Just some things to think about.
"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology." --Thomas Jefferson
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." --George Bernard Shaw
"Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning." --Albert Einstein
"When I think of all the harm the Bible has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it." --Oscar Wilde
"The Pope doesn't believe in God; did you ever see a conjurer who believed in magic?" --Coluche
"It has served us well, this myth of Christ." --Pope Leo X
"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religions in it." --John Adams
"He who feels pricked must first have been a bubble." --Lao Tzu
I guess I'm just feeling particularly anti-religion today. I found all of these great quotes, from smart people, about the stupidity of religion, and I feel like reproducing them here. If by any chance anyone is offended by these, then I'm sorry-- actually, I'm not sorry. Like Lao Tzu says: if these strike home, then there must be some fundamental weakness in your belief anyway. Like, I don't know-- the fact that you've got no good argument to back it up?
It's like Edith Sitwell says: "I am patient with stupidity, but not with those who are proud of it."
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." --George Bernard Shaw
"Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning." --Albert Einstein
"When I think of all the harm the Bible has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it." --Oscar Wilde
"The Pope doesn't believe in God; did you ever see a conjurer who believed in magic?" --Coluche
"It has served us well, this myth of Christ." --Pope Leo X
"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religions in it." --John Adams
"He who feels pricked must first have been a bubble." --Lao Tzu
I guess I'm just feeling particularly anti-religion today. I found all of these great quotes, from smart people, about the stupidity of religion, and I feel like reproducing them here. If by any chance anyone is offended by these, then I'm sorry-- actually, I'm not sorry. Like Lao Tzu says: if these strike home, then there must be some fundamental weakness in your belief anyway. Like, I don't know-- the fact that you've got no good argument to back it up?
It's like Edith Sitwell says: "I am patient with stupidity, but not with those who are proud of it."
posted by Nate at 12:05 PM
9 Comments:
Faith requires no 'good arguement'. That's why it's faith, there is no proof. :)
And, to be quite frank, that's why it appears ludicrous and dangerous to the logical-minded individual.
While I am ever cautious of engaging in religious debates - because they have a tendency with me to get quite heated and unpleasant and I find them to be, in the end, seldom worth it - I will add a comment.
Faith requires no proof, no good argument. Fine. But the problem that arises, then, is that absolutely anything can be invented with the intent of creating a new belief system.
I, for example, may found The Seventh Church of Rainbow Dinosaurs without any problem. Go to San Francisco. It can be done. And fairly cheaply, too. Hear at the SCRD, we believe that after you die, you are taken to a land of Rainbow Dinosaurs, and if you can successfully defeat your 'World Dinosaur,' equivalent to evil twin, in unarmed combat, you are ushered into a world where dinosaurs of every color of the rainbow wear fancy outfits and bring you treats and give you foot massages and the like.
Now: if I can just find enough crazy people to believe that, I'll have my own religion.
Faith is an abandonment of reason.
This is how cults get started. This is how people die. Religions are just cults that didn't get squashed. Jesus was a nut-job. Sorry.
Don't get me wrong: I believe there MIGHT be something else out there. Because there are feelings that I get and, yes, the occasional unexplainable and strange phenomenon. I am inclined to believe that we may not just be a random collection of charges and chemicals. But I've thought long and hard about it. And I've used the evidence at my fingertips.
I didn't just read a book that said 'This impossible thing happened' and then proceed to believe it. It doesn't make sense.
People are free to respond if they'd like. I'm not telling anyone to feel differently. I'm not on a mission. These are just my thoughts. Whatever anybody wants to believe, I will treat them with quiet respect.
For a long while I was inclined to take your perspective, Sebastian-- but more and more in this chaotic world of ours, it is becoming evident that the notion of "faith" is a dangerous by-product of the evolution of the human psyche, and one that must be done away with if we are to achieve any sort of global stability or civilizational harmony. To allow faith to maintain a prominent role in world culture is to resign yourself to the inevitability of senseless bigotry, hatred, and violence among humankind.
That said, I would like to join your church. Where may I find further promotional materials?
I think it's interesting that an attribute often assigned to those who use religion to justify all their actions is "stupid," as in the phrase (I'm sure you've heard) "idiotic evangelical whoreswine!" But observe:
KID A: You're dumb!
KID B: Am not! I'm smarter than you times infinity!
KID A: Oh yeah? Well I'm smarter than you times infinity plus one!
KID B: Infinity plus one doesn't exist.
Notice how Kid B jumped to the old "times infinity" immediately, instead of letting things escalate (times one hundred, times forty zillion). Notice also how he also is capable of cancelling out Kid A's protestations. Much as I hate to admit it, as he is a little bitch, Kid B in this instance was "smart." Using religion to justify is similar: you set your own rules at the start of the game and anyone who doesn't play by them (infinity plus one? the existence of another deity or none at all?) is summarily nullified by your one-step logic. So it's kinda smart, kinda bitchy, and certainly an easy way out that grants you relative impunity to act as you please because really almost any action, "good" or "bad," is justifiable using a religious argument. Other value systems make life a lot less easy, but, in my opinion, also a lot less EVIL! RELIGION IS THE ANTICHRIST! MY POINT IS MADE YOU CANNOT DISPUTE! THAT IS ALL GO IN MY NAME!
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." -Carl Sagan
I'll allow that as the current representation of my thoughts.
This reminds me of our talk last weekend--a good one. Nice quote selection. :)
The thing, David, is that I don't believe most of the stuff I take for granted is based on faith. I listen to stuff people tell me because evidence suggests that what they tell me is probably true. I know from personal experience that it is worth giving people my trust, at least at first. There is all kinds of evidence, for example, that my parents love me, or that my friends are loyal. I believe what I read in textbooks because personal experience has taught me that giving the benefit of the doubt to scientific sources will tend to point me in a rational direction. Faith is belief without evidence, and more often than not in spite of evidence.
Of course there're things that exist in the universe that are beyond our comprehension-- we're human, and our perception of the universe is limited accordingly. But when people try to fill in those gaps with ideas that "just feel right" or that they simply "know are true" without any evidence (and here I'm talking about God, Heaven, Hell, etc.), they not only defeat the desire to learn MORE about the nature of the universe, but they develop a moral righteousness which leads to bigotry. The only things we can be certain about are things we attempt to discover in a rational manner-- those, and the fact that it is dangerous to be too certain of anything.
It's like you said-- people who have faith don't doubt-- and, as my man Socrates once pointed out, "the unexamined life is not worth living."
Sebastian, you made that religion up? Who would have thought? My whole life I've believed that when I die, I would go to a place with rainbow dinosaurs who would give me foot massages. And to think this whole time, it was you.
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