RE: Reasons to despise " god " ( in the almost zero possibility of he/she/its existen
December 3, 2008 at 9:40 am
(This post was last modified: December 3, 2008 at 9:53 am by Edwardo Piet.)
(December 3, 2008 at 8:43 am)CoxRox Wrote: This imaginary, man made concept of 'God' or 'gods', causes a 'madness' in people and it appears this evolutionary flaw has taken on a 'life' of its own. Why can something that isn't even real have so much far reaching power and influence? Why are so many hearts and minds 'tuned into' this invisible being? The 'evil' done by corruption of power and money would surely still be done, with or without God, but their combination seems to produce a toxic mixture that is liable to explode at any time.....So you believe in Zeus just because in the past so many believed it?
Why? Because this is how things are. People have evolved and there are flaws. One of these flaws is that they have this delusion. It is suggested that we see patterns that aren't actually there. That we prefer ANY theory to NO theory. That we prefer a conspiracy theory over no theory at all. This is something that Christopher Hitchens has said.
Its counter-intuitive to realize that no theory is better than a bad theory. But it can be realized.
One idea, is the way we think as humans. The way we have had to learn to react to things since, stone age times if you were. And probably before that.
When you hear a noise its common to think "who's there?". Not "what's there?". But who's there. So not only do we see patterns that aren't there. But this might explain why we interpret them as being alive, as being a being. As being like us. This is a suggestion by Dan Dennett.
And Richard Dawkins has suggested that its an evolutionary by-product. That its a misfiring. Just as moths aren't being suicidal when they kill themselves by flying into lamps. That's because they've evolved to fly that way and then when they see lamps they act as if its another sun or moon and it confuses them.
So for instance, its good for a child to trust their parents. Because there's no time in the stone age to not do obey their parents when they're told to not go so close to the cliff edge for example.
But then this then could indeed result in having the misfiring evolutionary-by product of believing in a lot of stuff that isn't true. Then when those kids grow up, they pass it onto THEIR children. And it just grows and grows. With some setbacks maybe but grows nonetheless. As it has done anyway.
After all, a lot of believers did have their "faith" imposed on them when they were children. Isn't this a Jesuit credo after all "Give me the child for the first 7 years and I'll give you the man".