Cool Runnings and Richard Dawkins

[anan_ab]

I have to say that my advisor is sweet. Although, I am completely amused and beside myself when I go see him in his reggae band. There he is, drinking, dancing, and rocking out the night. And rocking is very much a double entendre in this case. His body rocks back and forth as he stomps and bobs his head, while rocking out on the acoustic guitar.

Comments

[anan_ab]

The absence of religion would not eliminate conflict. It may eliminate the most common absurd motivation to conflict, but that certainly does not mean the other motivations to conflict would vanish. Research on the three primary intergroup relations theories in social psychology all provide explanations that include, but are not limited to religion. First, realistic group conflict theory suggests that people fight over realistic goods and objects (e.g., oil, land). Second, social identity theory suggests that people will fight over identity concerns, which often involves religion, but can very easily include nationality, ethnicity, or whether or not someone calls themself a dot-underestimator in a microcosm where dot-overestimators exist. Lastly, terror management theory suggests that the mere presence of groups who are different from you leads to an increase in anxiety and a drive to defend one's own beliefs (whether they are religious or otherwise) and one's own way of life.

So, in sum, a world with no religion would still be a violent world. People still have their arbitrary and random group memberships and that is enough to cause conflict. However, you would not have people using the absurd excuses they use today (e.g., " I love my neighbor, but because they're Muslim and not Christian, I am going to bomb the hell out of them until the convert."). Sure, new absurdity would arise, for people are, by and large, absurd beings.

The point is that the world will never be without religion for most... but it is acceptable to be an atheist. Many brilliant minds were/are and that atheism is not something that should be squelched anymore than any other beliefs (e.g., being a feminist, a homosexual, a liberal).