After swimming with one of the
gods, Frank went back to his hotel and ordered up a bottle of American
whiskey. I could tell he was still
reeling from the overload of new information. On the way back he talked aloud. Much of what he said did not make sense
to me, but that is because much of the information he was pondering I was now
unaware of. Once the encryption
record was filed away I could not access it. Only if both the Monsignor and Frank had
told me to repeat the data or told me I could keep it decrypted in my memory
could I think about it. Even though
Frank knew I had no record of what he was referring to he still used me as a
sort of sounding board. From what
he said I could try and help him, but I knew there was a large risk of my
sounding stupid.
“Jack, I still can’t see how his
Holiness can sleep at night. I mean
he is so bloody cynical about life.
Sure the masses are stupid and being taken for a ride, but unless the
press speaks up about truth even the gods out there might be fooled. I still think humanity can advance. We have come so far from the days of
when religions had absolute control over everyone. I know most people run their lives on
mostly bullshit, but every century more and more understand there is more to
life than blind faith.”
Frank took a long drink from his
glass. He stared at the liquid as
if it held the answers to his questions.
“I hate it that he is right
about a sudden collapse of religion.
The masses are not ready.
Shit, so many would go bat shit crazy if they lost their faith in Jesus
or Mohammed. Millions of basically
good people would die and millions more would have their families and lives cast
into chaos. How many do you think
would die, Jack?”
“Based on what we saw with the
nuns and Buddhists about 15 percent.”
“That seems low. If this struck everywhere at once there
would not be any hospitals or any authority to try and deal with it. It could easily double.”
“I have no data on how that
might work, Sir.”
“I hope Sir Terrance can give me
some insights on how this is being pulled off.”
Frank filled his glass again and
took another sip.
“I just wonder what Marianne’s
deal is?”
“Deal, sir?”
“She was there
Frank.”
“Has she become religious,
Sir?”
“Hardly. I just wonder why she still feels the
need to help the poor. I suppose
I’m re-acting like those religious nuts who think that without God everyone
would just go out and break every moral code. No, it would be the opposite. A secular society would be more moral,
not less.”
“Do you think all moral crimes
would stop Mr. Huntington?”
“No, of course not. Humans are never perfect, but when you
look at how few atheists are in prison it seems logical to assume crime would go
down.”
“An interesting idea. Do you think if secularism would become
wide spread that the newbies would be as good as those who are secular now. I mean most humanists had to go through
a process of self discovery. What
would the majority of people be like if they were raised secularists just like
the majority of people are raised with religion now?”
“That is a good point. I don’t know for sure. So many religious people really don’t
have any deep convictions. They
just accept what their parents told them and yet they do murder, cheat and
steal. The prisons are full of
religious people like that. I don’t
know what would happen if they had been raised in a secular family and
culture. I can only hope it would
be better than what we have in the United States. We still kill about 45,000 a year thanks
to all the guns. So many people
print themselves a new gun almost every week. They are cheaper than phones
now.”
“It seems conviction is the
key. Those who think deeply will
have strong convictions, but looking at the bell curve on intelligence for
humans it is unrealistic to expect everyone will think deeply.”
“Gods and clods” Frank said
rather quietly as he took another sip.
“Pardon sir, which gods are you
referencing?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, Jack. Just something the Pope said.”
Frank poured the last of the
pint into his glass and took another sip.
“Jack, book a flight tomorrow to
London. We need to be there when
the Princess contacts us.”
“Morning or afternoon
flight?”
“Afternoon. I want to sleep in.”
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