Thou shalt neither condescend nor be WAY too serious and profound

The previous post was also posted to a couple of anti-theist FB pages including Holes in the Foam. I include here the response from the moderator/"owner" of the page and my response.

Holes In the Foam commented on your Wall post. Holes In the Foam wrote: "Thanks for your thoughts Bill. I too am not sure what your point was, and to be honest, it sounds rather like a condescending lecture, that may I add... is WAY too serious and profound for this page and blog. :P"

Your honesty is appreciated. I apologize if my post came across as a “condescending lecture”. There is no reason for me to consider myself superior to anyone, and when I wrote it I truly thought I was just putting out some ideas to people with whom I share at least a modicum of like-mindedness rather than speaking down to you and your other FB followers. I suppose that I was basically writing to myself to see if I could begin to clarify some ideas generated by:  a recent re-reading of Michael Shermer’s  “Why Smart People Believe Weird Things” ; listening to podcasts in which professed atheists express belief systems at least as weird as having faith in an all-knowing, all-powerful sky god; listening to the interview with the Vatican astronomer;  watching two video clips, in one of which Dawkins says “It (science) works, bitches”, and in the other Dawkins in response to a criticism  from Neil deGrasse Tyson quotes a former editor of the New Scientist as saying “…science is interesting, and if you don’t agree you can fuck off”, and, last but not least, trying to understand how a surprising number of highly intelligent scientists continue to believe in some kind of god, when I, relative ignoramus that I am, find the idea verging on silly.

Yes, of course, you may add anything you like, as after all it is your sandbox. If my musings are “WAY too serious and profound” for this arena, and if I ever deign ;-) to post here again, I will try to be more appropriately flippant and shallow.

Science and/or Religion

Science and/or Religion

In case my following post causes confusion as to my personal stance: I am and as long as I can remember have always been an atheist.  

I know that many of us have to suffer and struggle against the influence of certain sects of Christianity and their ongoing attacks against secularism. However, as important as it may be, fighting such Christians’ encroachment on the separation of Church and State is, to merrily mix metaphors, tilting at the windmills of low hanging (rotting?) fruit. We must not underestimate the intellects, sophistication, discipline, psychological/philosophical knowledge and historical perspective wielded by the original Christian church, i.e. the Holy Roman/Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, against the sophistication of the Jesuits and their complex Christian apologetics, barbs such as “It (science) works, Bitches” or “Science is interesting, and if you don’t agree you can fuck off” are ineffectual attacks against a straw man. The Vatican supports the search for “what it’s all about” via science, including evolution, modern physics and cosmological theories. Here is a quote, mined from Wikipedia, from a Vatican Astronomer and astro-physicist, Brother (Dr.) Guy Consolmagno: "Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism– it's turning God into a nature god. “

To begin to understand how sophisticated the Soldiers of Christ (Jesuits)  and the philosophical apologists of the Catholic Church are, you might want to check out the Vatican Observatory website (http://vaticanobservatory.org/) and google Brother Guy, as well as listening to his interview on  Quirks and Quarks  (a CBC science radio program and  podcast) at http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Quirks+and+Quarks/ID/2363230875/. Brother Guy does not believe in a 6,000 year-old earth, but rather accepts the current understanding that our universe is 13.7 billion years old; understands and accepts modern evolutionary theory (though I suppose he magically inserts the soul at some point); accepts plate tectonics and would scoff at the idea that the Grand Canyon was created by “The Flood”; and he has a much better understanding of Quantum Physics than 99.99999% of the Homo sapiens not so sapiens living on this blue dot.

I am not sure what point, if any, I am trying make here, except that we should not write off theists as being stupid or ignorant. Moreover, I have much more in common with Brother Guy and the deceased theist Martin Gardiner, than I might have with many atheists. I only believe in one fewer god than they. Visceral non-skeptical atheism can be a strange reverse type of faith, though I must admit my atheism is as much visceral as it is based on scientific skepticism.  I do not understand those who do not believe in the existence of god(s) but accept a wide range of bat shit crazy woo woo (sorry, Seth, I know you have difficulty with the second “woo”). Woo woo = e.g., ghosts, auras, acupuncture, anti-vaccination, alien abductions, “there’s a reason for everything”, psychics, speaking to the dead, astrology, reiki … ad infinitum, ad nauseam.