Is it time for a new prophet?

In his excellent title, “Hero with a Thousand Faces”, mythologist, philosopher and Catholic turned Buddhist, Joseph Campbell, detailed the dozens of saviours who had blessed the face of humanity throughout history.

Jesus Christ, if he existed, was the last in our era.

As the plot goes, humankind gets itself into some kind of pickle. A hero saviour appears, usually with supernatural powers, who fixes the problem and is the recipient of our undying gratitude throughout eternity. Or perhaps until the next saviour.

Unfortunately, a prophet arrived some years after Jesus. His name was Muhammed and the totalitarian political and legal regime he and his followers invented, wrapped within the “respectibility” of religion, has had an adverse impact on humanity ever since.

Periodically throughout history, Muhammed’s followers have carried out the instructions in the Koran, purportedly the words of a god, to kill or subjugate millions.

Lacking the rational and critical thinking skills of a goldfish, and being brainwashed into Muhammed’s ways, the killing, enslaving, raping, pillaging, burning, and subjugation in the name of Muhammed and his god, Allah, continue today.

When will this nonsense end?

According to Muhammed’s loyal followers, it will never end until every person on the planet is under the thumb of Islamic sharia law. Only then will the “peace of Islam” prevail.

What humankind needs now more than ever is a new prophet, an altruistic prophet who can explain that all we have is each other and that there is, in the words of the late Carl Sagan, ‘nobody “out there” who will come and save us from ourselves.’

But, from where will this new prophet come? Anyone daring to call themselves a prophet or saviour in this day and age is considered mentally deranged, despite the fact that millions consider it quite normal to pray to a god daily with the hope that he or she will answer their prayers.

It seems that without a new prophet, there are only two choices that remain; either we kill each other off fighting for or against Muhammed’s Islamic utopia, or we come to our senses and despatch religions to the dustbin of history. Trying to run a 21st Century society on books written thousands of years ago was never going to be a recipe for success.

Perhaps then, we can form a new humanity that understands our common dilemma: the stark reality that we are alone on a small blue dot in a vast multiverse and need to care for each other and live the best lives possible because that is all there is.

Do you agree with Robin?