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    A Contemplation of Good, God, and Evil

    Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree


    A Contemplation of Good, God, and Evil

    I'm a freethinker on the subject of religion. I’m not a Bible thumper, I never attend church, and I don’t have much use for preachers. In fact, I just can’t see the logic in getting up early on Sunday morning and getting all dressed up just to go pay somebody to scream at me for two hours. I don’t see the logic in that, and I never did, even when I was forced to participate in the ritual as a kid. But I am a spiritual person, because logic, and the night sky, does inspire me to lean toward the belief that there is indeed a supreme force that governs the universe. After all, the universe didn’t just come from nothing. Some force had to caused the universe to spring into existence, and whatever that force was, I’ve chosen to call it God.
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    Now, an atheist would undoubtedly tell me that I have no proof of the existence of God. The fact is, one told me that just today, and he was zealously insistent upon it. He dismissively suggested that by embracing the concept of God, it was tantamount to my embracing a belief in the "Flying Spaghetti Monster." That was clearly a dismissive assault on my intellect, but I recognized that for some reason, many atheists tend to take great pride in being arrogantly disdainful of the intellect of believers. So instead of vigorously objecting, I simply took note. I did point out, however, that his tone sound quite similar to that of a religious zealot, to which he responded, that religion required faith, and atheists have no use for faith. They deal in pure logic. So I thought I’d examine that contention.
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    I pointed out to him that it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a believer, because believers do have the existence of the universe to point to as a basis of support for their belief, while all an atheist has is his belief, or "faith" that God doesn’t exist. Thus, faith in the non-existence of God is an integral part of what we have now established is his religion.
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    I then went on to point out that in order to maintain the atheist position that God doesn’t exist, he bears the burden of having to prove that something (the universe) came from nothing - or that an effect was "initiated" without a cause, and, from out of nowhere. And since it is my contention that whatever force is responsible for the universe, order, and existence meets the definition God, how can an atheist know with any degree of certainty that nature, and/or the universe itself, isn’t God? After all, is it not true that the universe is responsible for the existence of all living things? That defines God.
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    Thus, the debate, I went on, is no longer one of whether or not God exists, but rather, the NATURE of God’s existence. And that, in turn, leaves an atheists with only his "faith" and/or "religious" conviction to support his claim that God doesn’t exist. Therefore - contrary to what atheists would have us believe, and in spite of their renowned disdain for the silliness of religious dogma - atheism itself is nothing but another religion, and their denial of the existence of God is merely another religious doctrine. That pretty much shut down the discussion.
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    But that said, neither do I buy into the way God is portrayed by religious zealots of the opposite stripe. The mere thought that in a universe with over 800 billion galaxies - with each containing an average of 300 billion stars, and with each star separated by light years of space - that God would be fixated on the infestation of a mote in the ghetto of an insignificant galaxy is beyond belief. But then, most religious doctrine go even further than that. They suggest that God is so fixated on us that he's watching everything that each of us do, jumping through hoops, and performing magic tricks to get us to worship him (I'm using "him" to keep things simple). That takes us beyond delusional - it’s absolutely psychotic - the accompanying mood-setting music in the background notwithstanding.  It constitutes an absurd attempt by man to turn God into some kind of circus performer.
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    The mere assumption that God is preoccupied with everything we do is merely a reflection of man's arrogance and exaggerated sense of self-importance, and the very idea of God being obsessed with trying to get man to worship him is patently ridiculous. That would be the direct equivalent of man spending every hour of every day trying to demand the respect of the germs under his toilet seat. That would be stupid, and while God may be many things, I doubt very seriously that stupid is among them. 
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    Thus, since I view the foregoing perceptions of God as so grossly out of touch with reality, it should go without saying that I don't believe in Heaven or Hell. The entire concept just reeks of man’s tendency to threaten and/or bribe other men into subservience. And besides, if God was indeed watching and evaluating our behavior, he would have long since hit the delete button.
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    So the fact is, we can only know God’s will by what he has done, and as I’ve said many times before, God made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to think. He anticipated our needs when we were created, so he gave us the intellect to answer our own prayers, and the common sense to live the kind of life that would create our Heaven right here on Earth, if used properly; but if used improperly, we could also create our own Hell, which we have done. So we don’t require a Pat Robertson as God’s Special Envoy and Chief of Staff, nor do we need the Bible as a user’s guide to dictate how we should live our lives any more than fish need a swimming coach or birds need a compass to know which way is south, or a calendar to know when to head in that direction. Again, he blessed us with common sense to be our guide - at least, most of us.
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    That leads me to the concept of good and evil. Actually, it’s quite simple. "Good" is to act with common sense, and what most people call "evil," is nothing more than ignorance. It’s as simple as that. Thus, the key to living a good life is to be an independent thinker, to use our intellectual capacity to explore what it actually means to live a fulfilling life, and to have the good sense to avoid the ignorant machinations of other men. I've boiled it down to one sentence - Never give anyone else's ability to think priority over your own.
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    At this point I’m sure that many have come to the conclusion that I have a disdain for religion, but that’s not true - I have a disdain for the ignorant way in which it’s practiced. There’s nothing wrong with religion itself, if that’s what butters your bread. Some people find it comforting and inspirational to "fellowship" with others. But the problem is, man tends to completely ignore the primary point of religion - to inspire one to treat his fellow man with more caring, and to reinforce the idea of living a good and honorable life. He embraces dogma instead, those things that make his religion different from everyone else’s, and that’s not by accident.
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    The bottom line is, while we pay it a lot of lip service, man doesn’t want to "love his neighbor." Due to his personal insecurity, and the resulting need to feel like he’s a part of a special breed that’s been anointed by God, he wants an excuse to hate, feel superior, and look down upon his neighbor, and religion gives him a "God-approved" pretext for doing just that. Man wants an excuse to say, "It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does." That’s why what we refer to as "The Bible Belt" also just happens to be the most bigoted and intolerant region in the entire country, and you’ll find the same to be true throughout the world - the more religious, the more bigoted, narrow-minded, and intolerant. Does that sound like the work of God? Personally, I don’t think so.
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    So I look upon organized religion as a form of ignorance, and as I mentioned above, I equate ignorance with evil. You show me a man who believes in talking snakes, and I’ll show you a man who may be learned, but he’s not very bright, so he can be convinced of anything. So does organized religion have to be evil? No it doesn’t. But wherever you find hoards of insecure and unthinking people, you’re also going to find excess, hatred, subservience, and greed - or in short, evil.
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    Eric L. Wattree
    Http://wattree.blogspot.com[email protected]
    Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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    Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

     

    Comments

    The mere assumption that God is preoccupied with everything we do is merely a reflection of man's arrogance and exaggerated sense of self-importance, and the very idea of God being obsessed with trying to get man to worship him is patently ridiculous. That would be the direct equivalent of man spending every hour of every day trying to demand the respect of the germs under his toilet seat. That would be stupid, and while God may be many things, I doubt very seriously that stupid is among them. 

    A little harsh but yeah...I cannot disagree with this analysis.

    The entire 'issue' or series of issues revolves around the 'definition of god'.

    All of the life that we witness on this planet is magical to me and I can feel the entire globe as GOD!

    The universe as far as we know (and experts tell me they can only figure out about 4% of its composition) is magical to me and if you wish to call it God, that is fine with me.

    I think humanity from a Jungian perspective, taking into consideration the make-up of our brains and cultural diffusion (pyramids appear everywhere, gods appear everywhere, majestic art objects appear everywhere), is filled with THE SPIRIT.

    Prayer as an aspect of meditation makes sense to me although I really do not indulge.

    Prayer can as easily contribute to mental health or insanity as it were.

    Nice little essay.

    I think about these things all the time and have all my life.

     

     

     


    Thank you, Richard.  As you probably know by now, I often use hyperbolic examples to make a point.


    I agree with you on the arrogance of some atheists. Take for example Richard Dawkins telling Bill Mahrer that Barack Obama must be an atheist because Obama is intelligent. That arrogant statement is equivalent to saying that because he has manners and treats people kindly, Dawkins must be a Christian. Dawkins rejects ties between morality and Christianity, Christians do not.

    Ronald Dworkin actually proposes religion without God. Obama's spiritual adviser , Joshua Dubois, talks of the President's faith in his new book, "President's Devotional" The response to Newtown reflects the President's religion.

    You can see religious bigotry when you see Bill Mahrer address the issue of Muslims. Often , guests have to talk Mahrer down from a diatribe against practitioners of  the Muslim Faith.

    A Christian is rightfully insulted when called a fool by an atheist. An atheist is rightfully insulted when human kindness is said to have to reflect a Christian code of morality. We need mutual respect. Perhaps Albert Camus can set a standard

    We can disagree but remain civil. Atheistic bigots are no different than the Christian bigots.


    A Christian is rightfully insulted when called a fool by an atheist. An atheist is rightfully insulted when human kindness is said to have to reflect a Christian code of morality.

    Brilliantly put.


    Thx

     


    No offense, but Christianity doesn't require God to be a very useful moral construct even for atheists. 


    Fundamentalist Christian think that without Christianity morality. is damaged. Their view is that if you are not a Christian, you are a heathen.


    But i am a heathen. Or to quote Gurdjieff, "If you've seen Christ, you're a Christian, all else is just talk". Me, I've seen Moby, which if I were Jolly Roger would make me a Mobyus Stripper.


    Should read that the late Richard Dworkin proposed religion without God.


    Good thing racism is confined to the South, or the North might take up their Stop-and-Frisk laws and bring in special administrators to take over black cities. Oh wait...


    Can you tell us what the above has to do with the current discussion?



    Really didn't pay much attention to the map. The discussion was focused on atheists and Christians rather than North vs South. 

     


       I don't think it is psychotic to say that God is concerned with morality. I myself can't see why He(or She) would be upset about people having sex or eating pork.


    Consensual relations with pigs of course should be allowed, even if carnal & cannibal. Curiously even such an outre rocker such as Elton John was a bit sheepish shy about such things with goats.


    Anthropologist Marvin Harris in Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches makes the contention that pig taboos, which are common in many cultures, have economic roots necessary for the survival of the people. Having god tell the people gives sensible practices added weight during times of crisis. Interesting read if you're interested.


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