For everyone who eschews supernatural mythology       This site is for all people who believe in nature, science, and reason, and who value ethics, aesthetics, compassion, and truth    Heathen Worldview Before the origin of religions, all of which esteem the mythical supernatural, aboriginal heathens esteemed nature. Born-again heathens today continue the tradition of esteeming nature. Born-Again Heathens are long on positive belief in nature, science, and truth. They are therefore unlike religious pagans and neo-pagans who are long on mythology, atheists who are long on disbelief, agnostics who are long on uncertainty, and humanists who are long on human-kind as quasi-deity. Many Born-Again Heathens share some or all of the following beliefs: 1. The earth is a sphere, not flat: Ptolemy got it right. 2. The earth circles the Sun, not vice versa: Galileo got it right. 3. The solar system holds an unremarkable, peripheral place in the Milky Way galaxy: Hubble got it right. 4. The Milky Way galaxy, itself, is a triviality in the cosmos: Hubble got it right again. 5. The cosmos is not aware, concerned, intentional, or judgmental. 6. All phenomena result from natural process which may one day be completely understood. 7. All imagined supernatural phenomena are illusory. 8. Awareness, consciousness, and persona are biochemical phenomena: duality and "soul" are merely illusions. 9. The human species differs from other animals only in tiny degree and not in kind. 10. Free will is an illusion: although not pre-determined, the universe is totally deterministic. 11. Merit is an illusion: outcomes proceed, ultimately, from the luck of the draw. 12. Death is a natural mechanism for recycling chemical resources: Life does not survive Death. 13. Whether the initiating event of the cosmos was a Big Bang or something else, it will never be possible to know what occurred, if anything, before that event. 14. In the beginning, there was nothingness, not even space. 15. Matter and energy did not fill space: they created space as they expanded. 16. There is no cosmic purpose, nor any cosmic imperatives. 17. Evil is real: sin is a conceit of organized religion. 18. Pragmatic ethics reflect intended and expected reciprocity. 19. We should tend our own gardens and both permit and require others to tend their own. 20. That which is: is, is good, and therefore ought to be. 21. Much, perhaps most, of what and who we are is a product of genetic memory. 22. Nothing is really important: life, per se, is not precious. 23. Heroic processes can sometimes extend life span but can never actually save life. 24. Nothing is really special: specialness is an illusory conceit. 25. Civilization is a thin, fragile veneer devised to mask nasty, brutish, and short reality. 26. Happiness is merely a reflection of endorphin flow and has no real substance. 27. When our consciousness ends, our existence, our world, and our universe also end. 28. There is no hereafter: the time to take tarts is when they are being passed around - carpe diem. 29. There are no rights, only privileges either inherent in nature or granted by society. 30. Darwin got it almost right, but not quite: it's not that only the fittest survive; it's that the un-fit perish. 31. By subverting natural selection, medicine is degrading and may well destroy humanity. 32. Many people are driven by greed for wealth, which is a form of power. 33. Politicians and leaders are driven by greed for power, which is a form of wealth. 34. Attempts to control nature often cause unintended, unexpected, undesired, and unpleasant consequences. For example: If we feed them, they will breed and create more unfed mouths needing to be fed ad infinitum. 35. Humanity evolved and will become extinct without leaving even a blip on the cosmic radar. 36. Like many other animals, ego driven humans strive to become Alpha in some way. 37. Humans, lusting to control the ignorant and gullible, invented gods to provide virtual cosmic authority for asserted moral strictures reflecting personal human value judgments and biases. 38. The human body is 90% water and of the remaining 10%, 90% is symbiotic microbial flora and fauna; thus only 1% of a human being is regulated by human DNA which, itself, is largely shared with other animal and vegetable species including chimpanzees and bananas. 39. The Old Testament, New Testament, Koran and other sacred texts are works of historical fiction and fantasy which largely embody mythology that originated during humanity's ages of ignorance. 40. Because meanings of words change, translations are imprecise, and punctuation was invented only recently, we can never be fully certain of what meanings authors of ancient works actually intended to convey or to attribute to "higher powers" - not that it really matters except to satisfy curiousity. 41. Amelioration of present distress often exacerbates factors destined to create even greater distress at some future time: most life-extending charity therefore is actually self-defeating. 42. Time is merely the interval between any two sequential occurrences or the instance of an occurrence with reference to some other occurrence. 43. Acquired immunity of microbes to anti-biotics reflects natural selection in action today. 44. An aspect of genetic memory, the "collective unconscious" is real but not universal: some aspects of genetic memory vary from race to race and culture to culture just the same as with other aspects of physiognamy. 45. Humanity, at the most inclusive, has existed for only a micro-heartbeat of cosmic time and is unlikely to exist for even a single micro-heartbeat longer before becoming extinct. 46. Immortality would be enormously tedious if it actually existed: mercifully, it doesn't.