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God would be an atheist...
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HOME / This Week About GWBAA WEEKLY COLUMNS Previous Print column Why subscribe? Schedule Terms & Rates Subscribe Online column Subscribe BASICS Definitions Atheism Faith God Religion etc Analysis The meaning of life Morality etc REVIEWS CONTACT Link to this site Your support for advertisers helps to provide an income for this website. All Rights Reserved World Copyright © Martin Foreman PREVIOUSLY... As regular readers know, I’m not a fan of children in general. One of the biggest mistakes in my life was the sixteen or so years that I spent as an infant and child. Mom loves you so much... In a free society, the behavior of individual adults is of no concern to the state or their neighbors, as long as that behavior respects the freedom of others and as long as the vulnerable are protected. I have no more objection to Christians worshipping God than I do to marijuana smokers, model railroaders or students of Klingon. One person's moderation... Ok, Yahweh, we get the point. Having usurped your father El and siblings Baal and Asherah, you’re still not secure in your position as The One And Only God. You need to enforce loyalty in your worshippers. In modern terms, commandments one to four are the equivalent of martial law – military decrees after a coup d’état. One commandment will do It is not yet certain whether a new prayer will need to be uttered at the Donning of the Condom. Something along the lines of “Oh, Lord, protect us from infection, but allow one or two sperm to creep out so that there is at least an outside chance of bringing yet another bawling infant into this crowded world. Amen” Protect us from infection I didn’t like the emptiness, the disconnectedness, the lack of direction and the prospect of it all ending when I die. It wasn’t long before … I was glad to be back under the umbrella of my faith.” An honest statement, but nothing to do with God. Reich tells us that he is a believer not because he has proof of God’s existence, but because he does not like the alternative. Good, evil and self-preservation |
April - July 2008: This site is being renovated - apologies if some links do not work. To return to the active website, click here Column 109 A question of scale The universe and me By © Martin Foreman Word Count: 796 words Publication date: May 27, 2007 In the current online issue of Skeptic magazine, writer Stephen Asma reviews the new Creation “Museum” in Kentucky. Much of the description and, apparently, much of the “museum” is given to a reproduction of the Ark. We learn such fascinating “facts” as number of the dinosaur species kept on board – about fifty, and they were all small. We also learn from “Museum” director Ken Ham that carnivores on the Ark would probably have temporarily reverted to their pre-Fall herbivore state. This was news to me, that Eve’s and Adam’s munching of the apple had not only got themselves expelled from Eden, but had ended immortality among animals and led to the kind of gorefest we see nightly on Animal Planet. Our putative ancestors have a lot to answer for. In a way, I am impressed by the “Museum”. Twisting truth and science in the way that it and its supporters do requires a mental agility that would be impressive if it was put to good use rather than perverting the minds of gullible and young. But it wasn’t the details that struck a chord with me in Asma’s article so much as his comparison with an exhibit on evolution at the Field Museum in Chicago. Visitors there often report that the exhibit leaves them a strong sense of their own “fragility” as a species, making them feel “small” in comparison with the vast scales of geological time. The Creation “Museum” attempts to do the opposite, shrinking nature and time to human size. A human-centred world is much more reassuring than a universe that barely registers our existence. (I am not sure how much attention the “Museum” pays to the vast cosmos that surrounds us) The fact that we are the evil at the center of this world, having eaten the apple and killed God’s son, is less important to insecure minds than the fact that we are the center. We may be bad children, but our father still loves us and if we try really hard to be good he’s going to give us a fantastic present. This is the underlying message of the Creation “Museum” and answersingenesis.com, the website which spawned it. It does not challenge us to be adults, but reassures that we can stay children. It gives easy answers to difficult questions. It tells us not to think because it thinks for us. It keeps us in a state of dependence and ignorance. The creationist approach to knowledge is to observe the world and to mold every observation into a Biblical framework. Its “science” is limited to predetermined answers. The honest approach to knowledge is to take these same observations and, with no prejudice as to the answer and no certainty that we will ever reach a final answer, to use physics and chemistry and astronomy and genetics and every other scientific discipline to push the boundaries of knowledge. Creationists tell us: “never mind the question; here is the answer”. Science says: “what is the question? perhaps we can find the answer”. Creationism, based on a presupposition that prevents any open-minded research, is comforting but dishonest. Science is honest but for many disheartening, because it reduces our importance in the universe to a footnote or less. But so what? It is a question of scale, since each of us inhabits two universes. One extends billions of light-years into space and billions of years in time. In that universe we are nearly nothing and our lives and experience are trivial. It is the universe you and I may long to explore but will never know – drifting among the stars of Orion, watching our planet for eons as mountain ranges rise and fall, species after species, our own included, emerge and die, and the world is finally engulfed by an exploding sun. There is, however. a second universe, that of myself, my experience and understanding of the planet I live on and my relationships with those around me. I am the center of that fascinating and constantly developing and changing place. No matter how much I learn, no matter how long I live, I doubt I will ever come to the limits of that amazing universe. This is not egoism. I do not think I am special. I have no illusions about my place in the world or in history. I am a middle-aged man with many faults and little ambition beyond good health, good friends and freedom from poverty. But I enjoy life. Much of that enjoyment comes from continuing to watch and read and listen and talk and learn. It comes from that second universe. And in that universe, which we all have, where none of us is inferior or limited, there is no place for the delusion and dishonesty of the Creation “Museum”.
April - July 2008: This site is being renovated - apologies if some links do not work. To return to the active website, click here |
If God existed, he would... If God existed, he would be an atheist. The Barna Group, a Christian research and marketing company, has admonished Americans for their failure to maintain orthodox Biblical prespectives. (Since views are subject to interpretation, we are, of course, talking about the BG's opinion as to what is orthodox. Other Christians might disagree...) According to the Group's survey, "Currently two-thirds of Americans believe that God is best described as the all-powerful, all-knowing perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today (66%). However, this proportion is lower than it was a year ago (71%) and represents the lowest percentage in more than twenty years of similar surveys. "Few adults possess orthodox views about Jesus and the Devil. Currently, just one-third of Americans strongly disagree that Jesus sinned (37%) and just one-quarter strongly reject the idea that Satan is not a real spiritual being (24%). Each of these beliefs is lower than last year and among the lowest points in nearly two decades of tracking these views. "The other changes in beliefs include greater reluctance to explain their faith to other people (just 29% strongly endorse this view, compared with 39% in 2006) and the willingness to reject good works as a means to personal salvation (down to 27% from 31%)." It's true. There is light at the end of the tunnel... After forty years a Vatican commission has recommended that Pope Pius XII, who led the Roman Catholic Church between 1939 and 1958, should be considered for sainthood. The delay is considered by some to have been caused by Pius' less than fulsome condemnation of the Nazi regime and crimes during and after the Second World War. In contrast, the last Pope, John Paul II, was placed on the fast-track to sainthood within two years of his death, at least partly because a French nun appears to be no longer afflicted by Parkinson's Disease. That the one Pope should be considered a candidate for sainthood despite his coddling of Hitler and his cronies and the other should be considered one because of a doubtful diagnosis of disease does little to increase respect for the Roman Church. |
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