"Well, if you don’t believe in God, you must think YOU'RE GOD." "If you don't worship God, what DO you worship?"
Likely if you’ve ever been in more than a passing conversation with a fundie you’ve been on the receiving end of those statements.
Likely if you’ve ever been in more than a passing conversation with a fundie you’ve been on the receiving end of those statements.
The problem this exposes is they cannot conceive of someone NOT having belief in the supernatural; can't fathom anyone NOT being dependent on some "greater power"; are incapable of believing people can lead perfectly happy and normal lives WITHOUT being a slave to the religious meme, and kowtowing to some ancient mythical superstition.
So in the future, instead of trying to explain how rejection of the god concept from Zeus to Isis to Jesus, et al requires no substitute, I’m going to declare a "god": My “gods” are Reason, Reality, Logic, and the Never Ending Quest for Knowledge through Discovery. It is manifested in the “Trinity” of Rationalism, Empiricism, and Naturalism. Its “church/temple/mosque/synagogue” resides within our minds.
I “worship” Critical Thinking; the Scientific Method; Supportable Evidence; Man's Drive, Desire and Ability to Learn; his desire to break free from the darkness of superstition and the blind belief born of nomadic sand people, or 2nd Century cultists, or Hellenistic seers, or aboriginal shaman.
My “gods” demand no tithing, no praying, no kneeling, no sacrifice, no vestments, no sacred garments. No symbolic consumption of human flesh or blood is necessary. It threatens no eternal damnation, nor dangles a promise of eternal reward. It doesn't demand blind belief with no evidence of the nonexistent nor the lockstep acceptance of any of its premises.
My “ gods' ” only dogma is continued expansion of knowledge; revising understanding as new discoveries warrant; reading; exchange of ideas grounded in reality; weighing hard evidence and making informed decisions unencumbered by any agenda other than recognizing how much there is we've learned, and how much more we can learn if not a slave to ancient fears and ignorance.
My “gods” have only two commandments:
1. “Ask questions & seek answers grounded in reality.”
2. "Go read a freekin science, history, or philosophy book. Education is a sacrament."
1. “Ask questions & seek answers grounded in reality.”
2. "Go read a freekin science, history, or philosophy book. Education is a sacrament."
2 comments:
Hi, Hump, I'm following you blog through my dashboard. I think I was an Atheist from the go, albeit mimicked a Catholic for a few years, then an Episcopalian, but in reality I was always looking for the arguments that would provide some credibility to the idea of gods... and found none so far... Any way, at certain instance of my life it was necessary for me to address the issue of a higher power and found that indeed there is one that extends beyond my mind consciousness, and it is just the whole consciousness of my being. That higher power of my whole consciousness helped me to turn my tendency to look for solutions in the ingestion of alcohol into a sober life (a quarter of a century so far) and remit a cancerous development in my digestive track. That is already twenty years plus free of cancerous conditions... without any intervention of the medical science beyond a healthy monitoring of the developments...
The issue I discuss often is what our science has done to understand the consciousness participation in the make up of our nature. Supported and influenced by our biological make up, and supporting and influencing our biological make up... in a way reminiscent of C.Jung's synchronicity concepts... is what appears to be... but science isn't focusing on that, as I see it... rather biology centers in a chemical view of the whole business... which in turn is only partial... anyway, what we know so far isn't helping to find support for any line of thought... except to exclude any godly bull...
Good Blogging... I'm viewing more of your old postings...
Feliz Bitácora.
Frank
http://rommey-onthebridge.blogspot.com/
romney,
The human mind is a powerful thing. That it can have control over our physical nature/condition, both consciously and unconsciously induced, for both good and ill effect, has always been a source of amazement to me.
what science does in its quest to unravel the mysteries of the mind will present both ethical and moral issues. But I welcome it as I do any source of discovery and knowledge.
Welcome and thks for your input.
come back often.
Hump
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