"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings." Albert Einstein, 1921. The main thesis of this piece is that numerous important religious beliefs appear to be inconsistent with futurism and, therefore, may be barriers to future-oriented behavior. Ironically, these barriers could combine to threaten the very existence of our species. It is argued that religion writ large needs to adapt to become more future-oriented in this reality. Let us begin with the definition of religion provided in this special issue by Bron Taylor, who quotes David Chidester in defining religion as "that dimension of human experience engaged with sacred norms". I interpret this definition to include beliefs, values, and worldviews that people hold sacred and have faith in. Holding such beliefs creates strong bonds between believers and helps individuals satisfy very deep spiritual needs. Different religions have different belief structures but, I believe, ultimately share common sets of beliefs and provide similar fundamental psychological benefits to their adherents. So, in this piece, I focus on generic religious beliefs which I believe are most problematic from a futures perspective rather than comment on specific religions.
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