Is God a Delusion?
Posted by Peter Lawler
If your stomach is feeling strong, you can actually hear and see me say a few words...
11:51 AM / February 12, 2007
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Nice snippet, Peter. I find it interesting that so many ferociously atheistic philosophies have been based on the principle of "alienation" either from our original goodness (Rousseau), or social labor (Marx) or primordial urges (Freud). You make the argument that we experience an "ineradicable" alienation here on earth from eternity and the divine. The tension between reason and revelation in Western history can be seen as one between two different interpretations of eternity, that of the philosopher and that of the faithful follower. Dawkins and Dennett seem to making the claim that this tension no longer exists since reason (of a partuclarly modern variety, Strauss would contend) has conclusively prevailed.
I am an atheist. I was raised a Catholic, switched to Episcoplian then to agnostic until my scientist brother clarified that I was indeed an atheist based on what I believe.
It took over a quarter of a century for me to formulate my own philosophy. I wont bore you with it except to say that someday, humans will have all evolved sufficiently to find resolution to God vs. No God.
I understand religion in society, today and backwards 5 million years. It is, to me clear why homo sapiens "discovered" religion and subsequently, why "those in charge" used it to keep their populations under control. However, having said that it is important that we understand that the
the "idea" of secularism is itself a religion and funnily enough is operated by its adherents exactly like the very thing they fighting against!
What I do know, is that we cannot as yet go beyond the point of singularity and until that happens it is anybodys guess as to what is and isnt.
In the meantime, reason and itellect is no guarantee to truth or honesty, it can just as easily be manipulated by brain washing as anything else.
Thank you, Sue. Your statement, the "idea" of secularism is itself a religion is refreshing to see. I WAS an atheist, and then I was not. I cannot say that it is due to any virtue on my own part that I am not one, still. Knowing myself, I know that virtue has nothing to do with it.
Perhaps I "devolved"? There was no human agent that inveigled me into belief, nor does anyone control me through my belief. I can find the relationship with God very inconvenient, and yet, find God inescapably true and cant ignore that truth. I can no more explain Him to you than I could describe the flavor of something you have never tasted. Yet, to me, to have someone say that God is not is as absurd as for someone to tell you that you had no mother or that you have no skin. For me, God simply is. Peters explanation is grand, but is too complex for me, to whom God "is" through my experience. Understanding came later, and is, confessedly, incomplete.
Thanks, Kate, you made my morning...
Peter, you are so welcome! To be inadvertently so pleasing is...well, pleasing.