think it is our job to achieve some sort of solidarity first, and then engage the religious populations as best we can not in an overt war of ideas or debate, but by leading by example. We have to take the lead in serving humankind and solving problems, and we have to be more vocal in the fact that we are doing it because this reality right now is the only home we'll ever have.

We simply must make the non-religious community a far more compelling community of brothers and sisters than religious communities so that the next generations have a place to hang their burdens, help their fellow humankind, and be inspired about the future of life in this world.

This means sacrifice and hardwork. Are we up to the challenge?

Hope to hear from you!
take care,
Josh