We continue on this path because too many people would rather take solace in pleasant, fictional stories than face uncomfortable truths.

Need an example? It took the Vatican until 1832 to remove Galileo's work from its list of books which Catholics were forbidden to read at the risk of dire punishment of their immortal souls. It took until 1992 for the Vatican to step forward and express their regret toward the way Galileo and his work was treated. This is the man considered by most scientists to be the father of modern science. His inventions have lead to knowledge and discovery - but only of what was there all along, just invisible to our eye. And that is the essence of religious teaching; they attempt to explain what is invisible to our eye without actually collecting the data required to prove their explanations are plausible. Galileo extended our vision and showed us what we once couldn't see, and the Church, which was very much the government of his time, condemned him for it. Therein lies the biggest difference between religion and science. If you disagree with religion or prove their ideas are incorrect, they condemn you. If you disagree with a scientist or prove his/her hypotheses or theories are incorrect, they work harder to collect data to find the truth. No condemnation, no wars, no threat of eternal damnation. Only the application of existing knowledge and new technologies to extend our sight as a species.

Learn your history and look at the path our species has been on for the last 10,000 years. Take a good look at where it has gotten us and compare where we are with the world you WANT to live in. Use your mind's eye and your knowledge of history and take an educated guess where staying on this path will take us in five, ten or even a hundred years. Tell me if that is the world you want your future generations to live in.

If we want the world to be different, we have to change the path we're walking. It isn't up to our children to fix the mistakes of past generations - it is up to us to lay the foundation for change on their behalf.