Have your say

Seriously - I want to hear it.

As we are coming up to a year since I posted my first 5 Minute Break article on Substack, I thought this would be a good opportunity to pause a moment and reflect on where this blog started, where it is now, and give some informed thought as to where it could be heading next.

And before you say, ‘yeah, right, whatever,’ and wander off to do something more interesting, I would only ask that you give me just 5 minutes of your time, as I do have a question for you at the end of this.

So first, where did 5 Minute Break start? It came out of one simple aim – to allow a bewildered old British codger to sound off with personal opinions about the state of modern society. A largely futile exercise in ‘fings-ain’t-wot-they-used-to-be-ism’. An excuse to roll out a few ‘WTF?’ cliches. Such as:

• Why is it my responsibility to get out of the way of thoughtless phone zombies?

• Why do people get identikit plumped-up lips?

• Why is there such an over-inflated sense of entitlement nowadays?

• Why do lazy TV journalists insist on asking ill-informed people their opinions on complex issues?’

And in all of these, the tongue was very firmly in the cheek – just a bit of a chuckle on a Monday morning for those with a similar outlook.

But eventually I started to run low on my ‘and another thing’ rant topics. So more and more I kept coming back to one particular subject; one that seems to be an evergreen source of endless bewilderment to me – religion.

As someone who sees no need for any form of religion in order to behave with empathy and morality towards others, I have been constantly amazed at how faith continues to exert such a hold over people. That is particularly because we now live in an age of science and reason; one that clearly refutes any factual basis to support the major religions. So it has been the subject of many of my articles – to the point where I do now find it rather difficult to talk about anything else.

This is particularly true when you have the people I refer to as the ‘christo-fascists’ trying (and scarily, apparently succeeding) to force their brand of toxic Christianity on the rest of the American population. It is hard to look the other way, when these people seem to use their religion to justify how transgenderism and TikTok are more dangerous than AR15 assault weapons. And that’s before you get to their curious obsession with drag queens. It seems pretty clear to me that if you want to make children safe from men in dresses, the ones you want to keep them away from are the clergy.

The only chink of light for me in these dark times is that I firmly believe religion is in retreat globally, and the theocratic push-back we are seeing in places like Republican America is the last gasp of a belief-system that has had its day. My reasons for this are:

• Social media and the internet are democratising knowledge – instead of schools, parents and churches controlling information, people now have access to wider sources – with the capability to give rational answers that refute religious dogmas (ban TikTok, anyone?)

• The younger generations are generally becoming less religious (see point above) – so the momentum is with secular values over time

• Autocracies have limited lifespans – history shows that popular revolt will ultimately overturn them – and let’s face it, theocracy is the archetypal form of autocracy.  

So here’s my question to you: as a subscriber to 5 Minute Break, what is your view on religion? Are you with me on this – that religion is an unnecessary irrelevance in the modern world, and that we would make much better progress in knowledge, philosophy and morality without it?

(I just re-read that last sentence and can see it is a very loaded question. Whatever.)

Or are you someone who holds a faith and if you do want to keep reading this blog, would much prefer I keep to less polarising topics?

I really want to know where you’re coming from on this, as it will help me decide where I take 5 Minute Break as it heads into its second year.

And yes, if you have read my article called ‘Looking for Feedback’ from June last year, you’ll know my views on commercial organisations that ask for feedback, and how such requests go straight into the bin. However, I would point out that 5 Minute Break is not a commercial organisation (far from it), and as a creative writer, I thrive on feedback. So please take 5 more minutes to let me know where you stand on the subject of religion.

Please use the comments box below. Many thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing back from you. Seriously, I do.

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