Let us start this Tuesday morning by satiating our intellectual curiosity and awakening a deeper respect for science.

From The Daily Galaxy:

Astronomers have found pristine clouds of the primordial gas that formed in the first few minutes after the Big Bang. The composition of the gas matches theoretical predictions, providing direct evidence in support of the modern cosmological explanation for the origins of elements in the universe. 

Only the lightest elements, mostly hydrogen and helium, were created in the Big Bang. Then a few hundred million years passed before clumps of this primordial gas condensed to form the first stars, where heavier elements were forged. 

Until now, astronomers have always detected "metals" (their term for all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium) wherever they have looked in the universe. 

"As hard as we've tried to find pristine material in the universe, we have failed until now. This is the first time we've observed pristine gas uncontaminated by heavier elements from stars," said J. Xavier Prochaska, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

One of the questions I get asked quite often in my real life, and here on the blog, is why I don't embrace any particular religion.

But in a way I do.

Our very first primitive religious beliefs grew up around a desire to understand the world around us, and our place in it. We originally lacked the means to examine, and the ability to understand, the mysteries that surrounded us, so priests, witchdoctors, and oracles provided mythologies to satiate our curiosity while giving us the illusion of comprehension.

Today science performs the very same function, only this time it is NOT just an illusion, it is fact.

You see in my opinion human beings are defined by their desire to know.  That is why I shun religions which purport to give us a sense of understanding, while discouraging our innate curiosity, lest it endanger their domination over our consciousness.

I would have no argument against religion if it simply provided comfort while promoting intellectual discourse, but that is not often the case. Instead it seems to demand that believers sacrifice that which makes them human, their desire to learn, in exchange for an allegiance to a certain worldview which seems to have little use for scientific investigation.

To my mind the unraveling of the mysteries that surround us should feed that which defines us as human, our intellect, in a way that replaces the need for religion. How can we feel alone in the universe with so much happening around us? How can we feel insignificant while discovering, examining, and beginning to understand the very fabric of space and the building blocks that make up our reality?  How can that not make us feel connected in way that believing in an omniscient, omnipotent, immortal being simply cannot?

Essentially there has NEVER been a more complex and compelling mystery than the one that we find ourselves in the middle of every single day of our lives. Today we are witnessing science take the unknown, turn it around in its hands, and lay its secrets bare to be devoured by the hungry minds of men and women all over the world. Is that not tantamount to a religious experience?

Some worship in synagogues, temples, or cathedrals, but I worship under a veil of stars, while kneeling on pews made of earth, opening my mind, as well as my heart, to the possibilities that exist while reaching out to the knowledge which dances just beyond the reach of my fingertips . Because after all, isn't this constant quest for knowledge really the destiny which unites mankind?

I apologize if I have offended any of my more religious visitors, this is, of course, my opinion and everybody is welcome to agree or disagree. All that I ask is that you consider what I have written and keep an open mind to the wonders of the universe, as well as the possibility that their creation is not as you assumed it to be.

Let us please remember to keep the conversation in the comments section respectful.