As our world descends into one crisis after another, we hear politicians and preachers, rabbis and imams telling us we all must return to religion, become more obedient to “god” in order to be moral once again.

My argument with those who cry for a “return” to god is the lack of debate or discussion or even honesty. First, those who call for a return to religion and god seldom, if ever, define just whose religion and just whose version, interpretation or creation of “god” is the one all must follow. Over the centuries, multiple versions of various holy texts have been put forth as the “one true” sacred text- and many have claimed to be the sole arbiter, or the most “correct” arbiter, of the words found in these texts. In other words, people are called upon to believe not in any god, but in the words of one man or one group of men to explain or interpret to the masses who  this god is, what this god wants or expects from humans, the intention and desire sof this god and how best to appease, worship or obey this god.

And therein lies the problem, and the root of conflict: because each man (or woman) who stands ready to tell you who and what this god is,  and demand that you obey their perceptions and “knowledge” of this god, are too often men or women who have a hunger to control and dominate others, to rise some up while crushing others down into the small, narrow world they envision for those they either fear or disapprove of or don’t understand; they are often men and women who themselves have emotional or mental instabilities, are narcissistic individuals bent on self-gratification, or whose determination to control others and hold power over other lives borders on the psychopathic- and in some cases, sociopathic.

Humans must learn that their morality- as an individual, a community, a nation- is not dependent on whether they believe in a god or not, individually, as a community or as a nation. The claim that a people are no longer moral or good if they do not believe in a god is a denial of individual free will and the power of the human spirit. We choose, individually, collectively, as a person, a people, a nation, whether we will be moral creatures or monsters.

When humans learn that they and they alone are responsible for the choices they make, the way they treat other people, animals, their environment, their world, their future- then, and only then, will they be able to step back and demand of themselves that they be kinder, better people… they will soon have to accept that every decision, every choice, every action and word they exercise each day creates the world around themselves.

That who and what they idolize and value determines their world and how they live upon it. We are in a period of time when we have chosen wealth and those who have it as our icons, no matter how they have come by that wealth or what they do with it. A man who feels the need to sit on a golden toilet is admired more than the man who sacrifices his life for the betterment of mankind. We applaud those like Trump or Bezos, while forgetting Gorbachev, Mandela, Wilberforce, Tubman, Nightingale, Carter, Zapotek… the men and women who stood against cruelty, oppression, war, slavery, suffering. We spend hours celebrating the Kardashians while choosing not to learn about Eleanor Roosevelt or Marie Curie. We follow and make idols of “influencers” who promote consumerism and self-gratification while giving only a casual glance at Lincoln, Anthony, Parks, Paine, Yousafzai, Greta, Ambedkar, Thunberg, Tutu, Chinmoy, Thunder hawk, Deer, Philips, and so many others we ought to know but don’t.

When humans accept that they and they alone, are responsible for the suffering and desolation in the world today, and only they can individually and collectively save us from ourselves, only then will change begin.

This does not mean you cannot hold a belief in a god- for many people, the comfort of such a belief offers healing and peace and hope. But make certain that the god you choose to worship or follow is a god of compassion, of love, of peace- and make certain that those who follow this same god, or who say “Let me lead you”,  are men and women of compassion, kindness, generosity, courage, love… and not those who promise you power, or wealth or political power, or who live like princes of luxury while you give them your money…because if so, at some point they will ask you to abandon love, compassion and human decency in exchange for power.

Each human, each family, each community must decide who will speak for the world they envision, and who will help them build it… and YOU will be the one who decides what the world will be and what our future will be. If you learn these lessons, YOU will be our last best hope. YOU will be the deciding voice.

If you vote to give monsters power and control, you will choose hell on earth.

If you vote to give people of Reason and kindness power and control, you will choose a world of hope and compassion.

It falls on you to choose… YOU are our last best hope.