Many Worlds

Science, emotion and a superstition free world

Oct 25

What is Atheism?

Category: Atheism, Science

The universe – perhaps even multiverse – is colossal beyond the imagination of any living human. Its greatness, its complexity and its poetic beauty are beyond the boldest dreams of our very best and brightest minds.

Science is the quest for understanding of this colossal reality. It is a quest, which has taken many generations and which will take many more. In fact, there may be no end to this journey.

Faith, on the other hand, is the arrogant proposition that the intuition of an average human is enough to understand the universe. “I FEEL the presence of God, therefore I KNOW it exists and I KNOW it created the universe.” That is the ugly face of human arrogance at its worst.

Atheism, in contrast, is the honest admission that nothing humans can come up with today – not faith, not gods, not even modern science and mathematics – can do the universe justice. It is an expression of humility before the incredible reality of our world. And more than that, it is a tribute to the patience, the persistence and the personal sacrifices of those who embark on the quest of science. It is a tribute to those men and women who take the first steps, who struggle to ask the right questions even in the face of their fears, knowing full well that they will not know the answers in their lifetime. All of this, so that our children and our children’s children may one day find understanding.

Faith is an expression of the darkness, the savagery which still lurks within all of us – an expression of selfishness, arrogance, fear, and very often of aggression. Its very existence is a reminder that we have to make it a lifelong effort to hold out against that darkness. But while individual scientists may not always measure up to ethical standards, science itself is an honest and courageous pursuit for the betterment of humanity. It is an expression of the very best in us, which religious faith so presumptuously brushes aside. Science is a testament to the fact that we can truly be more than we are, and Atheism is its loyal and humble companion.

That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is why I could never be anything other than an Atheist.

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Aug 20

“Religion”

Category: Atheism

From an article by Paula Kirby:

Religion is a parasite that feeds on all that is good in humanity as a whole and then proclaims it as its own gift to the world.

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Aug 4

Norway calling

Category: Atheism
Media reactions to the Utoya massacre were predictable, and yet we should be very concerned. Mr. Breivik was a right-wing extremist, an unscrupulous murderer who extinguished the lives of young people without remorse. It’s not like fascists haven’t done this type of thing before (anyone remember the concentration camps?). Those who ask how something like this can still be possible in the 21st century, are asking a very valid question. It needs to be asked, and it needs to be answered. But that’s not what’s happening. Instead, we see the media focus on one issue more than anything else: Mr. Breivik’s “hatred of islam”. Lists of critics of islam are produced, and collectively accused of fostering right-wing violence.

Once again, we’re led to believe that the only options available to us are acceptance of islam or acceptance of fascism. Thank you very much. I don’t intend to choose between two right-wing ideologies.

After every terrorist attack during the past 10 years, we were reminded that not every muslim was a terrorist. Well, guess what: not every fascist is a terrorist either. But the latter doesn’t make fascism any less disagreeable, and the same holds for the former and islam. I reject the ideology that invented crusades as fiercely as I reject the one that invented concentration camps. They’re not opposites, they’re evolutions of each other.

Reading the qur’an, as well as the manifestos of early Italian fascists, was an enlightening experience. The family relationship was striking. Both go out of their way to hide vicious fanaticism under a veil of innocence. Both mask the worst kind of arrogance humans are capable of, as humility and self-sacrifice. And both create layers and layers of deception and pretense in order to manipulate the reader into falling for appearances – while ignoring the obvious and utter lack of substance. They occlude the best in humans and bring out the worst in us.

True, not every fascist or muslim goes off on a murder spree. But their ideologies spread dangerous delusions and promote the superiority of one group of humans over another, based on those delusions. They provide a fertile breeding ground for just the kind of violence we’ve seen in Norway, in Pakistan and elsewhere.

Fascism and its sibling, islam (as well as other so called “religions”) have scored too many easy victories lately. Those of us who oppose fascism in all its forms have been negligent. Norway has sent us yet another one in a long line of wakeup calls. It’s past time that we hear them. It’s past time that we draw a line and make it clear to savage ideologies that we will let them move no further, that we will defend the fragile seeds of civilization, which generations of forward looking humans have worked for so hard – that we will defend them by any means necessary.

And it’s past time that we stop reacting and start taking this fight to their home turf. A movement that converts Saudi Arabians to Atheism? I’m in!
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Aug 2

A World Without Religion – One Question

Category: Atheism, Psychology

Lately, I’ve been taking advantage of conversations (in my doctor’s waiting room, among other places) to confront random people with the following question. Before I write up a summary of some of the interesting answers I got, I’d like to see if I can get some feedback from religious people on the net. Feel free to use the comment function. Or send me an e-mail, I’ll keep your identity strictly confidential.

Here we go:

Imagine you were under some kind of control that prevented you from doing four things:

  • praying (including one-liners such as “dear god, help me”), seeking out religious places, and consulting religious literature or people
  • using mind-altering substances, including alcohol and psychiatric drugs
  • hiding from life, e.g. by going crazy
  • taking your life

How big an impact would having “no escape from reality” have on you? How would you adjust your strategy for dealing with problems and challenges in your daily life? Who would you turn to in times of crisis? What alternative sources of comfort and empowerment would you explore? How long do you think it would take you to adapt to these new circumstances?

I realize that no method of control with such properties exists in reality, this is totally a what-if scenario. On the other hand, imagining oneself in unusual, even impossible situations can be an entertaining and useful learning experience. So why don’t you give it a try? I’d really like to hear your comments!

3 comments

Apr 11

Gods deconstructed – Pantheism

Category: Agnosticism

Central statement

“God is in everything.”

Translation

“The universe itself is a living organism.”

Analysis

A definition of life most people could probably accept would go as follows: something is alive if it has either consciousness or a series of other properties including metastability, the ability to metabolize external substances and/or energy, to respond to stimuli, to procreate, and to adapt to a changing environment, possibly only over the course of more than one generation. The latter set of criteria relies on the presence of an external environment, which would require a universe sized creature to be embedded in a larger multiverse.

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Feb 26

Towards a Reformed Atheism

Category: Agnosticism, Atheism

Religions hold that an advanced alien culture (one or more so called “gods”) had a hand in the development of the human race. Atheism (and sometimes agnosticism) disputes these claims on the grounds that they are implausible: there are no indications that our planet is an artificial structure. For that matter, there are no indications that the universe is even remotely artificial in nature. There are just too many badly designed, woefully inefficient processes in nature, that someone with access to the fabric of the universe could easily optimize. And as for biological development, there is a known process called “evolution”, which can be observed in the real world as well as in simulations, and which explains our presence on Earth to a satisfactory degree.

There are other arguments against the existence of gods, rooted in both observation and logic. I can subscribe to almost all of them, and they appear to suffice for the majority atheists. Not, however, for me. Reformed Atheism (for the lack of a better word) must go beyond probabilities and make a definite statement that no gods exist. Here is the first of many:

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