Confessions of a closet atheist

[necrostopheles]

If mankind can somehow survive this era of its history, it will no doubt look back and see religion as one of its greatest blunders. So let us be governed by reason - for if all else is but a testament to man’s basest nature, reason elevates and redeems the foulest of earth’s creations. Why, then, should we forsake those who utilize our one saving

Comments

[r1vethead]

religion is the base minimum requirement for people living together in groups. The most primitive and basic of religions find their metaphors and stories unconsciously evolved from rituals that naturally enact themselves in group settings, rituals required to allow for people to psychologically cohabitate.

We must make a differentation from religions and religious institutions -- the latter, like all human institutions, are reflections and sub-cultures within the broader cultural and socio-economic context of any society.

Rather than see religion as the prime cause or motivator of violence, ignorance, and superstitution, we should see that rooted in the human psyche, and rather than see religion as the perpetuator, we should see the way in which societ is organized, its educational institutions, distribution of alnd and wealth, and broader cultural traits, as being the driving force. Religion is the sounding board which, like other subcutural currents, will occasionally feed back (both negatively and positively) itself.

Religion is integral to society, yet the spirituality of the age is always inoccuous and in the most veiled places, where the most fundemtnalist religious parishioner is most unlikely to find it.

Humanity will not look back at religion as superstitution, but will look back on religious institutions that served a negative role and put them in their proper place - amongst all the other, equally negative social institutions that also played negative and positive roles. If fascism in the middle east or in the United States uses rleigious fundamentalism as a recruiting tool through redistributing wealth towards them, we must place the blame squarely on fascism, not religion.

Far from being opposed to science, properly understood religion is in tune with science, in that it also in its esoteric forms presupposes the necessity for the inductive method.

[r1vethead]

I have more to say on this but I'm in montreal right now.

[necrostopheles]

You make some very good points. I suppose right now I'm a little bitter about having to detoxify myself from the dogmatic bullshit I was spoon-fed my whole life. I think it will take a bit before I am not so reactionary to it all. I do appreciate your comments, though, and they give me a lot to think about.

[r1vethead]

what tipped you over the edge from strong mormonism to straight up atheism? post-secondary education? I actually think atheism is healthy in a religious sense - it can mean someone is asking the fundamental questions religious systems were designed to provoke.

[necrostopheles]

Well, I'm not a straight-up atheist. I think it's just as flawed to claim there is nothing as it is to have a monopolistic point of view on theism. Post-secondary education was part of it, along with my own experiences and reflections that contradicted my religious teachings, coupled with looking at it logically. Websites like http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/ and http://godisimaginary.com/ and really listened to what they had to say rather than dismiss it because it wasn't in line with my beliefs. It's hard to continue believing after you realize they make some incredible arguments. Also, watching Zeitgeist kind of opened my eyes, and though it is not without its flaws it brings up some really good points.

[r1vethead]

You have to remember the people who made Zeitgeist had a very limited understanding of the material - what is remarkable about it is their understanding far exceeds that of most people who claim to adhere to the astral religious texts they deconstruct.

The reason why christianity, for example, has strong astral correlations is not because it is a collection of myths and rituals designed to simply mark the passage of the stars withn the heliacal risings of Venus and conjuncton of stars on the solistices.

The stars are used as metaphors for the human psyche. They were chosen as such because the sky is the one constant, permanent and predictable tablet upon which the most important psychological knowledge can be stored and transmitted from generation to generation. The stars provide the perfect campus to reveal the inner structure and working of the mind, and that's what the astral religious correlations are meant to do.

The Jesus resurrection/rebirth motif, for example, represents the symbolic deaht and rebirth of the sun. But the critical element the zeitgeist film omits is that the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun is itself a metaphor for the death and rebirth of the psyche, and for the separation of the psyche into conscious/unconscious typified by the analogy of "light" and "darkness".

Of course there are countless solar deities that are meant to convey the same or a similar thing - usually they are introduced into a culture in a slightly different way to conform to the needs of that culture.

The important thing is to remember that your life story is the rock upon which your beliefs are shattered. Proper faith is founded upon a rejection of belief, and it's productive you've taken that step.