"Everything we do is based on what we believe. Our religious beliefs influence where we stand on many important issues like sexuality, abortion, ethics and terrorism, amongst many others. In a democracy, we vote for leaders to whom we abrogate responsibility to make decisions that affect us all. Since all votes are equal, the value of a well thought-out vote is the same as that of a careless one. We owe it to ourselves, to each other and to our children to be well-informed so we can start making more educated decisions today."

- Marquez Comelab

DESCRIPTION:

This book explores the truth behind our beliefs in God and the propensity of human beings to be religious. In an honest attempt to seek the answers to life's deepest questions, I probe into how life began. I then progress to investigate the true nature of religions and their impact on our lives and the rest of humanity.

THE READERS OF THIS BOOK:

In writing this book, I imagined five groups of readers:

• The irreligious or the atheist
• The agnostic
• The moderately religious
• The religious
• The subject-matter experts

Every one of these readers will have different needs and reasons for wanting to read this book.

The Irreligious And The Atheists

This book can be a handy tool if you need help in clarifying why you may lack belief in God. I hope it helps you argue some of the ideas you have with other people.

The Agnostics

I was an agnostic once. As I found out, much of my agnosticism stemmed from my inability or unwillingness to seek the answers to the big questions of life and our existence. I went to an Episcopalian primary school and I went to a public school in high school. Neither of them taught the theory of evolution, natural selection or how life began.

Science is now at the stage where it is able to provide us all with intellectually-satisfying answers to many of our cosmological questions. Yet, sadly, millions of people remain ignorant of its ability to give us all a sense of wonder and appreciation for the beauty and drama of the world we live in.|

The Moderately Religious

I understand that many of you may have doubts about the existence of God. Perhaps you even doubt that religions come from divine sources, however, you still believe that religions could be beneficial in some way. I think many of you will find the scientific explanation behind the origins of life and evolution pleasantly surprising. To many of you, who have not really read your Scriptures, you might be interested to have another look at some of the verses and re-examine what it means to be moderately religious.

Regardless of your religion, I want to appeal to you because I am sure we share the same belief that extremism and the literal interpretation of the scriptures are not conducive to the type of society we want to live in.

The Strongly Religious

Strongly religious people usually get angry, offended, annoyed or dismissive of anybody, or anything, that challenges their beliefs. Sometimes they are even fearful of entertaining any idea that deviates from their beliefs because God might be watching. This book is not to make you doubt your beliefs; rather, to help you understand how people can not be religious like you.

I hope you will finish reading this book. I want to appeal to you by saying that, because we share the same planet, what you choose to believe in, affects everybody else. Likewise, what another person believes, will ultimately affect you. It is therefore very important to continue engaging in dialogue because that is the only way for humanity to overcome its challenges.

The Subject-Matter Experts

I have made every effort to find the latest and most robust theories and ideas to cover in this book. However, I am also aware that ideas are continuously being challenged by other ideas. Such is the reality of our search for truth. But so long as we ground our knowledge and wisdom with reality, we will eventually discover the answers we are looking for.

In writing this book, I largely wrote to communicate with people who have not formally studied your field... people like me. It is difficult to be an expert in all the subjects religion touches. This is why I have resorted to quoting many of you instead of using my own words. I hope I can arouse enough interest for people to learn more about your works, your theories and your ideas.

I welcome any feedback, corrections and invitations for further discussions, should you allow me the privilege. In this book, I have made some observations and postulations of my own. If you have any thoughts, experiments or works that either support or disagree with them, I would be delighted to hear about them.