12 August 2009
"That's What Gods Do"
Again with the idea that finding a biological explanation for belief would make it less likely that G-d exists. The truth, of course, is that such a biological foundation for belief would be weak evidence in favor of G-d's existence. It is more likely that G-d would create us with the biological ability to believe in Him than that such an ability would develop randomly. Thus, the existence of such an biological ability is somewhat more consistence with G-d's existence than not.
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Again with the idea that finding a biological explanation for belief would make it less likely that G-d exists.
How about a little more precision.
The "belief" about which you speak is religion.
However, religion and God are two separate things.
Going from a biological, or lack thereof, explanation for religious belief to the existence, or lack thereof, of some God is a perfect non sequitur.
That's exactly backwards. We believe in G-d, which leads us to accept religion.
There is where you demonstrate the non sequitur.
No religion believes in some completely undefinable, inscrutable, unbiddable, oblivious god.
Each believes in some simulacrum that, due to mutual exclusivity, must mean that for at least all but one religion, their Gods do not exist.
The desire to believe says absolutely nothing about the existence of the object of the belief.
Speaking of non sequiturs...
The point here is that humans may be genetically predisposed to seek out an Ultimate Cause for the world we see around us and that religion is not the result of divine revelation, but simply of our building an edifice on the sand of this Ultimate Cause. In other words, it's G-d that I'm born to believe in, and Judaism is simply the story we tell ourselves to make sense of this belief.
But far from undercutting religion, this propensity is actually consistent with G-d's existence, because what sort of sorry excuse for a god would not design in a natural desire to seek Him out?
Here on this Earth, you are dead. Here is the news of that disaster, fresh off the front page from, ah, 3800 years ago:
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
Your religion is whatever body of magical thinking you cling to, whether that be the joy of flying jet aircraft, or the lost cause of New Deal historical re-enactment, or whatever it is that Cohen does, by which you are convinced you'll beat death. You won't: death beats you. Every hour of every day of your long, pleasant, lightly-labored and machine-aided life. Let us therefore shut the fuck up about religion. All of us. Please do stop talking about the other guy's religion, Skipper, David, Harry, and practice your own, until death takes you, and brings you blessed silence. Shut up and die.
Oooo...kay.
The point here is that humans may be genetically predisposed to seek out an Ultimate Cause for the world we see around us and that religion is not the result of divine revelation, but simply of our building an edifice on the sand of this Ultimate Cause.
Well, of course religions are invented out of whole cloth. Now if only the religious would take that on board.
But the point your are missing here is that a presumed genetic predisposition to seek out an Ultimate Cause has nothing to do with that Ultimate Cause's existence, or lack thereof.
There is a genetic predisposition towards color blindness. Near as I can tell, there is a genetic predisposition for little girls to believe in spangly purple unicorns. What are these propensities consistent with?
What if the propensity towards seeking an Ultimate Cause -- and infusing it with religious belief -- conferred survival value in our tribal past? Is it still consistent with God's existence, or irrelevant to it?
The reason asserting a genetic predisposition is a non sequitur is that is consistent with God's existence, and non-existence. Worse, the billions of years prior to humanity was consistent with God's non-existence because there was no genetic predisposition around to seek out an Ultimate Cause in the first place.
Joe:
Oooo...kay.
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