I got to thinking recently about belief systems after listening to a radio interview with writer and director Kenneth Lonergan (about his film Margaret, now out in an extended DVD version).  What caught my attention was his description of himself as a “committed atheist,” and more particularly his explanation of why.  In his view, all religions are creations, stories, myths, that are constructed as a way of trying to understand something that is not comprehensible.  In other words, we create belief systems to help us wrap our minds around things we can not understand. Things like why are we … [Read more...]