Why do we have faith? Religion?
If God didn't exist, we would have to invent him/her. Why? Why do people need faith/belief?
If there were no God, no afterlife, then everything we do here is a waste...
If there is no God, no judgment, then those that live against the rules will not get their just desserts in the end...
If there is no God, no heaven, then all those that have died, are gone forever...
If there is no God, no afterlife, then when I die.....
People face these situations and the alternative to God and an afterlife is intolerable.
A friend suggested to me yesterday that we could have a conversation about God and the afterlife when I was on my deathbed. She has a point. Many people that profess no belief in God or the afterlife have "deathbed conversions". It is obvious that the fear of death can only be diminished by the hope that death is not final.
I am going to start a series of posts but I am going start with some guidelines.
You can scream and point to all kinds of evidence that the plane is going to crash, but NO ONE is going to jump out of the plane without a parachute. Unfortunately, people will prefer to die safe in their beliefs than to abandon them.
This is the failure of atheists. They stand on the crashing plane with their self righteous position that at least they will die knowing the truth. Of course, everyone else thinks they're nuts because THEY know the REAL truth. In the end, they all die and those of us left to clean up the mess are no better off.
In Carl Sagan's Contact, Dr Arroway is asked if she believes 95% of the worlds population is delusional. She can't answer yes. Because the 95% believe that because 95% believe, they are correct. To those 95%, the belief in a higher power is so self evident that to dispute it is to be a nut case not worthy of further conversation.
My position is the result of DECADES of effort to set aside 27 years of indoctrination. I can never be completely free of the years of education and years of immersion in religion. I am who I am BECAUSE of that immersion. If we had an island and put children there who have never been given knowledge of God, would they form a belief in "God"? Even my decision to abandon God is tainted by the knowledge that religion and this society drilled into me.
If there were no God, no afterlife, then everything we do here is a waste...
If there is no God, no judgment, then those that live against the rules will not get their just desserts in the end...
If there is no God, no heaven, then all those that have died, are gone forever...
If there is no God, no afterlife, then when I die.....
People face these situations and the alternative to God and an afterlife is intolerable.
A friend suggested to me yesterday that we could have a conversation about God and the afterlife when I was on my deathbed. She has a point. Many people that profess no belief in God or the afterlife have "deathbed conversions". It is obvious that the fear of death can only be diminished by the hope that death is not final.
I am going to start a series of posts but I am going start with some guidelines.
You can scream and point to all kinds of evidence that the plane is going to crash, but NO ONE is going to jump out of the plane without a parachute. Unfortunately, people will prefer to die safe in their beliefs than to abandon them.
This is the failure of atheists. They stand on the crashing plane with their self righteous position that at least they will die knowing the truth. Of course, everyone else thinks they're nuts because THEY know the REAL truth. In the end, they all die and those of us left to clean up the mess are no better off.
In Carl Sagan's Contact, Dr Arroway is asked if she believes 95% of the worlds population is delusional. She can't answer yes. Because the 95% believe that because 95% believe, they are correct. To those 95%, the belief in a higher power is so self evident that to dispute it is to be a nut case not worthy of further conversation.
My position is the result of DECADES of effort to set aside 27 years of indoctrination. I can never be completely free of the years of education and years of immersion in religion. I am who I am BECAUSE of that immersion. If we had an island and put children there who have never been given knowledge of God, would they form a belief in "God"? Even my decision to abandon God is tainted by the knowledge that religion and this society drilled into me.
posted by Tracy Coyle at 7:08 PM
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