"...and you are hereby sentenced
to death. Do you have any final remarks, Edward Jarrett Axel?"
"Yes, I believe that he does."
said Edward's lawyer. Edward stood up from the table, perfectly calm,
and walked up to the podium.
"It would have been easy for me
to escape this fate which has imposed itself on me, if I followed the
advice of my lawyers, to plead for insanity. However, no matter how
my lawyers argued for my innocence, I plead guilty. Why? Because I
take responsibility for my actions, for what I have done. If I could
have my life back, I would do the same thing. I would not change,
because I believe it was the right thing to do.
"For the past two centuries,
there have been no scientific progress whatsoever in any field,
anywhere across the globe. The world has been brainwashed, consumed,
by religion. Religion has become the explanation for everything. We
no longer care about how things work, why things work, and most
importantly, how to improve it. We have been conditioned to be
satisfied with what we have. We have been conditioned to become
mindless zealots of our God. Religion has staunched our will to
learn. Religion has stopped science.
"That is why I stand before you
today. I believe that religion must be stopped.
"Our minds are now focused on
religion. Our thoughts are centred on religion. Our world revolves
around religion. But religion is a fraud. It is used to control the
general population. 'Religion is the opiate of the people', quoth
Karl Marx. Our religion tells us what we can and cannot do, and
governs our every day lives. We no longer think, we just follow
whatever the religion tells us. We no longer decide, because our
religion decides for us. We no longer live, for we live only for
religion.
"Those thoughts passed through my
mind two exactly decades ago, on the anniversary of our Lord. I
devised a plan of overthrowing the religion, to wake people up from
their mindless sleep, to bring people to their senses. I planned the destruction of the five most major churches. I planned the massacre
of the thousands of pilgrims to their sacred sites. I planned the
bombing of the religious capital of the world. I have been judged for
these crimes, and have been sentenced to death, which I gratefully
accept. But I still believe that these atrocities were justified. I
have done it for the sake of science.
"There was no other way of
bringing this across to you. I believe that I am the only person of
my mind in the world, and this is the only think that I can do alone.
No amount of demonstrations, no amount of petitioning could make the
same effect I made on this world. Look towards yourselves. Look at
what you have become, slaves to our great creator, blindly following
his will. Look at what we've become. All of our ancestors fought for
freedom and justice, but we have cast off that right to put on the
shackles of religion.
"I am not insane, I can assure
you that much. I am a fully functional human. I am a thinking,
rational being, something that none of you can claim. I am free from
the shackles of religion; I have the liberty to do as I please,
unhindered by the all mighty ruler. I am no longer one of his
subjects. I have a new god, and his name is Science."
Edward walked back to his seat and
sat, back to the silent gallery. The judge spoke once more.
"You shall be hanged on the 21st
of December..."
SciFiQuest 9999