The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The real Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are:

Ignorance
Want
Overpopulation
Religion, in the way it fosters, abets and uses the problems above to validate itself

As for religion, I generally believe in the words of HL Mencken.

The Mencken Creed

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.

I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.

I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty.

I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.

I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech.

I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.

I believe in the reality of progress.

I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

-HL Mencken, writer, critic, journalist (1880-1956)

Ignorance and Want

The term 'Global Warming' distracts us from the really salient issues of the day, population and education. And when I mention education, I do not include what is taught to youngsters in the Islamic madrasses of Pakistan, nor in the Creation Museum of Kentucky. In his classic work, 'A Christmas Carol', Charles Dickens penned the following lines about the 'offspring' of mankind.

“They are Man's,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”

I don't think that those words have ever been more true than they are today. In its own way, both at home and abroad, the modern assault on rationalism and science is underway, promulgated by those representing a new radicalism within various religious movements around the globe. This is making the world of today a meaner and more dangerous place to live. It's true that science does not possess the answers to all of the daunting problems facing mankind today, but the answers are not to be found in dogma, either. At least science is an international language of discovery and collaboration, where the process itself goes beyond the old beliefs of the past, and lays a foundation where the discoveries of the future can bear fruit. The fact that sea levels are going to rise in the coming years is not the most worrisome issue facing a troubled world today.