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Relgion/Rationalism BS at Four in the Mourning Yay Insomnia
15 years ago
Probably something I've probably touched on before either here or in livejournal but...
It is entirely possible to be moderately religious yet suportive of the scientific method right? Because in the end I think I'm a pagan - particularly a wiccan and a Egpytian reconstructionist, witch some leanings twords chaos magic - that holdes a very agnostic view twords things and accepts scientific fact as the "known" while keeping a healthy interest in the "unknown". I often find myself tired of the notion that science has to be against faith, I always liked to think that without imagination there can't be any exploration. That exploration is what results in the discovery of hard fact. The problem is that if in any case we become complacent and stop asking the questions, we doom ourselves to ignorance. If there's any real reason why I can't just become an athiest I think it's that I want to hang on to inspirational fantasy stuff that makes things like creating art worth-while to me. I don't want the world to just become ordinary, I want there to be some element of "wow what just happened I can't explain it" to be out there. It's like, I hate that guy on YouTube that declares anything remotely interesting "FAKE", I mean... sure it very well may be fake, but stop ruining the fun!
It helps to when someone just realises that life is much easier when you don't take all that exisitentialism-type stuff too seriously. Any religion is going to be silly, but who said that is a bad thing? When you take a agnostic approach on things, it's like... why not a Flying Spaghetti Monster? The appearance of a god, whether or not there is a god, is wholly in the realm of human imagination anyways so you might as well make them into something that you'd be too embarrassed to... say... start wars over?
Oh and when people start those stupid creationist-vs-evolution debates (my opinion: we very-strongly-most-likely evolved, but the important thing is we're here, get over it)... please keep in mind that yes there are other belief-systems out there besides Christianity and Atheism. So when Poe's Law strikes, and some wild, crazy fundamentalist says sometihng really godawful stupid... please remember that member does not represent Christianity as a whole let alone world religion as a whole. I know I'd rather leave out of that, because that kind of stuff is just the internet anyways. It's all a great big stupid people vs stupid people fun fest.
And last but certainly not least. I have this odd love-hate relationship with kneeded erasers. They are so usefull and it's so much fun to just squish the ever living shit out of them. But it gets real annoying when pieces break off and get into the carpet man.
It is entirely possible to be moderately religious yet suportive of the scientific method right? Because in the end I think I'm a pagan - particularly a wiccan and a Egpytian reconstructionist, witch some leanings twords chaos magic - that holdes a very agnostic view twords things and accepts scientific fact as the "known" while keeping a healthy interest in the "unknown". I often find myself tired of the notion that science has to be against faith, I always liked to think that without imagination there can't be any exploration. That exploration is what results in the discovery of hard fact. The problem is that if in any case we become complacent and stop asking the questions, we doom ourselves to ignorance. If there's any real reason why I can't just become an athiest I think it's that I want to hang on to inspirational fantasy stuff that makes things like creating art worth-while to me. I don't want the world to just become ordinary, I want there to be some element of "wow what just happened I can't explain it" to be out there. It's like, I hate that guy on YouTube that declares anything remotely interesting "FAKE", I mean... sure it very well may be fake, but stop ruining the fun!
It helps to when someone just realises that life is much easier when you don't take all that exisitentialism-type stuff too seriously. Any religion is going to be silly, but who said that is a bad thing? When you take a agnostic approach on things, it's like... why not a Flying Spaghetti Monster? The appearance of a god, whether or not there is a god, is wholly in the realm of human imagination anyways so you might as well make them into something that you'd be too embarrassed to... say... start wars over?
Oh and when people start those stupid creationist-vs-evolution debates (my opinion: we very-strongly-most-likely evolved, but the important thing is we're here, get over it)... please keep in mind that yes there are other belief-systems out there besides Christianity and Atheism. So when Poe's Law strikes, and some wild, crazy fundamentalist says sometihng really godawful stupid... please remember that member does not represent Christianity as a whole let alone world religion as a whole. I know I'd rather leave out of that, because that kind of stuff is just the internet anyways. It's all a great big stupid people vs stupid people fun fest.
And last but certainly not least. I have this odd love-hate relationship with kneeded erasers. They are so usefull and it's so much fun to just squish the ever living shit out of them. But it gets real annoying when pieces break off and get into the carpet man.
Things don't need a reason or rhyme behind it. They just exist.
But to me, evolution is only a solution to the physical question of what became of life on earth. It makes for a good solid model and makes sense when you apply it in context. As a student of physical anthropology, I have no trouble accepting it.
Faith shouldn't be about the physical so much, I think. The physical is too easy to explain without adding more explanation than it needs. It's about finding more than the physical and making it work for you.
The trouble with the typical Western dichotomy is that it assumes an all-or-nothing approach to the metaphysical, and it's one of my biggest beefs with the Abrahamic tradition.
But for my part, if I can continue to study an exact science while keeping a place in my life for something apart from that? Well, that remains to be seen but right now I feel more comfortable with it.
remember, the major Monotheistics have been in "persecute the Infidels" mode for a millennium or more, including in their own ranks! i refer to the Lutheran/Calvinist schism that split off the Protestants from the Catholics, and the perpetual problems between the Shiites and Sunni's(SP?) in Islam.
you'd think after over a thousand years of this crap, they'd be tired of it. but the Tired voices are also in the minority. people also wonder where all this Atheism came from. well, a thousand years of death and destruction from all sides tends to force people to give a rude gesture to the whole Idea.
as for me, i'm going "we'll all find out eventually". right now, there's no time for this stuff, as there's stuff to be done. I think the three monos are gonna get a RUDE awakening on the other side, when God himself tells all three at the same time "you didn't follow the rules as I set them down X years ago to the letter! FRY!"
my problem with people trying to say that science trumps faith is that science now requires the same amount of faith as religion nowadays.
plus i hate when outlandish religious folk do stupid stuff and atheists latch onto that as the whole aspect of the religion.
I'm a Catholic but people of all religions -including my own- piss me off when they can't see beyond their faith.
Also, hardcore atheists should realize that religious thought goes beyond the world's organized religions. Isn't Communism just like a religion in the sense that it makes people believe they can build a paradise on earth? It has most, if not all the characteristics of a religion (including millions of people killed in Its name) and yet, since Communism doesn't have a "god", it's ignored by most of the folk who wish all religions should disappear.
And yeah, i've met both kinds of atheists. I'm even friends with the "bad", "evangelical atheist" type but he never tries to convert me because he knows i don't care XD