This morning over my morning tea I found myself reading a three page spread in the web edition of the New York Times about Richard Dawkins new book, The God Delusion. What follows is a sort of mental diarrhea that will most likely make little sense and cause you a headache.
Genocidal Atheists
Dawkins takes every available opportunity to state how evil religion is. He goes so far as to say he suspects "there are very few atheists in prison." He provides no statistics or other evidence for this claim. The author also rationalizes that though Hitler and Stalin were both atheists, that their lack of religion was not a factor in driving their brutality.
Hmm... this statement seems ridiculous to me. Let me just put myself in the shoes of someone who has lost the belief in God and harbors hate towards other people.
If I wanted to destroy a lot of people the idea of there being no Creator would suit that - maybe even justify it in the mind of a delusional, insane person. Hell, it may even lead to the insanity in the first place. Without a god to see and judge your actions you may think you can take all sorts of liberty with human life. Why bother holding back your murderous impulses if no one will punish you for it? Now, I don't believe in the whole punishment thing in the traditional sense. I believe in Karma - which can be a real bitch for those folks who get off on hurting others.
Also, if I had spent my entire life believing in something, even devoting myself to it as in Stalin's case (a onetime Orthodox seminarian), I would be pretty pissed off to one day figure out that I had been lied to and had wasted my time on something fictional.
Are you there God?
I've been there, you know. I've been in that spot in the brain that causes doubt in all things not physical. I've been "Little Miss Doubty-Pants" and "The Queen of Rational Thought" before. If you asked me to explain how I got over it, I couldn't tell you. I'm not sure I ever closed the door on those thoughts, but I still believe in something greater. I don't care if it makes me a sheep in the eyes of Atheists, Secular Humanists, or Bob the grocery store clerk.
One day I thought to myself, "What if when we die we just break down into the planet and there is no consciousness?" That's the single most terrifying thought my brain has ever come up with. I can't say that I have completely reconciled this idea within myself. It still creeps in there every now and again when I least expect it, but I don't obsess over it.
One of the things I keep coming back to is the reality of cyclical transformation. Nothing is ever created or destroyed. All things simply change from one thing to another. All that exists now has always existed. This means that everything is God/dess if God/dess is the source. But, into what form do we get to be transformed? Is it as biodegradable waste or a spiritual, consciousness-having entity?
If the soul exists than it can not cease to exist. So, I guess the question is - how do we prove the human soul exists? Does it live in the brain? Does it die when the body dies? Is the brain the source of consciousness?
I believe in the Goddess and Nature. I don't know the answers, despite how many times I've tried to manifest them in my cerebral cortex. I only have faith and personal truth. That's just going to have to be enough. Will it matter if I'm wrong?
8 comments:
It sounds to me like Dawkins has swapped out cause and effect to suit his purposes where atheists in prison are concerned (and I too would like to see his numbers). His argument seems painted as "Religion is evil, and makes people evil, and therefore there are more religious people in prison."
Uhm, oops. How often do we hear about prisoners, especially on death row, finding religion after being incarcerated? For some it's no doubt a symnpathy ploy to avoid execution (which doesn't seem to work), but for many, I suspect it's an extension of the old saw about there being no atheists in foxholes. When under extreme stress and threat of death, a lot of people turn to faith for comfort and support, whether they were religious or not to begin with. Common sense, you'd think, but he seems to have canted it illogically on its ear to bolster his case.
gypsy, I agree. Prisoners usually find religion after being locked up not the other way around. There is one thing I can see about Dawkins' "religion is evil" stance. I've noticed a tendency with Christians to tell their followers (and non-followers for that matter)that the human race is evil by nature. My theory on that is if you tell a child that they are evil long enough they will begin to believe it and their actions will only live up to that expectation - perhaps even perpetuate bad behavior. This is just one thought I've had on the subject.
moonchild - welcome! Yes, I have found that those principles are some of the few I can claim as absolute truth - at least to myself. I'm so glad you enjoy the blog. Of course you can link. I will be reciprocating to yours as well. What a beautiful page. Love that header image.
Good thoughts. I believe we need to have some spiritual practice and beliefs, but we don't have to believe in something make believe. Dawkins is trying to get that across, but he has no right to degrade the value of religion. We just all need to separate the good from the bad in the current practices of mass religions, which are based on old texts with lots of violent rules. In the wrong hands, as we've seen in Islam, those texts can become very dangerous.
here's to the Goddess we can know, our Earth and all it's beuaty.
best,
David
http://glitteringstew.com/muse
David,
I agree that we could use less archaic versions of religion in the majority. I wonder though, what exactly is make-believe? I would think this is a pretty subjective term. I may believe in something that is very real to me but very silly to another. Who gets to make these distinctions and what makes them able to do so? This is something I've struggled with, especially when dealing with other Pagans whose paths are based on what I would consider fantasy.
Thanks for your comments and for reading.
>>>One day I thought to myself, "What if when we die we just break down into the planet and there is no consciousness?" That's the single most terrifying thought my brain has ever come up with.<<<
I don't understand. Why is that a terrifying thought? Not that it's what I would prefer to happen, but I don't see how the prospect of loss of consciousness is so scary.
After all, most people have no memory of personal consciousness that occurred before they were born (in fact most don't even remember their infant or toddler years either), so why should such a lack of consciousness be any different after death?
I want to stay at the party forever, but if I can't, oh well. It's not even disappointing, as by the time it were to happen there'd be no Me to be disappointed. Nothing scary about that.
Much scarier to imagine we stay conscious after death and some malicious Entity (Who loves us) makes us suffer forever because we didn't happen to accept the dominant cultural mind control propaganda.
"Much scarier to imagine we stay conscious after death and some malicious Entity (Who loves us) makes us suffer forever because we didn't happen to accept the dominant cultural mind control propaganda."
Yes that is much scarier, but somehow I find it a lot less likely than the no conciousness thing.
I guess it scares me because I have a hard time dealing with not existing in any way. I could live without a body but not without a soul. I want to believe there is more to this than just the physical life. I want to believe there was a grander purpose to it all and not that we're just animals taking a short ride on the Earth. Without that it seems like life doesn't mean much. Maybe I'm just weird though.
I go through these phases where I lose my connection and start doubting my experiences and the fear of "what if it is all wrong and there truly is nothing" is terrifying to me as well.
Thankfully I always manage to reconnect and prove once again to myself that no matter what they say the energy is there, I feel it! I know there has to be a higher source and if I didn't have that to believe in I honestly think I would probably lose all my desire to really be a good person.
I don't know how you could cope with life if you have nothing to believe in let alone live your life with no fear of judgement or karma. I guess you could do whatever you want such as Stalin and Hitler and not have a care in the world like you mentioned.
Great blog!
"I guess it scares me because I have a hard time dealing with not existing in any way. I could live without a body but not without a soul. I want to believe there is more to this than just the physical life. I want to believe there was a grander purpose to it all and not that we're just animals taking a short ride on the Earth. Without that it seems like life doesn't mean much. Maybe I'm just weird though."
That might be nice, but that doesn't make it any more true. I don't want to die either. The incomprehensible thought of not existing anymore frightens me, but I must accept it unless someone can prove that consciousness survives in some form.
Honestly, it sickens me to think that some people can only do right when they fear supernatural retribution, or look forward to some mystical reward for being a good person. How selfish are we that we cannot accept the simple warmth that comes with treating people as our brothers and sisters and the peace and harmony that comes with it?
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