Is there a way to live our lives without having all the problems that go along with it? If there is a way, most of us would like to know what it is. Believers talk of rewards in the hereafter, but we humanists must struggle with everyday life and accept the here and now for our reward. Such is the way of reality in the real world.

A factor in life is that superstitions stand directly in the way of understanding our problems, just as they did centuries ago. Belief in mystics must result in a distorted view. One cannot see clearly with a distorted view.

I don't believe we are civilized, in spite of our advances in science. We are still savages at heart and have not moved any closer to solving our real problems any more than our distant relatives did. We'll get nowhere walking around singing angelic tunes, bowing our heads in submission, and praying to a non-existing god. Humanists hold up their heads, look at their problems, and try to find a way to solve them. It's not the easiest way, it's the only way.

Only as ignorance has given way to fact have problems been overcome. Many otherwise intelligent people still treat misfortune as punishment meted out by an angry god upon a throne, to his sinful subjects. A god that they have been told to fear. If we could redirect that fear to solve our problems (without divine help), the world would be a lot better off. Can we supplement fear with mutual aid and understanding of others' problems and eliminate the fears that have heretofore shaped our destinies? Do we really want to solve other people's problems?

These are the questions that challenge you and me in a troubled world. We need each other to have any success at all. Alone we are nothing.

--Russ Roehm
From the Torch
Newsletter of the Arizona Secular Humanists