The answer I seem to receive the most from people when I ask them why they believe in whatever supernatural entity they believe in, these are my two most common responses. The most common is without a deity, the universe makes no sense to them. I'll address that one in a later post. The second most common answer, and the one that frustrates me the most though is, "well I just find belief to be comforting."
This answer bothers me for a few reasons. The first of which is that I know, for the most part, where they're coming from. That was the last vestige of belief that I myself held onto on my path to atheism. It can be reassuring to think that there's something after your body ceases to function, that there's some all powerful being looking out for you, that there's a purpose to life.
Now I'm not saying I have all the answers, far from it, but I thought I'd share what I've come to realise about these concerns. There's more in this world, the here and now to find solace in, than in some benevolent omnipotent sky god. Why can't your own happiness, however you define it, be the purpose, the driving factor in you life.
Is the world really so bad that the only way to get through the day is wishing for some imaginary paradise. I just can't understand that point of view. Even on my worst days there's always something I can find that makes me glad just to have ability to enjoy it, whatever it may be.
But what I find the most disheartening about this view is it makes people lazy. Lazy to seek out the wondrous in this world. Lazy to attempt to find answers to the mysteries all around us.
Why bother, after all, if it's so much better elsewhere?
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- Josh Hodding
- Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Atheist, Skeptic, Libertarian and all around Shit Disturber
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6 comments:
While I agree with your conclusion that an imaginary paradise tends to make one lazy, I also think that just the concept of "something" after is what is comforting. If our only purpose is to breed then rot and be happy if we can while we do it, that can be pretty uncomfortable. Surely, there must be more to it. And therein lies the comfort.
Perhaps I should clarify a bit. I play the lottery form time to time, most people do. What I don't do, however, is neglect the life I'm living now because there's a slim chance my life tomorrow could be better for winning the lottery.
What I was trying to get at in my post was, don't squander the present on the chance of an afterlife.
OK, agree with the addedum and the supplementary post. Make the most of the time in hand. But playing the lottery? Talk about banking on the improbable! And ultimately, isn't that what a belief in something "other" ( call it what you will, Yahweh, Allah, Zeus, Zen, Krishna)is? The ultimate lottery ticket? Sure, if I waste the time I have right here right now then I lose. But what if Harlan Ellison was right? And you choose what happens next? You buy your lottery ticket. I've already got mine.
P.S. Sorry, re-reading this it all sounds a bit snarky and it's not meant to be. I quess I need to work on my tone.
So your arguement is basically Pascal's Wager. But the main problwm to that, as I see it, is in order to win that wager, you have to believe in a specific deity, and with so many out there, you stand a better chance of winning the lottery than choosing the right god to worship.
Someone who's thought far more about just this thing is Sam Haris, here's a link to his take on the subject.
http://richarddawkins.net/article,898,n,n
I've thought about this alot over the past few months. My husband is a raging atheist a la Richard Dawkins. I'm not sure where I stand. I don't, however, have a problem with people having belief systems. Who cares if they believe to be comforted? What is it to you or me? It's what they choose, after all. Anti-religion stances bug me a bit because of that. On the same wavelength, if it liberates you to believe that this life is all we got so live it up, that's great too. While 80% of the population considers itself "Christian", probably only 5% of those are devout, so it's a small portion (albeit the most vocal portion) who is actually squadering their life by saving it for Jesus. I admit that the thing that holds me back from declaring myself to be an Atheist is a fear of death. However, I am FAR from religious and thinking about death is the only time the religion issue comes up for me, and the fear is slowly fading so I'll be there one day. I'm a science gal, and I could care less about spirituality. But I see some really good people get alot out of it, and if it works for them that's great. If they are too freaky about it I just avoid them until they get the hint. Fundamentalism is what should be outlawed, be it religious zeal or nationalism... I wonder if the idea of countries could be as bullshit as religion. It seems like the human race won't get anywhere until they stop fighting over invisible borders.
Rereading this, I realize that I contradict myself, but I haven't decided whether I'm against religion or just plain don't care one way or the other.
Sorry this comment is so long. It's your blog after all :)
I understand your point about letting people believe what they want to believe and leaving it at that.
If only it worked that way.
While I agree that it is likely that the majority of religious folks aren't overt in their beliefs, I think there is a problem with it. You bring up the problem of fundamentalism and that is where my problem with moderates lie. Very much like Sam Harris, I feel that those with moderate religious beliefs are in some ways complicit in the actions of fundamentalists. Allow me to explain what I mean by that. Moderate Christians believe in the Bible as the word of God, as do the fundamentalists. If you don't believe that, you're not a christian. Most of what fundamentalist do and say comes directly from scripture, the only difference between moderates and zealots is interpretation. So unless God writes a new book, leaving out all the murder and intolerance, the bible will always be open to different interpretations. And I don't really see that happening, do you?
So that leaves us with only two options as I see it. Either we keep our opinions to ourselves and put up with extremism, or we speak out about all religion, because as long as the bible is accepted as devine scripture, we're stuck with both moderates and fundamentalists.
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