51. Don't write off religion - it can be the key to a stable family

Comment #82568 by JD Cherry on October 26, 2007 at 6:43 pm

What I would like very much to say is, that while I agree with the sentiment expressed in the aforesaid dialogue, and feel it an adequate catalyst for the discussion vis a vis children and child abuse, the author of this paragraph, himself a former atheist, has previously used the moniker "The Dawkins Delusion" for a recent literary work.

- McG

52. Eugenie Scott on Intelligent Design and Young Earth Creationism

Comment #81342 by JD Cherry on October 24, 2007 at 3:50 pm

Yeah, that was a pretty major oversight.

53. Does fundamentalist religion cause the rejection of evolution? or is it the other way around?

Comment #80226 by JD Cherry on October 20, 2007 at 8:52 pm

It's more counterintuitive that the Earth orbits the Sun if you ask me.

54. A Revelation

Comment #78210 by JD Cherry on October 12, 2007 at 7:00 am

That's Dr. Dawkins to you. Also what's "revalation"?

55. Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #76106 by JD Cherry on October 4, 2007 at 6:12 pm

Really, I think most religious folks watching this debate won't be convinced simply because they don't understand the theory of evolution properly. This underscores the vital importance of making sure that evolution is taught properly in schools.
Listening to people like Lennox always makes my blood boil.

56. Religion as a Force for Good

Comment #74790 by JD Cherry on September 30, 2007 at 1:05 pm

Science ultimately suggests that humanity will disappear and that the universe will continue to expand and cool until the last, lonely photon fizzles out of existence. Everything you are and everything you love will one day pass away, (crionics and nanotechnology aside, the universe simply doesn't have enough accessable energy to fuel intelligent life forever). Humanity emerged as the result of a blind, mechanical process which used mass death as a filter for unfit organisms. "You" lack essense as what you percieve as self is actually the result of billions of unaware neurons firing in patterns. Existence is, at bottom, meaningless.

I personally find joy in understanding my place in the cosmos without any recourse to any particular religion, but I honestly don't believe that human life is rational, and I don't think that wholesale deconversion is a likely outcome for the forseeable future. We are indeed a species who "still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin". Truth is not necessarily the most important thing in a situation where people are struggling for their lives. Religion, true or false, remains a strong enough force in the world that it can't be discarded as a possible source of power to do good. E.O. Wilson's appeal to the religious to save the earth, and Christopher Hitchens' alliance with american neocons in fighting Islamofascism come to mind. Did you know that Hitch has said he'd vote for a religious pro-war candidate over an atheist anti-war candidate in the US election? I think that if humanity is fortunate enough to survive the next hundred years, religious observance will continue to decline to the point of obsolescence, but for the time being, it can't be ignored as a source of usefulnes as well as of evil.

As for the article's specific points, I don't think you can use the last pope as an example of good in Poland without mentioning the Vatican's profound failures in South America. John Paul was driven more by anti-left sentiment than faith in Jesus Christ. Nevertheless liberation theology is an important motivator for action against despotism worldwide. Personally, I am with the Monks in Burma, irrational parisitism of their occupation aside. It is, dare I say, irrational to critique the motives and methods of adult human beings who are risking their lives for freedom if the primary argument against them is that religion's overall impact on the earth has been negative, and that reincarnation does not likely actually occur. I don't think that that matters in the here and now as bullets zing over their heads.

First post by the way, I apolgize for my "buttery" atheism.