mcpeters@inuxh.UUCP (David McPeters) (04/21/84)
I have a question for my fellow atheists. Have you ever been tempted to take the plunge and become religious? I find that in some moments of great crisis it is sometimes tempting to do this. Doing this automatically gives you someone to offload your problems on. One can say 'lord help me' and then depending on what happens say 'I will bear it because its gods will' or 'see my prayers were answered.' It seems to be the easy way out. For this reason I always reject this course of action. For those of you who are religious you have to understand that I believe religion is only a state of mind. Therefore when I think of becoming religious it seems to be simply a way of shedding the responsibility for my own life. Back to the question; have you ever considered this alternative, and what reasons caused you to reject it? I ask this because there must be a number of good reasons or else few would be atheists since most people experience moments of crisis in their life. With the predominance of religion in this country I have to believe that this is an alternative to everyone at a certain point in their life. What is it about religion that causes many people to simply reject religion as their way of life? My personal feeling is that it is a last resort. Let me qualify that. Some people seem born to religion. They have believed in god from day one. Others must be converted. During the process of being converted one must give up his old beliefs in regards to religion. No matter what, he must justify the change to himself. I can't see myself doing this. My own feelings about religion are to deeply ingrained and to strong to be counter balanced by the 'I believe' syndrome. For this reason I feel that if I were to succumb and convert I would have finally arrived at the last resort. David McPeters AT&T Consumer Products Indianapolis IN
lied@ihlts.UUCP (Doctor Bob) (04/21/84)
> I have a question for my fellow atheists. Have you > ever been tempted to take the plunge and become religious? > I find that in some moments of great crisis it is sometimes > tempting to do this... have you ever considered this alternative, > and what reasons caused you to reject it? "Bear with me that I may speak. Then after I have spoken, you may mock." (Job 21:3) I agree that falling back on religion is a tempting choice when things are going badly. In bad times, I occasionally pick up a Bible and scan through Job or Psalms ("Lament Along With David" :-). Because the Bible is so full of stories of rotten things happening to people, it's a good source of sympathy, and occasionally hope. However, after I've indulged in self-pity for a while, I always run into the following problems with depending on god(s). 1. The God(s) which are supposed to be my source of hope are often cruel. And they are probably the source of my trouble as well as the the source of salvation. I just can't trust the buggers. 2. It's just too bloody ridiculous. For every useful bit of wisdom, there are a half dozen things that are so "miraculous" that they defy belief. I just can't see any difference between some of the stories in the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, and Bulfinch's Mythology. I have to put them all in the same class -- at best they're exaggerations of historical fact, probably they're just outright fiction. 3. I cannot conceive of the anthropomorphic God described. To avoid frittering my life away in philosophy, I can accept an Ultimate Cause of some unknown form. But I can't see any reason why my God should take a personal interest in my life, my community, or even my species. The God(s) offered by the major religions has a direct causal effect in people's lives which is unobservable by me, therefore suspect. 4. What if I did believe? This is sort of the reverse of Pascal's wager, or in CS terms, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Okay, so there are a few bad breaks, but by and large things are going well. If I did turn to religion, I have no evidence that things would be any different, or even better. For all I know, God could single me out as an example and make my life miserable. And if I chose the wrong religion, Ubizmo would have my ass in a sling. 5. What will religion do for me that I can't do for myself? Miracles being in short supply these days, I assume that even if I were religious, I would still have to do the real work in any accomplishment. 6. What will my being religious do for society that can't be done as an agnostic/existentialist/atheist? In short, although religion can be emotionally satisfying when the emotions need satisfying, it just doesn't hold up pragmatically. The crisis passes, and faith becomes a burden instead of a blessing. Lacking an understanding shoulder to cry on, a temporary belief that someone's in charge and things will turn out alright is very useful. Beyond that, there are just too many problems with living that way all the time. Bob Lied ihnp4!ihlts!lied
rjb@akgua.UUCP (04/23/84)
Doctor Bob,
An excellent exposition of the "Law" viewpoint of religion
as opposed to "Grace".
I like the Grace approach better.
Bob Brown {...clyde!akgua!rjb}
AT&T Technologies, Inc.............. Norcross, Ga
(404) 447-3784 ... Cornet 583-3784