Imagine No Religion
There seems to be a new report out by the Pew think tank people that says people are getting less religious these days, especially young people.
Yeah, I can see that. I see lots of people who couldn't care less about God, church, rituals, stiff rules and stuffy morals. A while ago the Barna people put together a list of things people hated about church and its people: they're too judgmental, they're too homophobic, they're too political -- ad nauseum. Yeah, who wants to spend a millisecond with the church lady Dana Carvey made famous on Saturday Night Live?
Problem with all that is a very simple one.
You can't not be a devoutly religious person.
"What? Not even. I'm an enlightened person. I'm someone who believes in science. I'm someone who isn't superstitious or any of that, and for sure I'm not judgmental or extreme with any of those moralistic intolerant positions so many religious people have."
I'd say there are about a billion people who feel this deep in their souls.
They do so very religiously.
"But wait! Didn't you listen? I have nothing to do with any of that church stuff! How can you call me religious?"
It is precisely because the "non"-religious are so for very religious reasons. Take your typical atheist. He'll insist there is no God -- for whatever reason. Thing is, for him to say there isn't a God is to know quite a bit about God, namely that there isn't one! I mean, how could he be so sure? The only way he could is if he can see everything in existence, and to do that, he'd have to be God!
This is one of the most reliable age-old arguments against atheism, and this isn't so much to point out that atheists faced with this unsettling logic always get nervous, but to emphasize that no matter how much they object, they are just as religious as anyone else.
Why, then, do places like the Pew Center say religion is waning?
It is because they've been convinced by the Company assigned the job to pound humanism into the soul of World inhabitants that "religion" means a church building and rituals related to some divine being and typical characteristics like moral arrogance and political conservatism.
There is so much to this, I always chomp at the bit to take on the idiocy spewed by the World. Can't now because I'm exhausted. Wish I had the time. I'm only bringing this up here to introduce my latest home page piece. Hope you enjoy it.
Problem with all that is a very simple one.
You can't not be a devoutly religious person.
"What? Not even. I'm an enlightened person. I'm someone who believes in science. I'm someone who isn't superstitious or any of that, and for sure I'm not judgmental or extreme with any of those moralistic intolerant positions so many religious people have."
I'd say there are about a billion people who feel this deep in their souls.
They do so very religiously.
"But wait! Didn't you listen? I have nothing to do with any of that church stuff! How can you call me religious?"
It is precisely because the "non"-religious are so for very religious reasons. Take your typical atheist. He'll insist there is no God -- for whatever reason. Thing is, for him to say there isn't a God is to know quite a bit about God, namely that there isn't one! I mean, how could he be so sure? The only way he could is if he can see everything in existence, and to do that, he'd have to be God!
This is one of the most reliable age-old arguments against atheism, and this isn't so much to point out that atheists faced with this unsettling logic always get nervous, but to emphasize that no matter how much they object, they are just as religious as anyone else.
Why, then, do places like the Pew Center say religion is waning?
It is because they've been convinced by the Company assigned the job to pound humanism into the soul of World inhabitants that "religion" means a church building and rituals related to some divine being and typical characteristics like moral arrogance and political conservatism.
There is so much to this, I always chomp at the bit to take on the idiocy spewed by the World. Can't now because I'm exhausted. Wish I had the time. I'm only bringing this up here to introduce my latest home page piece. Hope you enjoy it.
Comments
Post a Comment