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People are free to believe what they wish--as long as they're not breaking any laws or imposing their beliefs on others. I think it's important to remember, however, that not too long ago in human history, and currently in some cultures to this day, anyone who let it be known they disagree with the prevailing orthodoxy was subject to incarceration, torture and death. And it is mostly the work of freethinkers that has brought about this change.
Being a freethinker doesn't mean you're an atheist or anything else, it has to do with how you hold your beliefs. If you hold your beliefs based on the current available evidence, and tentatively with a willingness to change your beliefs if better evidence presents itself, then your thought is free, however odd your conclusions may be.
College students are at an age that they question all of humanity and their place in it, and their depression rates are pretty consistant throughout time, and have little or nothing to do with what they are being taught in school.
That is not true. Rates of depression and anxiety in college students has been increasing dramatically.
Religion is not scientific. There's nothing scientific about it.
I can look out my window at any moment and watch nature, I can watch animals kill each other to eat, I can watch trees blow in the wind, I can watch the grass grow. Nowhere do I see animals or plants tooting Christianity, or Hinduism, or Islam. Everything outside my window is following the scientific laws of nature, and none of them are *religious* except humans that declare it so. The best thing about it is that the animals do not argue about whether Christianity, or Islam, or Judaism, or any other religion is superior, and in fact they have never heard of any of the religious cults. It is such a breath of fresh air.
Religion is not scientific. There's nothing scientific about it.
I can look out my window at any moment and watch nature, I can watch animals kill each other to eat, I can watch trees blow in the wind, I can watch the grass grow. Nowhere do I see animals or plants tooting Christianity, or Hinduism, or Islam. Everything outside my window is following the scientific laws of nature, and none of them are *religious* except humans that declare it so. The best thing about it is that the animals do not argue about whether Christianity, or Islam, or Judaism, or any other religion is superior, and in fact they have never heard of any of the religious cults. It is such a breath of fresh air.
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass:
I think I could turn and live with animals,
they're so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition.
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins.
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied,
not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another,
nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth.
People are free to believe what they wish--as long as they're not breaking any laws or imposing their beliefs on others. I think it's important to remember, however, that not too long ago in human history, and currently in some cultures to this day, anyone who let it be known they disagree with the prevailing orthodoxy was subject to incarceration, torture and death. And it is mostly the work of freethinkers that has brought about this change.
Being a freethinker doesn't mean you're an atheist or anything else, it has to do with how you hold your beliefs. If you hold your beliefs based on the current available evidence, and tentatively with a willingness to change your beliefs if better evidence presents itself, then your thought is free, however odd your conclusions may be.
My thinking on religion was never based on any dogma or orthodoxy. The orthodoxy in my case was growing up in a family that looked down on religion and even thought religious people might be insane.
I did not go from that into any dogmatic religion. I studied a lot, both in school and on my own. I wanted to understand computer science, neuroscience, and biological evolution theory. I wanted to see if any of those subjects contained any evidence that contradicted spiritual beliefs in any way. No, they don't.
I didn't join any traditional religion. My faith is generic mysticism. I believe that the universe is an infinite multidimensional mind. I didn't just come up with that out of my own imagination. It is based on lots of stuff that I read. All kinds of things, over many years.
Most New Atheists consider themselves free thinkers, and they assume all theists are unfree non-thinkers. Maybe some are, but some aren't.
It's an enormous and impossibly complex subject that no human will ever get to the bottom of. But certain misconceptions could potentially be corrected.
Religion is not scientific. There's nothing scientific about it.
I can look out my window at any moment and watch nature, I can watch animals kill each other to eat, I can watch trees blow in the wind, I can watch the grass grow. Nowhere do I see animals or plants tooting Christianity, or Hinduism, or Islam. Everything outside my window is following the scientific laws of nature, and none of them are *religious* except humans that declare it so. The best thing about it is that the animals do not argue about whether Christianity, or Islam, or Judaism, or any other religion is superior, and in fact they have never heard of any of the religious cults. It is such a breath of fresh air.
Animals don't talk about philosophy either, or science. If you want to be like the other animals, you have to give those up too, not just religion.
Religion has annoyed lots of people over the ages. But annoying aspects of religion, and of some religious people, has nothing to do with the central mysticism that religion was originally all about.
In primitive tribal societies, religion was about relating to and communicating with the spiritual worlds and spiritual beings. The idea of parallel universes and higher order dimensions is not at all unscientific, by the way.
Primitive people wanted to influence the gods in order to get what they needed: rain, game animals, health, good luck, etc. They used magic, rituals, sacrifice. They prayed, went into trances, had visions.
Our traditional religions grew out of these primitive magical practices. Judaism was originally mostly about how to relate to the One God, and provide him with the sacrifices he wanted. In return, God would take care of his people.
That sort of deal probably occurred in many or all primitive tribes. Each tribe considered itself special, and chosen by its god or gods.
Similar things happened everywhere, among people who had no contact wth each other.
Why do humans do this while other animals don't. We really have little or no idea what animals experience. Some people think other animals are more in touch with the spirit worlds than we are. Their connection may be natural and direct.
Humans do a lot of things the other animals don't. We don't know why we are such a strange animal.
We also do not understand our world very much at all. No human being has the knowledge to judge all mystical beliefs as delusions. It is just a preference, a feeling you have about life. You would rather look at the surface, at "nature" and think there is nothing beyond it, nothing that underlies it. That is a psychological preference, not based on anything that science has ever demonstrated.
And no, science is not restricted to studying the "physical." There are many things that physicists study that should be considered spirit, or mind, not "matter."
Animals don't talk about philosophy either, or science. If you want to be like the other animals, you have to give those up too, not just religion.
I don't have to give up philosophy, or science, to give up religion. You do not set the rules governing others lives....not even in your own thread.
I don't think religious people are insane. I think they are scared, very scared, of death. Christianity, in particular in the United States, emphasizes the afterlife and the day of judgment and being "saved", and that those who buy into it are *above* and *superior* to those who don't. These are the fearful parts of religion, to control the masses. Yet what I don't see often enough is those who Practice their religion in how they relate to others. *Christlike* is sadly missing from many *Christians*.
As religions go-- your ". I believe that the universe is an infinite multidimensional mind" is far more acceptable to me than religions that place their members worth over other lives on the planet.
I don't have to give up philosophy, or science, to give up religion. You do not set the rules governing others lives....not even in your own thread.
I don't think religious people are insane. I think they are scared, very scared, of death. Christianity, in particular in the United States, emphasizes the afterlife and the day of judgment and being "saved", and that those who buy into it are *above* and *superior* to those who don't. These are the fearful parts of religion, to control the masses. Yet what I don't see often enough is those who Practice their religion in how they relate to others. *Christlike* is sadly missing from many *Christians*.
As religions go-- your ". I believe that the universe is an infinite multidimensional mind" is far more acceptable to me than religions that place their members worth over other lives on the planet.
I said IF YOU WANT TO BE LIKE THE OTHER ANIMALS. Read slower.
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