I've always been intrigued by the God question, but the whole debate about the existence of God had seemed rather pointless to me after a while, with the same arguments repeated over and over again, culminating always in an uneasy stalemate. The debate, however, is as entertaining as debates can get - especially if you like to play the devil's advocate. It isn't possible to argue logically with 'true' believers, while 'enlightened' non-believers never stop arguing their case, even against a brick wall (which is entertaining enough, in its own way, for the casual observer). The long and short of it (why do they say 'the long and short' when they just mean 'the short' anyway? And why do they use 'they' when they should use 'we'?Aaaarg!) is that the Darwinian Atheists will initially patiently, then eventually in increasing 'tear out my hair' exasperation try to explain the elegance of the evolutionary theory of creation to the obstinate Creationists, who usually counter vociferously with the "complexity needs a designer" argument, or failing that, attack Science itself as being an act of faith.
Personally, I'd like to think of myself as an agnostic and think that, even if (perhaps, especially if!) an omniscient God does exist, then my belief, or non-belief in Him should not, theoretically,matter at all in the grand scheme of things. In fact, why am I saying "Him"? Why not "Her"? Or "it"? When even our language cannot fix a label to __, how do we expect our thoughts to understand __? And then, am I supposed to fight and argue and kill and die for things like where this nameless, undescribable, ununderstandable entity was 'born' or 'died'?
The most useful approach for an agnostic would be, to not get bogged up in the argument of existence or non-existence of God, but rather ask the question "Does it benefit humanity as a whole to believe?". I suspect the answer to that would be more complex that a cursory Yes or No. Historical evidence of religious wars and percecution would suggest quite emphatically that it definetely does NOT benefit humanity to believe in more than one God... However, beharioral scientists would suggest that people need a way to reduce uncertainty in their lives, and some would go even go so far as to say that civilization would have collapsed had it not been for the moderating influence of religion, and the 'morality' it enforces.
So, by those arguments, I would go along with believing in one God (any one!), for utilitarian purposes, if the rest of humanity can reach a consensus on that one God. Since it clearly cannot, and since clearly believing in one of many conflicting ones would (as history suggests) make me either part of the killers or part of the killed, it seems I am resigned to being an Atheist after all. Richard Dawkins (currently the world's best selling Atheist!) puts it like this - Technically all atheists should be agnostics, for we can't actually 'disprove' that something exists. In that sense, of course, I am as agnostic about God as about fairies, or goblins or flying pigs!
Watch these very interesting documentaries for more substantiative viewpoints :
The God Delusion
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x1a3gf_lillusione-di-dio-13-richard-dawkin
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x1a2m1_lillusione-di-dio-23-richard-dawkin
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x1a088_lillusione-di-dio-33-richard-dawkin
The Virus of Faith
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x18jrc_il-virus-della-fede-13richard-dawki
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x18jfw_il-virus-della-fede-23richard-dawki
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x18fjg_il-virus-della-fede-33richard-dawki
What would be really interesting, is if similar logical and reasonable arguments can be made for the other side of the fence. Then we (I!!!) would really be stuck.
Personally, I'd like to think of myself as an agnostic and think that, even if (perhaps, especially if!) an omniscient God does exist, then my belief, or non-belief in Him should not, theoretically,matter at all in the grand scheme of things. In fact, why am I saying "Him"? Why not "Her"? Or "it"? When even our language cannot fix a label to __, how do we expect our thoughts to understand __? And then, am I supposed to fight and argue and kill and die for things like where this nameless, undescribable, ununderstandable entity was 'born' or 'died'?
The most useful approach for an agnostic would be, to not get bogged up in the argument of existence or non-existence of God, but rather ask the question "Does it benefit humanity as a whole to believe?". I suspect the answer to that would be more complex that a cursory Yes or No. Historical evidence of religious wars and percecution would suggest quite emphatically that it definetely does NOT benefit humanity to believe in more than one God... However, beharioral scientists would suggest that people need a way to reduce uncertainty in their lives, and some would go even go so far as to say that civilization would have collapsed had it not been for the moderating influence of religion, and the 'morality' it enforces.
So, by those arguments, I would go along with believing in one God (any one!), for utilitarian purposes, if the rest of humanity can reach a consensus on that one God. Since it clearly cannot, and since clearly believing in one of many conflicting ones would (as history suggests) make me either part of the killers or part of the killed, it seems I am resigned to being an Atheist after all. Richard Dawkins (currently the world's best selling Atheist!) puts it like this - Technically all atheists should be agnostics, for we can't actually 'disprove' that something exists. In that sense, of course, I am as agnostic about God as about fairies, or goblins or flying pigs!
Watch these very interesting documentaries for more substantiative viewpoints :
The God Delusion
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x1a3gf_lillusione-di-dio-13-richard-dawkin
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x1a2m1_lillusione-di-dio-23-richard-dawkin
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x1a088_lillusione-di-dio-33-richard-dawkin
The Virus of Faith
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x18jrc_il-virus-della-fede-13richard-dawki
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x18jfw_il-virus-della-fede-23richard-dawki
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/richard+dawkins/video/x18fjg_il-virus-della-fede-33richard-dawki
What would be really interesting, is if similar logical and reasonable arguments can be made for the other side of the fence. Then we (I!!!) would really be stuck.
3 comments:
Interesting one!
Blasphemous it may sound, but I guess God is an assumption that makes it quite convenient for us to put blame or responsibility of things that don't go our way on someone.
Some time ago I made a post on my take on the topic-
http://anattempt2write.blogspot.com/2007/03/does-god-exist.html#links
That's a good shout, Nikesh. Jolly good read.
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