I've got a hankering to write something about any number of recent political atrocities, but no time today. So instead I thought I'd take one more bash on the useless stupidity of religion.
A lot of religion's half-baked defenders stupidly argue that religion is just a vehicle by which inevitable human stupidity operates. To call for the abandonment of religious delusion in the hopes that rational thinking will triumph and human error decrease is like King Canute ordering the tide to roll back. The fact that the same thing could be said for capitalism or patriarchy doesn't stop them from ceaselessly attacking those two dangerous relics though.
Another argument though is that while religion might undeniably do a lot of harm, it also does a great deal of good and the harm that it causes is usually inflicted upon us by the stupid amongst the religious. Again, leave religion alone because all the people who embrace this uselesss, deluded view of existence aren't stupid and are pretty much decent, ordinary people, as well as some truly admirable saints.
So, ... don't tell people that they should abandon delusions?
I present to you, the Superman Religion. I and my fellow adherents of the Superman Church believe that we are all Kryptonions from the planet Krypton and we are possessed of super-human powers as a result of the effect of the rays of Earth's red sun. We all believe we are capable of leaping tall buildings, outrunning speeding bullets, and can beat powerful locomotives in arm-wrestling, shot-put and what-not. We also believe that we should help our adopted planet and we therefore pursue truth, justice and the American way on a daily basis.
Of course, our religion is based on the probably false claims of the original church members who demonstrated all these abilities in secret 400 years ago and who wrote all the texts of our Church. None of us has ever really "tested" our faith by trying to fly from jumping off a sky-scraper or stopping an 18-wheeler from running over a puppy, or anything like that. But it certainly gives us confidence when we walk around having convinced ourselves that should we ever try to do any of those things we might just pull it off. And, the idealism of our faith inspires us to live with self-respect and as valuable members of the community.
Waitaminnit. Did I say that NONE of us has ever tried to fly or stop a truck or outrun a speeding bullet. Okay, okay, ... A FEW of the Church's membership has tried to do these things over the years. They were members of the Church, but they were obviously frauds, because they failed utterly and died. Only true Kryptonions can do these things. It's gauche though, to enter into contests with Church members to see who's a bona-fide Kryptonion and who is a wannabe.
And I see nothing whatsoever wrong with living my life according to this stupid, transparently deluded fantasy and I see no reason whatsoever to instead follow what the evidence before me and the tested claims of other informed individuals. There is simply no good reason to say that I should stop being a fucking idiot and to stop believing that I'm Superman.
2 comments:
People can believe as they choose, thwap. But they can't -- or at least shouldn't -- be able to enshrine those beliefs in public policy.
Owen,
Oh, I believe that people can believe whatever they want. I just find it ridiculous that people accuse Atheist critics of religion as being just as fundamentalist and intolerant as the worst religious fanatics.
For all I know, you might be religious. But eventually, all religious people have to admit to a deep need for faith without evidence to justify themselves. Much more so than anybody agreeing to undergo treatment for cancer would have to do today.
The mindless critique of Richard Dawkins and others like him rests more on the aura of respectability that the word "religion" has managed to force out of us all after millenia of propaganda. Even ludicrous drivel like Scientology, invented by a self-professed huckster, is starting to gain respectability as a "faith" in some quarters. What other similar form of nonsense could achieve that outside of the scam of "religion"?
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