One of the arguments used by Christians is that,
If there is no God Almighty, how could so many people believe in him?
The answer to that is simple:
It is easier to believe than not to.
Is it not nice to know that all the injustice in the world will eventually be avenged?
Is it not nice to know that you are not alone in your struggle against your personal tragedies?
Is it not nice to know that if you pray hard enough, your wishes might be granted?
Is it not nice to know that,
the loved ones that died somehow still exist somewhere waiting for you?
What if all the suffering is meaningless?
What if no higher being gives a shxt about the starving crowds in Africa?
What if my grandfather is forever lost to us, both body and soul, the moment he passed away?
What if there is only nothingness after I die?
That is kind of scary, actually.
It takes a lot of real courage to look at life as it is, and be a true atheist before new evidence surface.
Most of us who are not convinced by the illogical doctrines of existing religions
merely hide in the shadow of agnostism,
because it is so much easier.
It is so much easier to think that there is some higher Body looking after us,
and that there is existence after death.
Just like it is easy to convince a dying cancer patient that drinking homeopathic potions could treat him.
However, the naturalness, the ease to believe in such things never grants them any credit of being true.
Simply because you want to believe something doesn't mean it's true.
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6 comments:
Your theory of "easier to believe than not to" is only true in today's Americas and Europe.
The first few generations of Christians were all risking their lives in openly talking about their faith. The Rome government used all kinds of cruel punishments (including feeding them to lions and crucifixion) just to make these belivers openly abandoned their faith. Although some of them did concede, many of them died because they refused to do so.
Things didn't change much along the course of history, as you can still hear/see similar kind of oppressions in many countries today (this including most communist countries, largest of them being China).
As about the one answer you get, it may not be satisfying at all. But hey, will you critize the validity of Physics just because some dumb teacher's poor (or even wrong) explanation on it? If you are really seeking for some answer, or just a fair debate, what you should look for is someone who knows what he's talking about.
For some people, maybe it's easy to belive whatever sounds fantastic. But if you ask me, I will say TRUELY believe in something is never easy, even after many years of thinking and seeking.
For me, some doubts (like the question about the misery in the Africa) have been cleared, but many question marks are still there. That's why I am so hesitated sometimes, when I hear responses like yours (but I can't help replying sometimes :p).
If you are really interested into this kind of discussions, I can share with you some of my thoughts, but be warned: that will just be my personal thoughts/speculations.
Please read my original post again,
I don't think you understood me at all.
Maybe it's because of my spelling errors:
Definitions:
Agnosticism: the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and prob. unknowable; broadly : the view of not committing to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
Atheism: a : a disbelief in the existence of deity b : the doctrine that there is no deity
I wasn't just talking about Christianity in particular, but religions in general.
(Although I have to say that for me, any present form of Christrianity is too obsurd for me to even consider it being true.
What I means is,
yes, there might be a God as you said,
and yes, he might even be omnipotent and loving at the same time,
But no, the Bible or the Koran are not absolute truth.)
But let me not obscure my point by attacking just Christianity. I happened to do that because I got a lot of harrassment from some people at work and school.
I know about the crucifixion and the terrible Romans. That was totally not my point.
The Romans were believers as much as the Christians to themselves;
They just happened to be worshipping gods that were considered "pagan".
Remeber, during the witch hunts, the Christians were oppressors as much as the Romans were in your story.
And do you know of the woman scientist (mathematician) in ancient Alexandria who were burned alive by the Christians?
Having been tormented or oppressed doesn't validate the religions, either.
In the contrary, religions, just like loyalty to emperors in ancient China, tend to take root deeper under torture in truly faithful people. Whatever they were faithful about.
My point was, having a lot of faithful people believing in the same thing
Does not validate that thing at all.
A lot of people used to believe the earth is the center of the universe, simply because it is just SO comforting to believe that.
We are all afraid of death, because there is obvious evolutionary advantage to be afraid of death.
Every religion ever invented tells you that there is something else "after" death. As if the moment of death is not an end, rather a transition.
Currently I have no reason to believe in the existence of heavens or reincarnation or the supposedly 70 virgins waiting for true Muslims. Maybe the current evidences are enough for you, but not for me.
But when I consider the alternative, which is that my whole existence ends completely at the moment of death, I am truly scared.
I believe it is this kind of fear that make it easy to believe in fairy tales.
Make no mistake, I would be so relieved if any of these religions were actually true, as much as I make fun of them. I don't want to end with the death of this body.
Because it scares me every time I tell myself that I want to be a true atheist.
Again, most of us atheist-wanna-be hide in the comfort realm of agnostism. It is better not to know, if the truth is cruel.
What if it is that cruel?
Are you not scared, if there really is nothing after you die, nothing at all?
***********************
The other thing is,
there has been numorous studies that confirmed,
if a child is brought up in a certain religion,
most likely the child will stay with that religion.
The real hard thing for human nature is to convert,
not to confirm the childhood teachings.
So the fact that I grew up in a very "agnostic" family
makes it very easy for me to stay agnostic.
It would be quite amazing if I comfortably convert to anything else, including atheism.
I think most people, especially Christians, have a hard time distinguishing Atheism and Agnosticism.
They are very different philosophically.
In many ways, the "pagan beliefs" (Greek and Roman mythology etc), Christianity, Buddhism have so much more in common with Agnosticism.
At this point of my life, I have given up on religion.
It is not compatible with the rest of my life.
However, it doesn't mean I could still be a good person who donates and recycles.
Hmmm...... Why is there no religion that highly regards recycling these days? Maybe I should convert to Amish.
There are many ways to approach any religion. Since Christianity is the common scene here, just take it as an example. I think most of your questions about it (which your Christian friends may not have convincing answers for them) can be answered in the book called: "Letters from a Skeptic", by Boyd. This book is really a collection of letters/communications between a Christian son and his father who belives in agnosticism. This pair of son and father may provide a counter-example to your observation (on correlation between family and religious beliefs) so far. And also, it demonstrates how conversion can be accomplished even at the age of 73.
I think this book should be available at the university library. So if you really have some time to spare, you can read it and although you may still not agree with it, at least you will be exposed to other viewpoints about Christianity, besides the ones you've already been tired of.
BTW, my officemate is truely beliver in atheism, so I think I know what atheism is about. However, he seems to be pretty happy about his belief, no fear at all (in fact, he relates himself to the Brights).
And you must have a typo in your paragraph of: "However, it doesn't mean I could still be a good person who donates and recycles.", I bet you mean "couldn't", right? Otherwise it will be really absurd.
And my final note: Amish villages are pretty modern these days; one of my friend who spent time there told me they have all kinds of fency appliances for the visiting guests nowadays in order to attract tourists.
What are the "Brights"?
It's really kind of weird,
Everyone in my office claim he/she is an atheist.
But they still go to church for Masses,
Or they still believe in some sort of souls/ghosts.
I think for most people it is okay to live on the surface of life where there is a lot of brightness.
When you don't think, you don't get trapped in the melancholy darkness that could evolve into depression.
The real question is
Will you be afraid if there is nothing after death,
and you have several chances to die every day?
I am, and I believe most people are.
You can say I'm wrong by pointing out the people who are not afraid. But most people are afraid of death, with or without an afterlife.
More so if there is no afterlife.
My friend's page on "The Brights": http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves/brights/.
I think the thing I couldn't understand is the fear for death, since I don't think I really have it. Maybe that's why I cannot share your viewpoint. Perhaps it will change as I grow older.
My philosophy is simple: what's the good of life (long or short) if it isn't lived well at all? Like an old saying: "不知生，焉知死". I think I have more to say about this, but maybe later.
Thinking of diseases and death constantly is the curse of a biologist.
We know too much, but could do so little.
We know that for many cancers, the moment you find out about it is the moment of a death sentence.
And we know it could happen to any of us any time.
Almost every biologist I know here is either a hypochodriac or a hedonist.
Depending on how much one cares one will die because one did not pay attention to the warning signs.
Alas, all the warning signs are so vague.
Was that a lump?
Was that chest pain?
How much cholesterol is in this food?
What is my odds of getting diabetes if one of my parents has it?
Blood pressure was fine last month, is it still fine now?
Blood sugar?
Protein in urine?
Did that mole get bigger?
Am I more easily fatigued now than last year?
And then there are the more realistic questions:
Is the knee pain going to be cured once I undergo surgery?
Is the back pain going to be worse next month? Next week?
When will the day come when my back gets so bad that I cannot play all the sports I loved?
10 yrs ago my doctor told me I had to give up table tennis, which I did.
Two years ago my doctor told me I have to stop running until my knee gets better.
When will the day come, when living is only marked from death by vital signs?
I had always been afraid of death since I was very young (~5 yrs old).
I am becoming more and more afraid of it now that I see different parts of my body betraying me.
Go ask a cancer patient whether he/she is afraid of death.
As a scientist, I know all of us are current cancer patients. All of us have little clumps of malignant cell inside of us, waiting to rebel.
And they will, if we don't die of other diseases or trauma.
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