“The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” is one of my favorite fun films. I’ve always liked Don Knotts and he represented a simpler time when films could be just plain good fun. In this particular film, he portrayed the problems one encounters when possessed of an especially excitable imagination, and you get a reputation for believing nonsense and telling stretchers. These are not lies as such, since in the case of the well-crafted lies Sam Clemens admired and had a genius for telling a stretcher is not told with the intention of harming any one or taking advantage of people. But if the teller of stretchers is not very careful, they can find themselves in deep trouble when attempting to be taken seriously as Don Knotts so well portrayed in the film.

When we look back through history we may well ask ourselves how some of the ancients believed some of the fabulous and fantastic things they did, the stories of the past we now read seeming so obviously born of at times appallingly superstitious ignorance, stories of gods and goddesses, of magic charms and incantations, stories of so many “miracles,” conjurers and seers passed on from one generation to the next. But at various times throughout history there was a seeming need for such things, in the case of the various religions there was the need for social order and some means of hope in harsh, often brutal conditions.

Whether one chooses to believe the myths and superstitions of religion today or not, there remain many mysteries right here on earth quite beyond our science to explain. It may be those like Newton were possessed of supernatural genius, perhaps Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce tuned in on Psi not possible to the great majority of people. I don’t believe many of the achievements of ancient people could have been possible without something of this kind, perhaps even the help of an unknown superior race, extraterrestrials, even angels. But I don’t know any of these are true; and I’m not ready to believe in flying carpets, talking statues, the virgin berth, Jesus walking on water or rising from the dead. I make a distinction between things I simply don’t know, and things I am not so credulous as to believe.

I do know the human body is composed of a hundred trillion cells, and each cell is composed of so many intricate and some still unknown parts of enormous complexity, the possibility these could all come together and make a fully functional human being is to me nothing short of miraculous! On a scale only of the variety of life on earth there are so many unknowns there is room for so much speculation it boggles my mind! And it seems a quantum leap beyond considering only physical life to that of the mind! There is an empire of the individual quite beyond the reach of any science to either examine or explain, though some progress has been made in understanding physical functions of the brain.

What is it that gives people hope; that gives the individual hope? If it is a matter of religion and you were born to parents steeped in ignorance and superstitions you may be doomed to believing such superstitions the rest of your life, especially if you are born into a nation like so many Muslim nations today that continue to credit such superstitions. But even among the sophisticated Greeks the most serious charge leveled against Socrates was that of sacrilege, and from the beginning of human history untold millions have been sacrificed to a variety of gods. And judging from world conditions today, there are too many places where you would still be killed for sacrilege to “honor” some imagined deity like Allah.

Though there are many mysteries that remain unexplained, what can be explained is things like mob hysteria and panic. There are events in which people lose all sense of personal identity and find themselves part of a mob, the point K made in “Men in Black:” Even though the person may be smart; this is not so with a frightened or hysterical mob of people. And even if Christianity began with a delusional Jesus and carried forth by those caught up in the delusion, it eventually became a civilized religion. However, there are places in the world where ignorance and superstitions continue to hold people enslaved to various Christian beliefs. And consider what the effect would be in the world if the “Da Vinci Code” were more truth than fiction.

In “Elmer Gantry” Sinclair Lewis painted an indelible picture of the kind of religious zealotry that is used to mask all kinds of hypocrisy, even as an excuse to beat a man nearly to death. And I have personally known not only a number of Elmer Gantry’s, but a number of those whose excitable imaginations have convinced the individuals they have experienced things like miracles and angels in their lives. If such people believe these things and such beliefs do no harm I’m not going to become confrontational about it. But I’m always left asking myself the same question of why I have not been so privileged by whatever powers there may be? Like the judge in the Don Knotts film, “My mind is wide open,” and there have been occasions in my life that have left me wondering whether guardian angels have intervened on my behalf, but no spirits, ghosts, or apparitions, theophanies of any kind have made themselves known to me.

A Christian hymn has it “Only Believe.” Well, perhaps unfortunately for me it takes more than that. Like the child Samuel in the Old Testament I’m ready to say to God “Speak for thy servant heareth.” But so far, nothing of which I am aware. I remain convinced the best of America’s virtue is to be found in the rural churches of America. However, this virtue is being threatened by politicians and professional religionists that would place the emphasis on “only believe” rather than emphasizing the thing of most vital importance, that of simply being a good person. And for this, no one needs any religion telling them how to live a life pleasing to God. And here is my personal basis for hope; not for the world but for me. I cannot hope to save the world by simply being a good person, but I can hope to save myself. And such hope does not blind me to evil, it is not the credulous hope of a Pollyanna or a coming “Rapture,” but able to do battle against the evil of this world system while not becoming a partner in such evil. And that is the best, I believe, any of us can do.