“Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.” - Kurt Vonnegut
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” - Voltaire
Doubt is more precious to me than faith. Doubt is where questions start, it puts us in touch with reason and common sense. Faith, unchecked and rampant, can make us do stupid and horrible things.
I could cite historical proof from before the Inquisition to well beyond 9/11 but that’s been done before and if I can’t add anything new I’m not going to waste keystrokes.
I have a naturalistic world view. I have no superstitions and I do not believe in the supernatural. I make no apologies for this—this is where reason and common sense have lead me.
I was raised (quite accidentally, I’m sure) by Catholic parents, teachers and priests to be an atheist. I don’t believe in God or gods. If you were to place me on a sliding scale numbered zero to ten with zero expressing absolute certainty that there is no God, ten being absolute certainty that there is a God and five being perfect agnosticism; I would be a one. I think anyone claiming to be a zero or a ten has an absurd belief that there is definite proof one way or the other.
There isn’t. trust me, I’ve been searching for the better part of my life.
I do, however, believe that the evidence—scientific, philosophic and otherwise—points strongly toward a godless universe. And certainly within the scope of scientific understanding there doesn’t seem to be much need for a creator God.
I will submit that there may be something we don’t understand that results in a universe that is greater than the sum of its parts. But that’s not God—it’s gestalt, perhaps super-string theory. And it has nothing to do with an anthropomorphic creator god with a chip on his shoulder as described by virtually every religion.
I don’t believe in an immortal soul. There is no heaven, no hell and reincarnation seems unlikely. I believe in trying to behave decently in this life without expectation of one beyond it.
It is all any of us can do.
Don’t get me wrong. If you’re religious I don’t begrudge you your God belief. In fact, there are times when I envy you for it. There are times when I wish I could pray and feel confident that someone who cares is listening.
But I don’t. So I talk to my friends and family instead.
I may begrudge you your religious convictions, though. If they extend so far as to make you believe you have an incontrovertible roadmap to morality that others don’t. If it leads you to hate. If it leads you to believe that you can achieve a great reward in the next life for doing something stupid and hurtful in this one.
If it makes you say things like “homosexuality is immoral” or to do things like fly an airliner into a building so you can become a martyr.
If it makes you believe that this world is merely a stepping stone and as such needn’t be respected.
If it makes you able to ignore ecological disaster, political discord and the rights of the rest of mankind.
Please try not to be offended by this. This is where my doubt has lead me. And I’ve always been more comfortable with the path doubt leads me down than the one faith leads me down. Like Bertrand Russell said: “The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts.”
But hey—maybe I’m wrong. And when the shit hits the fan we’ll all be together. That is, on the off chance we’re anywhere at all.
You know, this is supposed to be a literary outlet for me but I can’t seem to find any fiction short enough to post. Sure, there’s Viesalgia, but that is in competition and publishing it (even online) before the winners are announced might just queer the deal for me.
As soon as I find out one way or the other I’ll post Viesalgia here. In the meantime I’ll look around for some shorter passages in some of my stories to let you read.
I’ve added the list of non-fiction suggested reading. I stand behind some of those books for their entertainment value more than their devotion to fact—but all of them are worth a read and guaranteed to get you thinking. Particularly the rather extreme and provocative theory laid out by Julian Jaynes in The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
It’s not as tough a read as the title might suggest.
And finally…
If you got here through my Facebook account, stick around. Bookmark me—even if you find me horribly offensive. Especially if you find me horribly offensive! I find that getting a good daily rage on helps me focus.
If you got here through other channels then friend me on Facebook so I don’t look like a loser.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” - Voltaire
Doubt is more precious to me than faith. Doubt is where questions start, it puts us in touch with reason and common sense. Faith, unchecked and rampant, can make us do stupid and horrible things.
I could cite historical proof from before the Inquisition to well beyond 9/11 but that’s been done before and if I can’t add anything new I’m not going to waste keystrokes.
I have a naturalistic world view. I have no superstitions and I do not believe in the supernatural. I make no apologies for this—this is where reason and common sense have lead me.
I was raised (quite accidentally, I’m sure) by Catholic parents, teachers and priests to be an atheist. I don’t believe in God or gods. If you were to place me on a sliding scale numbered zero to ten with zero expressing absolute certainty that there is no God, ten being absolute certainty that there is a God and five being perfect agnosticism; I would be a one. I think anyone claiming to be a zero or a ten has an absurd belief that there is definite proof one way or the other.
There isn’t. trust me, I’ve been searching for the better part of my life.
I do, however, believe that the evidence—scientific, philosophic and otherwise—points strongly toward a godless universe. And certainly within the scope of scientific understanding there doesn’t seem to be much need for a creator God.
I will submit that there may be something we don’t understand that results in a universe that is greater than the sum of its parts. But that’s not God—it’s gestalt, perhaps super-string theory. And it has nothing to do with an anthropomorphic creator god with a chip on his shoulder as described by virtually every religion.
I don’t believe in an immortal soul. There is no heaven, no hell and reincarnation seems unlikely. I believe in trying to behave decently in this life without expectation of one beyond it.
It is all any of us can do.
Don’t get me wrong. If you’re religious I don’t begrudge you your God belief. In fact, there are times when I envy you for it. There are times when I wish I could pray and feel confident that someone who cares is listening.
But I don’t. So I talk to my friends and family instead.
I may begrudge you your religious convictions, though. If they extend so far as to make you believe you have an incontrovertible roadmap to morality that others don’t. If it leads you to hate. If it leads you to believe that you can achieve a great reward in the next life for doing something stupid and hurtful in this one.
If it makes you say things like “homosexuality is immoral” or to do things like fly an airliner into a building so you can become a martyr.
If it makes you believe that this world is merely a stepping stone and as such needn’t be respected.
If it makes you able to ignore ecological disaster, political discord and the rights of the rest of mankind.
Please try not to be offended by this. This is where my doubt has lead me. And I’ve always been more comfortable with the path doubt leads me down than the one faith leads me down. Like Bertrand Russell said: “The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts.”
But hey—maybe I’m wrong. And when the shit hits the fan we’ll all be together. That is, on the off chance we’re anywhere at all.
You know, this is supposed to be a literary outlet for me but I can’t seem to find any fiction short enough to post. Sure, there’s Viesalgia, but that is in competition and publishing it (even online) before the winners are announced might just queer the deal for me.
As soon as I find out one way or the other I’ll post Viesalgia here. In the meantime I’ll look around for some shorter passages in some of my stories to let you read.
I’ve added the list of non-fiction suggested reading. I stand behind some of those books for their entertainment value more than their devotion to fact—but all of them are worth a read and guaranteed to get you thinking. Particularly the rather extreme and provocative theory laid out by Julian Jaynes in The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
It’s not as tough a read as the title might suggest.
And finally…
If you got here through my Facebook account, stick around. Bookmark me—even if you find me horribly offensive. Especially if you find me horribly offensive! I find that getting a good daily rage on helps me focus.
If you got here through other channels then friend me on Facebook so I don’t look like a loser.
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