Is anybody out there?

When the New Atheists talk about “religion” they seem to have the idea that there is something that's easily identified as such, and lots of people out there who believe it’s a good thing. I think this calls for some reflection.

Though most of us know what we mean by “religion” and could name a number of things we would call “religions”, when we examine the matter carefully we see that the boundaries are pretty fuzzy. Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, are clearly religions, and there are many others we could name without fear of contradiction. But what of Humanism, Consumerism, Nationalism, Marxism, Capitalism? Might these also be considered religions, at least as they are held and practiced by some people? And what of Racism, with its sub-cults White Supremacy or Black Power? And, just to be difficult, could we even include Rationalism with its sub-cults Atheism, Scientism and Secularism. What is it that makes “religion” religion?

People like Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and Dennett are rationalists. They believe that the only true path to true truth is through rational inquiry. It’s an interesting point of view, and most people in twenty-first century, western culture understand it and even lean this way. But many can’t quite shake the feeling that there are things they “know” in a pre-rational way. That life is meaningful, for example, or that there is something personal going on “out there” or "in there" or "behind it all". Indeed, I suspect it’s this “religious” tendency that lies behind the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the SETI project.

When I hear a rationalistic scientist proclaiming, in a voice filled with emotion, that the day we find intelligent life “out there” will be the greatest day in all of human history, I don’t object because understand what he or she is saying. But it’s not just the desire to know, it’s the desire to be known. We want to believe there is someone up there we can talk to. And then this little voice in me, this little pre-rational, smiling voice, whispers “Gotcha!”.

If believers struggle with doubt, non-believers struggle with the temptation to believe. Of course the scientist might counter that this is just poetry, a compelling way of stating the importance of the human quest for knowledge. Well, maybe so, but it’s a slippery slope.

Sorry ‘bout that.

Apology: a regretful acknowledgement of an offence or failure. From Greek apologia, a speech in ones own defence.

I certainly am having a terrible time keeping this blog going, and the only explanation I have is the move to North Bay. Moves are always disruptive. I’ve noticed in all the many moves we’ve made my priorities shift, and some things even fall out of my life all together. Work and family have always been constants, though even they suffer, but working out, reading and study, spiritual disciplines, and pretty much anything that can be viewed as even remotely optional takes a beating. Why, I've even been distracted from following sports. – At one time I was a Hockey fan. I always found the fighting and gratuitous violence of the NHL detracted from the game, and have probably left the impression with some that it was the violence that eventually turned me off, but the truth is Hockey was a victim of our move to Victoria. I just lost track of it for a year and never recovered my interest. The violence might have turned me off eventually, but it never got the chance. – And now that work isn’t demanding most of my time the problem seems to be even worse. I’m not willing to let the blog go, however, so please bear with me.

• Advent will be upon us in about five weeks and I hope to hunker down over my keyboard again for my annual Christmas splurge.
• In March, Suzanne and I will be off to Israel with some friends from Calgary. That will certainly get the old juices flowing.
• And I’m going to redouble my efforts and organize my time a little.

In the mean time, as I keep reflecting on Atheism and religion, how about some feedback from the congregation.

• Are there some questions you would like to explore together?
• Are there some themes we could take up?
• And, in particular, what are some of your favourite Christmas stories, songs, traditions; things we might enjoy exploring?

One of the reasons a move is disruptive is that you lose the community that made sense of so many of the things you did. It’s always easier if we’re doing these things together.

Is religion really the problem?

“Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings.” – Victor Stenger (quote for a bus ad campaign)

Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that. – Richard Dawkins The Guardian (Oct 11, 2001)

“Faith can be very very dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an innocent child is a grievous wrong.” – Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

“Promise a young man that death is not the end and he will willingly cause disaster”... “To fill a world with religion, or religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. Do not be surprised if they are used.” – Richard Dawkins "Religion's Misguided Missiles"

What concerns me about the New Atheism is not its atheism, which is not new, but this intemperate zeal to promote the notion that religion is inherently dangerous, and that religious people should be viewed with suspicion simply because they are religious. This is new.

Since the 9/11 attacks, people’s fears have been particularly focused on religiously motivated terrorism, but it’s terrorists we fear, not religion. Terrorism is a strategy that has been employed by power interests throughout history including anarchists, nihilists, racists, governments of the right and left, organized crime and individuals. The Oklahoma City Bombing for example, which until 9/11 was the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil, was in no way motivated by religion. It’s true that the bomber, Timothy McVey, was raised a Roman Catholic but he claims "I never really picked it up...." And, in the 2001 book American Terrorist by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, he is quoted as saying that science is his religion.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’m more than willing to acknowledge that, as a system of human thought and organization, with the capacity to mobilize passion and significant numbers of people, religion can be dangerous. Like politics and science, religion can be used to wreak havoc on the earth. But it seems to me that the 20^th century was much more the victim of science and politics than of religion. – The modern practice of suicide bombing originates with the Tamil Tigers, a political, not religious organization.

As a pastor I may need to be reminded and to remind my people of the terrible things religion has been involved in throughout history. Indeed the crucifixion, which is the central event of the Christian faith, was a crime perpetrated by an alliance of religion and state. And the inquisition, crusades, witch trials, apartheid, conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, etc. must serve as cautionary tales for people of faith everywhere. But surely scientists must be mindful of their own cautionary tales. Holes in the ozone, global warming, nuclear weapons, thalidomide, DDT, thousands of carcinogens, the list goes on. At the risk of sounding religious, might I suggest that we all take note of the beam in our own eye before getting too fixated on the speck in our brother’s.

The central issue of terrorism and 9/11 is not religion as a motivation for knocking down the twin towers, or science that makes it possible to do so. It’s power and what to do with it when you have it. And some religious figures have had a good deal to say about precisely that.