Post by AuntieSocial on Mar 28, 2004 20:04:00 GMT -5
Columnist corrects assertions, 'religiously motivated drivel'[/b]
Click here to read the article on the original site
Publication: The State News; MSU’s Independent Voice
Publication Date: March 22, 2004
Author: John Bice
One of the unexpected benefits of writing an occasional opinion column is the feedback it generates. Many of the e-mail responses I receive are well-considered and interesting, however, my most entertaining type of feedback falls into another category entirely. I like to call it "religiously motivated drivel." Consequently, I was delighted to read a collection of such observations in an opinion column a few weeks ago. I'll cover some highlights.
Faulty assertion #1: Atheists unjustifiably impose their minority views on the majority.
I would love to never write another word about the violence, hatred, anti-intellectualism and scientific ignorance often spawned by religion. Unfortunately, the religious refuse to keep their beliefs private. Social policy, scientific funding, public education curriculum, gay-marriage amendments and endless attempts to litter public space with the Ten Commandments are some examples of how religious beliefs are imposed on us all. Religionists habitually push their beliefs on others, but recoil when their beliefs are subsequently criticized. "How dare you attack my religion!" They can't have it both ways.
Faulty assertion #2: Educated Americans understand a world without God is empty and meaningless.
Clearly, religion offers meaning and purpose for many people's lives. The Sept. 11 suicide pilots spring to mind, however, belief in God is certainly not required. I haven't believed in Santa, gods, angels or demons for years. Somehow, I manage to find life quite meaningful. In fact, history is replete with atheists and agnostics who were great achievers and lovers of life.
"Educated Americans," in fact, are less likely to be believers, especially if they are knowledgeable in the sciences. Belief in an all-powerful invisible man is highest among people who haven't finished high school (more than 90 percent in a Harris Poll), and lowest in National Academy of Sciences members (only 7 percent, reported in Nature). The Barna Research Group found "the more education a person gets the less likely they are to believe that heaven and hell exists." Fairy tales often are quite vulnerable to a quality education.
Faulty assertion #3: Religion might have resulted in the deaths of many people, but the leaders of godless communist regimes have killed many more.
Undoubtedly, humans can be a nasty bunch. People tend to fight and kill for a number of reasons: greed, power, lust, jealously, etc. Human foibles are at the root of many horrors, however, organized religion is a preventable addition to the list.
How many people have been killed in the name of atheism? Probably zero. Atheism is not a belief; it's a lack of belief. The word atheism is "a" (without) and "theism" (belief in a god). People don't kill in the name of a nonbelief.
Communist regimes also lacked belief in the existence of leprechauns, unicorns and a number of other possibilities. Atrocities committed by such regimes were no more performed in the name of atheism than they were in the name of a-leprechaunism.
Throughout history, countries with high levels of religiosity, including the United States, have committed acts of violence that were as inappropriate and excessive as Communist regimes. Many acts, such as the barbarous extermination of Native Americans, while somewhat related to religious beliefs, specifically were not done in the name of religion. Such acts, even when performed by religious governments, are not among my list of religiously motivated atrocities. Similarly, I do not include the Catholic priests who sexually violated children in the category of acts committed in the name of religion. Those acts of criminal sexual depravity, while committed by deeply religious people, were motivated for nonreligious and unfathomable reasons.
Religiously motivated atrocities, in contrast, are acts of murder and violence specifically executed in the name of god or religion. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Israel and Palestine bloodbath, incidents in Northern Ireland, Kashmir and countless other examples throughout history are horrors motivated explicitly and fundamentally by religious fervor.
Although the Catholic Church no longer is openly butchering people, it still is involved in death and suffering. In an opinion piece I wrote for the Lansing State Journal, "Church stand on HIV horrifies," I examined a misinformation campaign perpetrated by the Vatican. In countries stricken by AIDS, a senior Vatican cardinal spread the lie that the HIV virus moves directly through condoms.
Why would the Vatican lie about condoms and risk millions of avoidable deaths? It's simple. Church officials find condom use a deplorable sin. The World Health Organization estimates AIDS has already "killed more than 20 million people and currently affects around 42 million." Apparently, church officials prefer to watch AIDS kill millions than to accept "sexual pleasure separated from procreation." The Vatican, motivated to impose its archaic concepts of morality and sexuality on the world, chooses dogma over human life.
Faulty assertion #4: The "big bang" couldn't have just happened; God must have caused it.
This exposes a logical error ubiquitous in much religious and antiscientific thought. This type of thinking is known as "god of the gaps," and essentially argues that "gaps" in scientific knowledge are best explained by acts of God. Back in the olden days, many ignorant people argued that lightning and volcanoes were the obvious work of gods. Regrettably, many people continue to demonstrate cognitive similarities with our ignorant and uneducated, superstitious ancestors. At least our distant ancestors had an excuse.
Over time, science has erased much ignorance. Gaps in knowledge have become fewer and fewer, and gods, displaced from their presumptive pedestal of control, are relegated to a moment of "creation."
In science and philosophy, there is a maxim called Ockham's Razor. Essentially, it means, "all things being equal, the simpler of two explanations is to be preferred." It's more rational to tentatively conclude that some fundamental characteristics of nature were uncreated than to claim an uncreated "super being" then created the fundamental laws of nature. Clearly, being exceedingly concerned with rationality is not a typical characteristic of religious thought.
John Bice is an MSU staff member. He can be reached at bice@msu.edu
Click here to read the article on the original site
Publication: The State News; MSU’s Independent Voice
Publication Date: March 22, 2004
Author: John Bice
One of the unexpected benefits of writing an occasional opinion column is the feedback it generates. Many of the e-mail responses I receive are well-considered and interesting, however, my most entertaining type of feedback falls into another category entirely. I like to call it "religiously motivated drivel." Consequently, I was delighted to read a collection of such observations in an opinion column a few weeks ago. I'll cover some highlights.
Faulty assertion #1: Atheists unjustifiably impose their minority views on the majority.
I would love to never write another word about the violence, hatred, anti-intellectualism and scientific ignorance often spawned by religion. Unfortunately, the religious refuse to keep their beliefs private. Social policy, scientific funding, public education curriculum, gay-marriage amendments and endless attempts to litter public space with the Ten Commandments are some examples of how religious beliefs are imposed on us all. Religionists habitually push their beliefs on others, but recoil when their beliefs are subsequently criticized. "How dare you attack my religion!" They can't have it both ways.
Faulty assertion #2: Educated Americans understand a world without God is empty and meaningless.
Clearly, religion offers meaning and purpose for many people's lives. The Sept. 11 suicide pilots spring to mind, however, belief in God is certainly not required. I haven't believed in Santa, gods, angels or demons for years. Somehow, I manage to find life quite meaningful. In fact, history is replete with atheists and agnostics who were great achievers and lovers of life.
"Educated Americans," in fact, are less likely to be believers, especially if they are knowledgeable in the sciences. Belief in an all-powerful invisible man is highest among people who haven't finished high school (more than 90 percent in a Harris Poll), and lowest in National Academy of Sciences members (only 7 percent, reported in Nature). The Barna Research Group found "the more education a person gets the less likely they are to believe that heaven and hell exists." Fairy tales often are quite vulnerable to a quality education.
Faulty assertion #3: Religion might have resulted in the deaths of many people, but the leaders of godless communist regimes have killed many more.
Undoubtedly, humans can be a nasty bunch. People tend to fight and kill for a number of reasons: greed, power, lust, jealously, etc. Human foibles are at the root of many horrors, however, organized religion is a preventable addition to the list.
How many people have been killed in the name of atheism? Probably zero. Atheism is not a belief; it's a lack of belief. The word atheism is "a" (without) and "theism" (belief in a god). People don't kill in the name of a nonbelief.
Communist regimes also lacked belief in the existence of leprechauns, unicorns and a number of other possibilities. Atrocities committed by such regimes were no more performed in the name of atheism than they were in the name of a-leprechaunism.
Throughout history, countries with high levels of religiosity, including the United States, have committed acts of violence that were as inappropriate and excessive as Communist regimes. Many acts, such as the barbarous extermination of Native Americans, while somewhat related to religious beliefs, specifically were not done in the name of religion. Such acts, even when performed by religious governments, are not among my list of religiously motivated atrocities. Similarly, I do not include the Catholic priests who sexually violated children in the category of acts committed in the name of religion. Those acts of criminal sexual depravity, while committed by deeply religious people, were motivated for nonreligious and unfathomable reasons.
Religiously motivated atrocities, in contrast, are acts of murder and violence specifically executed in the name of god or religion. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Israel and Palestine bloodbath, incidents in Northern Ireland, Kashmir and countless other examples throughout history are horrors motivated explicitly and fundamentally by religious fervor.
Although the Catholic Church no longer is openly butchering people, it still is involved in death and suffering. In an opinion piece I wrote for the Lansing State Journal, "Church stand on HIV horrifies," I examined a misinformation campaign perpetrated by the Vatican. In countries stricken by AIDS, a senior Vatican cardinal spread the lie that the HIV virus moves directly through condoms.
Why would the Vatican lie about condoms and risk millions of avoidable deaths? It's simple. Church officials find condom use a deplorable sin. The World Health Organization estimates AIDS has already "killed more than 20 million people and currently affects around 42 million." Apparently, church officials prefer to watch AIDS kill millions than to accept "sexual pleasure separated from procreation." The Vatican, motivated to impose its archaic concepts of morality and sexuality on the world, chooses dogma over human life.
Faulty assertion #4: The "big bang" couldn't have just happened; God must have caused it.
This exposes a logical error ubiquitous in much religious and antiscientific thought. This type of thinking is known as "god of the gaps," and essentially argues that "gaps" in scientific knowledge are best explained by acts of God. Back in the olden days, many ignorant people argued that lightning and volcanoes were the obvious work of gods. Regrettably, many people continue to demonstrate cognitive similarities with our ignorant and uneducated, superstitious ancestors. At least our distant ancestors had an excuse.
Over time, science has erased much ignorance. Gaps in knowledge have become fewer and fewer, and gods, displaced from their presumptive pedestal of control, are relegated to a moment of "creation."
In science and philosophy, there is a maxim called Ockham's Razor. Essentially, it means, "all things being equal, the simpler of two explanations is to be preferred." It's more rational to tentatively conclude that some fundamental characteristics of nature were uncreated than to claim an uncreated "super being" then created the fundamental laws of nature. Clearly, being exceedingly concerned with rationality is not a typical characteristic of religious thought.
John Bice is an MSU staff member. He can be reached at bice@msu.edu
