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A Lineated Disquisition, Part II
(for Lucretius)

Winston Derden

Wise as they are (were for Hitchens),
and often as I agree, the Four Horsemen*
ride a round-about route

to the root of religion, since
these ace atheists neglect to ask
the single most pertinent question:

If all religions are inherently false,
why is religion a cultural universal?
And to press the question,

after millennia of rational dismissal of
pagans, Hindus, Hebrews, Christians, Muslims, etc. —
why does religion remain resistant?

Consider those questions from
an evolutionary perspective, as have
anthropologists Barbara King and David Lewis-Williams,

who have each proposed teasing inquiries
into humans’ evolving the mental capacity to invent religion,
though neither arrived at decisive conclusions.

Here’s a hypothesis to suggest those answers:
Hope and fear, bred through the ages,
are the hardwired antipodes of human emotion.

Rational arguments make no dent
on the persistence of religion
precisely because they’re rational,

whereas religion is designed
to manipulate emotions:
a chandler of hope, a mechanic of fear,

promoting a sense of stable community
with moral codes and works of charity,
posturing answers to life’s most fearful questions —

Why are we here?
Why do we die?
What happens when we’re dead?

with a variety of fantasy answers,
dangling carrots of hope
enforced with the fear of perdition

in schemes too large for most minds to fathom,
and therefore accept as sublime unguents
against our eternal destiny to die.

Hope and fear, good cop/bad cop,
playing one against the other
as bait for a blissful eternity.

Hope and fear, faith over reason,
decorated in ritual elaborations to dramatize
emotions universally, inseparably human.

&bvsp;
*The Four Horsemen:
Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7IHU28aR2E

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