On planet earth today there are approximately two billion Christians who believe in God and Jesus. There are nearly as many Muslims who believe in Allah. There are about one billion Hindus, and a variety of smaller theistic religions. All told there are more than five billion theists on our planet. Yet it is easy to demonstrate that all of their gods – including God, Allah, Jesus, Vishnu, etc. – are imaginary.

In addition, billions of Christians believe that God is answering their prayers every day, yet it is easy to show that the belief in prayer is pure superstition. More than half of Americans believe that the Bible is literally true, yet it is clear that it is a book of mythology. And so on.

How can this be happening? Why are billions of people believing in imaginary beings, superstitions and books filled with myths?

The problem that humanity faces is that humans, in their natural state, are not very good thinkers. For example, when we look at primitive cultures, we can see that they are soaked in superstition. As mentioned in this article, a big part of the spread of Ebola in Africa can be attributed to superstition, illiteracy and a general lack of formal education. People in this state are terrible thinkers. Their superstitions pervert and distort their perceptions of the real world.

Now come to the United States, where 75% of the population claims to be a Christian and 50% of the population believes the Bible to be literally true. How is this level of delusion possible in a developed nation? These beliefs are fueled by ignorance and insufficient education in logic and critical thinking.

For example, the only way that a person believes in the power of prayer, rather than seeing the belief in prayer as pure superstition, is for that person to be using things like confirmation bias, the post hoc fallacy, superstition, the placebo effect, groupthink and doublethink to support his/her beliefs. How can anyone believe that the story of Noah’s ark is literally true? Deep ignorance of science and logic is required.

Religion in the United States is a publicly visible sign of a vast, socially sanctioned ignorance of basic thinking skills. A huge swath of the U.S. population is uneducated when it comes to logic, science and critical thinking. And so these people superstitiously believe in religion.

Why should we, as a modern society, actively work to eliminate religion? The problem is that ignorance and superstitious thinking do not apply to just religion. These mental derailments affect the whole decision making apparatus. We have millions of people in the United States making important political decisions while lacking basic logic, science and critical thinking skills.

This is the 21st century. The United States and the world face significant problems in need of effective solutions. We all suffer when people use things like confirmation bias, the post hoc fallacy, the placebo effect, superstition, groupthink and doublethink to make important decisions. Instead, the goal should be a highly educated citizenry using logic, science, critical thinking and rationality so that our society is making smart decisions and working toward good solutions.

One way to accomplish this goal is to see religion as a giant flashing strobe light of ignorance and backwardness, and then work to educate people away from religion by teaching them logic, science and critical thinking skills. In the process, people will become much better thinkers in all parts of their lives. Our society will become a significantly better place as a result.

Think about it this way: Most of what religion teaches is nonsense. Why would we want to teach our children nonsense? The fact is that God is imaginary. Prayer is a superstition. The Bible is a book of myths. Let’s teach our children these truths. Let’s also teach them to think critically and to reason so they can understand why prayer is superstition and apply it to the rest of their lives. They will become better thinkers, which is what we seek in a modern society. Our goal should be a society filled with critical, rational thinkers who understand how the world really works.

There is no need to create laws or rules that prohibit religion. We simply need to educate people to a level where they see the belief in religion as absurd. Education in logical fallacies, intellectual biases and critical thinking can start early and continue through high school and college. This will allow an educated population to easily recognize when things like confirmation bias, the post hoc fallacy, the placebo effect, superstition, groupthink and doublethink are occurring. Thus, religion will die a natural death.

The book How God Works can help accelerate this process. How God Works is the breakthrough book that allows each of us to prove to ourselves that God is imaginary. It shows you the steps you can take – using logic, science and critical thinking – to prove that all human gods are imaginary, and in the process explains what causes billions of people to believe in these imaginary beings. Order your copy of How God Works today.