Sunday Sermonette

I find all of the arguments in favor of religion transparently wrong. Among these is the claim that religion offers consolation -- that the inevitable pain of our travels through this universe would be unendurable if we thought the universe indifferent to it. Isn't it essential comfort, say the apologists for religion, that people in distress be told that it is all part of God's plan?

This argument is coming from opposite world. I would rather make my own plans, thank you very much. And if it is God's plan for me to suffer, that will hardly make me feel better than the far more likely hypothesis that I just had some bad luck. The Almighty Lord of the Universe didn't do it to me on purpose after all. Thank God for that. Now I can just try to get on with my life and do what I can to make tomorrow better.