Yeah, I kind of regretted my long rant. The fight between the new atheist movement and the extreme-creationist movement has gotten on my nerves through the years…. and I have to let it be what it is. I can’t fix it.
I don’t have a name to call religious leanings at this point. I was raised Methodist, had a forey into the Eastern Orthodox Church (almost became a monk), studied science for the ‘something’.. and I suppose a “true agnostic” would be the closest thing. I say “_I DON’T KNOW_” with complete full honesty.
God may exist. God may not. I’m open either way.
My gripe with the back-and-forth I hear online… and again, sad that Bill Nye (who I adore in other ways) and Hawking (who I also adore in other ways) have joined the movement themselves… and my favorite teddy bear science guy Neil deGrasse Tyson as well…
It makes me sad because they’re stepping out of their expertise, which is the Sciences they are good at… and using their talents as spokespeople and educators to go on an attack against not the excesses of a few religious groups, but ALL religion, wherever it is found. I wish they’d take a step back and stay with what they’re good at; being educators. But they’re entering politics, basically.
I am a product of Carl Sagan. Joseph Campbell – the Power of Myth, that line.
Carl Sagan didn’t like the excesses either and fought them. He was a strong believer in Reason and Science working together for a better future.
He didn’t have a problem with mainstream religious groups either, because they accept Reason and Science perfectly well.
But now in 2015… the battle lines are being drawn. On the TV. On the Internet. In textbooks. There’s a campaign to eradicate religion. There’s a good chance it will succeed in a large part of the population.
But what then? Theoretical Physics is the stuff of dream and wonder and can carry us far.. .but the social aspects of religion won’t be there. “God and me” is replaced by “The Universe and me”.. but then, who is there to talk to when you’re by yourself and need to sort things out?
I suppose I’m agnostic, but the thing is: I believe in belief. I believe in accuracy. I don’t like one belief system pushing another belief system around; I’m anti-bullying to the core. I believe people should allow people who aren’t harming anybody to have faith and also believe in educating people correctly to the best our science, history and cultures have to offer but even MORE than that:
TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES and to know when someone is trying to lead you into believing something; whatever it is.
We all seek meaning.
When i see someone taking advantage of that to bring them into their group, whether that group be scientism (again, that’s not Science – it’s the BELIEF that science is the only thing with all the answers for everything) – or a religious group…. when a group tries to make their way the only possible answer for everything…
…it’s scary. “Trust me, it’s Science. You need us. You don’t need them.” is as bad as “Don’t go to Doctors. God will provide.”; and the thing is: they BOTH are missing the point of life.
sigh – I did it again. Sorry for hijacking your post so much +Alex Green and sorry if I was all ranty +Griffin Gore – I was just getting an ‘us/them’ feeling happening. My social senses are weak in other ways, but they’re very strong when it comes to ‘in group/out group’ ‘our group is better than that group’.. and I over-react a bit.
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