It’s Time We Had a Little Talk About Religion…
by Arjun Sharma
It’s 2009, we can talk to people anywhere in the world instantaneously, fly through the air at the speed of sound, and walk on the moon. It’s about time we talked about religion for a bit.
I don’t care if you’re Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Zoroastrian, or just “spiritual.” You believe in God or some kind of force that’s unquantifiable, not scientifically supported, and invisible, and I get that. You have a faith, and an understanding of the way the world works. You believe that your own faith is correct, and you have some reasoning for that as well. Again, I get that.
Now do me a favor; for the next 10 minutes, drop those beliefs. I don’t mean revoke your belief in God, or renounce your faith. I mean, just suspend your religious and spiritual beliefs. Simply be the person who worries about buying groceries, feeding the dog, reading that novel that’s been sitting on your desk, getting that TPS report out before the deadline, and remembering to buy a birthday card for your mom. Don’t think about meditation or prayer or confession or Easter or prophets or fatwahs or holy anythings.
Good.
Now let’s start at the beginning. How did we all come to be? Where did this world come from? Modern science claims that the Big Bang theory explains this. Simplified, the Big Bang theory says that all matter was intensely condensed at one point in time, estimated through scientific calculation at about 13.73 +/- .12 billion years ago.
Notice that I say “theory.” Not, “the Big Bang,” but the “Big Bang theory.” Why? I’m willing to acknowledge that we don’t know if its true. I sure as hell don’t know; I could spend the rest of my life devoting myself to studying the universe and could never say that I know for sure that it’s true. Where did that first bit of condensed matter come from? I don’t know. What will happen after the Universe ‘ends’ or after all energy is dispersed into entropy? I don’t know. But so far, the Big Bang theory has stood up to scientific experimentation, which is all I can really ask for.
The same is true for the theory of evolution. Again, note that I call it the “theory” of evolution. I can’t say with 100% certainty that evolution is how the world came to be the way it is today, but it sure seems like a damn good explanation. The theory has been used in other fields; for example, scientists were able to use a genetic algorithm to create a circuit that completed a defined process more efficiently than any humanly designed circuit. In fact, there were elements of the circuit that didn’t make any logical sense, but through their minute affectations of the magnetic field of the circuit, and the temperature of the room the circuit was made in, they were integral parts of the process. A sort of “modern miracle,” if you will.
What’s my point, then? The point is that we don’t ever know anything with 100% certainty. All we can do is hypothesize, test, evaluate, and re-hypothesize. But of all of your theories about how the world works, why would you choose one that claims that an invisible man (or woman or being or whatever) created the world?
Do you ever think that maybe religion was just an ancient way of explaining a world that we can never fully understand? That maybe it’s just an outdated biological response to help us cope with this life? In fact, did you ever stop and look at what motivates us? If you look at it, education, working, competing, socializing, and all other major parts of human life all seem to come down to one think; furthering the human race. We strive to make our species better, to find a life partner (or partners) with whom to reproduce and ensure the protection of our race. Maybe love, hate, ecstasy, depression, happiness, sadness, anger, and fear all come down to biological responses to further that purpose.
Maybe religion is just a holdover from those ancient times. I mean, it is passed down generation to generation, right? Maybe it’s time to stop and say, “Wait a minute… what are we doing here?” For example, take Christian beliefs. Keep in mind that we’ve suspended belief in God for the purpose of this article, and take a look at some of those stories. Genesis? The Garden of Eden? Noah’s Ark? Do you really believe those stories to be true? If you do, don’t you think they seem to fall apart under even the slightest of logical scrutiny? If you don’t believe in them, but you still claim to be Christian, isn’t there something WRONG there? You claim that the Bible is the word of God, but you don’t believe all those stories. So what’s the deal? You can use one passage to say that God is against homosexuality, but you’ll say you don’t believe in the stories that claim you can sell your daughter and take an eye for an eye and all of that. Seems rather convenient, doesn’t it?
It doesn’t make sense! Look at religion again, in the eye of logic and rationality! It’s nothing more than the word of men, who made a convincing story and spiritual structure that gave people a false sense of comfort. Instead, if we stopped taking things on “faith” and started testing out our theories, a whole lot of stuff we do would suddenly make a lot less sense. It’s not bad to question your faith; it’s your human responsibility.
I don’t know if I’ve made any impression on your or not. I don’t dislike or judge religious people because I know that there’s a lot more out there in the world that I don’t understand. I can’t even say that there is no God, because I have no proof. But I need to tell the world why I believe what I believe, and allow my theory to be tested in the public sphere; that’s what any responsible scientist would do.
So go at it. Please. I’m begging you. Pick my theories and ideas apart. Prove to me why I’m wrong. I’m all ears.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Okay so I definitely see where you’re coming from however I disagree completely as I cannot help but look to the unknown with fantasy and hope. I cannot consider myself to be of a certain faith. I don’t believe there is a single true faith. I believe we are men (human) and as such have limitations and so can only try to be good men. We (Arjun and I) discussed my belief and my reasoning for a god. This does not necessarily counter Arjun’s answer for the universe but does offer an alternative. Every interesting writing has two parts to it: positive and negative. I won’t specify which mine is because that is subjective but do feel it necessary to offer it. Here it is:
My belief in god is based on two parts of my being: external and internal. Both parts are equally as important to a true understanding in my mind. My external reasoning for god is partially countering Arjun’s argument of the Big Bang theory. I simply do not know if the Big Bang theory is correct but I feel that is irrelevant to the discussion. I believe that because there is a universe there must be a God. This is not to say that it is the Judeo-Christian god or any other god. It is simply the creator. Something must have created this place and experience we call life. As far as good and evil there is the bipolarity of everything in this universe and all of its laws. There are positive and negative particles; there is hot and cold; entropy and order; and energy and vacuum. Because of these rules one could argue that there is good and evil. Because of this God does exist because he must. In the end it does not matter whether evolution created humans or it happened through intelligent design. We are here and therefor something greater must exist. I do not know if this “God” is a collection of universes of the space time continuum I just know that it exists and so there is something higher. As far as humans/animals being unique and separate that simply a rock that can reproduce (I don’t know) one could argue the soul is simply the firing of synapses in our brains. Most of the world around us is stagnate. There are particles which contribute to form your computer but without an electrical current they are just particles. Even those electrical currents are simply electricity and could never match the complexity and force of our brains and bodies. We could argue that our brains and bodies are a pattern of synapses and energy and because in the end energy is the only thing that matters in this universe we are souls. I could delve more deeply into this but that would only lead to more complexity and confusion. My internal explanation focuses more on one’s self. For many years I have struggled to not believe in God because I felt that I was simply being ignorant but believing in something that I could not tangibly prove. While I feel like I have externally proved God’s existence I feel that is useless without an understanding of one’s self. I feel like without a belief in God one only feels fear, hate and envy. This is only through experience that I have seen this and does not matter whether this is because of evolution or induced by a greater being. I feel like one must believe in god to not fear society. Since we need society both for tangible goods and for self worth a belief in god in necessary. In the end I don’t think it matters whether we should believe in God or can or cannot justify his existence; it is that we need God to exist as a society and to be happy with ourselves. In my mind a God must exist.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:05 am
There are a lot of issues I see in your argument, Blake.
1) I don’t agree with the connection that since there is a “positive and negative,” “hot and cold,” and “entropy and order,” that there is good and evil. “Good and evil” are the MOST subjective terms, created by humans for the purpose of bringing order to society, which helps us further our species, which is our biological imperative. There are no absolute goods or evils; there are just the constructs of our society. Also, one does not need to have God to have good and happiness. An atheistic society can be happy if everyone is taught from an early age that all of their actions must be for the good of their society, and to help them further their race. There’s no need to bring in The Big Guy in order to bring societal order. As a godless being, I don’t have morals because they were taught to me by people who believe in God. Instead, I do things by a set of morals because that’s the way I hope others would act.
2) What makes you say that, “without a belief in God one only feels fear, hate and envy”? I don’t agree with that statement whatsoever. You have no proof, no logic, and no reasoning in making that statement. Why does there have to be a God for there to be love, understanding, and compassion? I think it goes back to that biological imperative I keep mentioning.
3) I know it’s the most cliched atheism vs. religion statement, but if God made the universe, what made God? If I was in your shoes, the only argument I could make would be that, “Well, we don’t know, because it’s God. He’s eternal.” Well, if you believe that, then why can’t the universe be eternal, without there having to be some “supreme being”?
January 8th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
i think your problem here is that you never argue against “faith”.