His story “A world without religion is a world without a future” seems to me very interesting, but I have something to add to your speech.

I agree when you say that science alone has not (and does not seem to be) capable of solving the problems of human society that involve injustice and violence, equivalent to lack of kindness or compassion. I also agree when you say that we have only become somewhat civilized because of the religions that have historically imposed themselves upon all peoples, guiding ideas and conduct. However, these are not yet the paths that will take us from a tragic destiny in the future and take us to paradise.

The perspective of science is rational, focused on objective verification, and this is very rich in possibilities, unlike the religious perspective. But science is lost between the pursuit of the truth of everything and greed for money. The scientific journey to the elucidation of mysteries and the solution of many problems is praiseworthy, but its submission to capitalism is not acceptable. We know today that a scientific breakthrough is only accepted and funded when it promises to bring a lot of profits to researching corporations, and that is bad, because so many other researches are not developed or financed just because they do not bring substantial profit. While many of these researches are capable of benefiting all of humanity, they are ignored, discarded. For example, why not study different, effective and just ways of organizing human society, based on an economy of equal living conditions for all peoples? Big universities do not give this type of research because it goes against the capitalist interests of large financial and government corporations. With this, science is hostage to capital and does not work for the common good of humanity. In this way, it will not be able to solve our major problems, such as intolerance, violence, political and economic wars, and social inequalities. Even today there are many poor people, suffering all possible limitations. Science, in fact, in the way it develops, can not offer us a more satisfactory and secure future.

The religious or spiritualist perspective, in turn, develops a path toward the highest human values, adopting goodness, compassion, and spiritual salvation as principles through faith, but it has no cultural and socioeconomic decision-making power to change the human societies and to make them move towards this great achievement. Religions are not capable of solving mankind’s problems only by exercising faith and with a perspective on salvation after death. This may seem pleasant to many people, but it is not efficient to turn the world into a paradise for all of us.

So what are we going to look forward to?

We need a new path that can lead us to meet our great longings, which are peace, justice, equality and freedom, because all of this means our happiness. And it should be happiness for all the people of the world and not only of some people. Therefore, this great achievement must go beyond the limits of the economy of nations and the ideological barriers of politics and religion. For this to happen we must seek a true frame of reference that will guide us to the best of ourselves, although we know that the aspirations of humanity are very heterogeneous. The referential nowadays is called God, for all religious and spiritual currents, however, this God is still unknown. What do we know about him? Anything. All that the sacred books show us are assumptions based on very ancient cultures, on ideas and ideals that do not represent our present thinking.

What do we do? Let us search, which I know exists, something capable of showing us the true path of the great achievement of humanity. Something that can show us that we are all the same and have the same needs and desires. With this we will learn that it is not the power and money that will bring us the happiness that everyone wants, nor simply the faith taught by religions can make our world a paradise. What we find must be the referential for all peoples, all languages, all beliefs and all sciences; who is not attached to the ancient words of the sacred books or the intolerant speeches of pastors, priests, teachers and rabbis, nor based on theories of greedy and foolish scientists.

We must find a universal framework to guide our journey towards the future and our final realization. The greater truth does not belong to anyone specifically, but to all peoples, therefore, everyone must be involved in this great quest with honesty and the true spirit of humility. Humanity is one people, one family.

    Francisco Cordeiro de Oliveira

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    Professor, autor iniciante, poeta, músico, desenhista, pintor e amante da matemática, filosofia e espiritualidade.