You're doing it wrong!
Oct. 3rd, 2008 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobriqueSo how do you tell the religions of the world that they've got it all wrong?
Here is the problem - a religion is a structure built by men. It's using 'access to divinity' as a basis for assertion of power. The clergy are no more holy than you are. Or anyone else for that matter. They have no special insight in to the mind of God.
Perhaps they're better educated than average - less the case now, but certainly in the past this was so - and thus worth listing to for the sake of their knowledge and wisdom. But the whole thing built on the false pretence that God cares about your individual destiny.
We have this conceit, humankind, that God loves us. That the world is ordered, and layed out with a plan, and God orchestrates it all. And conceit it is - there is nothing in the way of proof that this is the case.
It's based on this assumption of control. That the universe itself is controlled and orchestrated. This I believe, is grounded in the fact that we're all ... well, a bit unprepared for the concept that there might be nothing else. That this might be our only shot at existance, and there really is no one holding our hand.
But it's not. The Universe is more a work of art, than a planned mechanism. Complicated and intricate, with much beauty at all scales, from the intergalactic, down to the fantasically fascinating interactions at the subatomic scale. This work of art unfolds, evolves and shifts. Maybe it's for a reason, but ... art has no need for a purposes - that it exists is enough.
So for all your prayers, remember this. A prayer doesn't change anything. There is no one listening, no one caring about how sad you are. A prayer is meditation. It's focussing _your_ mind on the things at hand - what is important, what is not. And that's good. Just don't go thinking there's any intervention coming, because there isn't.
There is something that set the Universe in motion. There's something that gives us all the ability to think for ourselves. There's something that set in motion the seeds of life itself. Now stop being sheep, and use that gift. Choose to be yourself, not part of the flock.
Here is the problem - a religion is a structure built by men. It's using 'access to divinity' as a basis for assertion of power. The clergy are no more holy than you are. Or anyone else for that matter. They have no special insight in to the mind of God.
Perhaps they're better educated than average - less the case now, but certainly in the past this was so - and thus worth listing to for the sake of their knowledge and wisdom. But the whole thing built on the false pretence that God cares about your individual destiny.
We have this conceit, humankind, that God loves us. That the world is ordered, and layed out with a plan, and God orchestrates it all. And conceit it is - there is nothing in the way of proof that this is the case.
It's based on this assumption of control. That the universe itself is controlled and orchestrated. This I believe, is grounded in the fact that we're all ... well, a bit unprepared for the concept that there might be nothing else. That this might be our only shot at existance, and there really is no one holding our hand.
But it's not. The Universe is more a work of art, than a planned mechanism. Complicated and intricate, with much beauty at all scales, from the intergalactic, down to the fantasically fascinating interactions at the subatomic scale. This work of art unfolds, evolves and shifts. Maybe it's for a reason, but ... art has no need for a purposes - that it exists is enough.
So for all your prayers, remember this. A prayer doesn't change anything. There is no one listening, no one caring about how sad you are. A prayer is meditation. It's focussing _your_ mind on the things at hand - what is important, what is not. And that's good. Just don't go thinking there's any intervention coming, because there isn't.
There is something that set the Universe in motion. There's something that gives us all the ability to think for ourselves. There's something that set in motion the seeds of life itself. Now stop being sheep, and use that gift. Choose to be yourself, not part of the flock.
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Re: nice icon btw
Date: 2008-10-04 07:47 pm (UTC)Maybe. It obviously depends on the person. You might have kids purely to have someone to look after you in old age. You might teach them critical thinking because you Love them & want the best for them. Motivations are complex, and vary between individuals. Because someone doesn't have the directives of a creator as part of their motivation doesn't make them less motivated than someone who does.
There are so many examples of how this doesn't happen I'm not going to list them. Morality doesn't have to depend on external forces but the process of doing so makes it much easier, game theory can only take you so far after all before someone decides to play selfishly.
But I'm sure we can list many instances where it does happen, so as a blanket rule is doesn't apply. We can also list many instances of where a belief in a creator led against morality. To say that believing in god more reliably leads to good actions leads us to such muddy water that it's impossible to prove one way or another. You'd have to Quantify "How Evil" things were, and then gather a large non-biased data set, then do statistical analysis. I seriously doubt we can clear the first hurdle....
I'm also going to at least partially concede the charity issue. I have no firm basis to say that most charity is non-religious. You've pulled up some examples I wasn't aware of, and I simply don't have the data set to argue.
However, I will stick to my guns that there's a lot of good work being done by non-religious charities out there, which does affirm my original point: Religion doesn't have a monopoly on Good Deeds.
I think it's telling that where government has regulated charity that religion is considered one of the key criteria for definition as a charity.
I think it's telling that where government has done that, it's been lead by a very religious person at the top, so can hardly be called un-biased. Particularly when the main examples of this originate from the USA under the Bush administration....
It's also relevant to note that said governments were drawing criticism from Amnesty international at the time, who are certainly the biggest non-religious charity I can think of off the top of my head.