Rubénerd ツ

Common sense, we hardly knew thee…

I’m well aware these observations have been made by many rational people before, but I’m just putting them on the record here too.

• Isn’t it funny [most of] those who claim to be "pro life" overwhelmingly support the death penalty? This isn’t even touching on the issues surrounding legitimate medical research. (see the comments thread for revisions)

• Isn’t it funny those who claim to be "pro family" want to deny so many loving and responsible people the right to have one based on arbitrary critera for which they have no evidence affects their abilities?

• And isn’t it also funny that those who are quick to dismiss sciences such as evolutionary biology, astronomy and geology suddenly change their minds when it works in their favour?

Everybody has the right to choose what they believe, but that doesn’t mean we should reject common sense. If certain religious beliefs (and conspiracy theories too while we’re at it) are hindering social, moral, scientific and medical progress, it’s time to review them. I know enough moderate religious people who agree with me on this to know it’s possible.

My last attempt at a post like this generated more hate mail than any I’ve ever had before. Hey, as long as people are thinking about these issues I’m (as I always say) cautiously optimistic :-).

I seem to be having trouble with Google Reader this afternoon, it won’t let me comment on stories (perhaps it’s frustrated I haven’t cooked a grilled cheese sandwich in a few days). So instead I’m posting the story summaries here and commenting on them with Clipmarky goodness!

RichardDawkins.net: Bloomington Rejects ‘You Can Be Good Without God’; Lawsuit Underway

Bloomington was first on the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign’s list of places it hoped to run bus ads. However, the city has rejected our campaign’s slogan, ‘You Can Be Good Without God.’ This is deeply disappointing to our campaign’s members; we all love Bloomington and were very much hoping to run ads in our hometown along with many other cities.

Go to original Clipmark >

I have a hard time believing that faith in Gods is a nesissary precondition to being good. In fact, I’d wager more than a few grilled sandwiches that people who don’t believe are often more moral because they’re not just doing things for a divine reward or because they’re afraid of the divine Hell punishment if they don’t, they’re moral because they they know it’s the right thing to do.

Conversely, I have a hard time believing my religious friends who are moral, honest and caring people would regress into immoral, nasty people if religion disappeared, or that they’re only friendly people because they’re religious. It’s an insult to their character.

What I find interesting is that Christianity uses the threat of everlasting Hell to scare people into believing, but Judaism doesn’t: at least not in the same sense. When I was really studying religion a few years ago I was told that the closest the Jewish faith has to a Hell is "Gehenna" which is more akin to purgatory or a waiting area where wicked people are sent for a definite period of time, measured in months. Judaism also has what I would consider an enlightened, almost Buddhist philosophy that hell is also a mental state where the feelings of shame you have is the punishment itself. I don’t believe in the Jewish faith as much as I don’t believe in any other for the reasons I’ve stated many times here, but it’s an interesting observation.

Now I really am going to Hell aren’t I? ^_^

Sam Harris, photo by Sara Allan from Skeptic.com. One of the people on my life list of people I’d love to meet. And he has a sense of humour!

It seems one of my more philosophical posts from March last year is still stirring up controversy. I commented on a BBC report that stated religious people are happier than the non-religious, then proceeded to pontificate on the reasons why our brains crave faith without evidence, and how wishing something to be true isn’t evidence in it’s favour.

A comment posted this afternoon to my moderation queue from Mari Thomas got the grey matter pumping again:

I commend you for realizing that holding to a belief simply because of comfort or pleasant results is not necessarily worthwhile. For our beliefs about life to be worthwhile, those beliefs must be based upon truth– evidence. Faith without a knowledge of the evidence behind it is, indeed, lacking in value.

Various religions and beliefs about God abound around the world. Beware of the weighty assumption that there is no God. This assumption permeates the mind similar to the blind acceptance of religion.

If you desire to be open-minded, I challenge you to research the records of history to see if the evidence reveals that there is or is not a God.

I am a Christian, but not simply because of what I have been taught. I believe that the historical evidence of Christ points to the truth of His claim “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

I recommend the book Evidence for Christianity by Josh McDowell. It portrays some of the evidence found by the man who set out to disprove Christianity and was against religion in general. Interesting and worthwhile material.

Rather than specifically defending my position and launching into a debate as to the authenticity of the Bible which would unravel any subsequent arguments, I thought I’d try a fresh approach:

I appreciate your comment Mari, but I would say that if you are to challenge me to look into the evidence for your particular God and faith, I would challenge you to do the same. As the author of "The End of Faith" Sam Harris said, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and the evidence provided in defence of any religion so far is either insufficient or (for want of a better word)… terrible!

I admire that you have the conviction to not believe something unless it’s true. As I do, you clearly don’t believe in any other religions because there’s insufficient or terrible evidence for them, so I know it’s possible for you to visualise how others view yours.

I don’t try to convert people, but for many of those who’ve tried to call me out on my atheism before have at least conceded this point. By all means be a Christian, but I’d advise against using the reason that there’s evidence for it to justify it.

I do approve of hearty philosophical discussions, but I’m starting to think I may need another blog or avenue to do it… at some point on a software blog I should talk about software ^_^. I’m not Bill Kurtis.