An atheists's view of faith (evolution, blessing, evidence, morality)
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I've asked myself "What advancements to society has faith given us" and still cannot come up with a good answer except that it seemingly provides a type of psychological security blanket for some amonst other things. In the end though I have to conclude that faith does not give us much in the way of true advancement of civilization. Great discoveries about morality, inventions,medicine and other fields do not come about because someone has faith in the supernatural. They come about because people are willing to put in the hard work to think about these fields and apply reason, evidence, and building upon past discoveries...not using faith. Agree or disagree.
Agreed to a certain point (especially the part in bold! Definitely the only way an atheist can make sense of it!). Yet I'd like to add (and I'll have to go back to the other town I live where I left the book to give you specifics, but I'll do my best without it), that education in this country at least was in a large way advanced by the church (especially the Presbyterian church; so many early institutions of higher learning here were backed by a Presbyterian church--that's from another book, Presbyterians in the South vol 1. They may have put their own spin on it, but there were quite a number of colleges which were founded by that denomination; certainly, the other denominations had their colleges too).
Now I'm not saying that it couldn't have come about in any other way, but that is the way it did come about in this country at the time that it did. So, because of belief, education was pushed very far along in this country, and from these institutions of higher learning came the advancements which modern society enjoys today.
And what I mean by advancement is that around the 17th or 18th century or so, there were hardly many opportunites for college; how those opportunities came about (the buidling of colleges and all that goes along with the development of an institution of higher learning) was through the efforts of the church. Now, I don't have the source from which I got that information, so once I get back to where I left the book I can dig through it and give a more accurate account (though that will take some time); but that is the very basic idea of it.
And, of course, that's just how education really got going here. If you are asking about actual advancement of civilization (not counting advancement of education here), I can't think of anything which faith did provide (except for that psychological security blanket you're talking about!--which could be for some people the motivation and strength which allowed for them to contribute to the advancement of civilization).
The ubiquity of the church in the social life of past generations made it inevitable that it would have some role in much of what was done, and to say they were involved in founding this or that university in no way implies that it could not or would not have come about in other ways. In addition, I am suspicious that some of these foundings involved the church because incidentally the founders were movers and shakers in the church and influenced the church by voting with their dollars. Many of these people were captains of industry and government and were the true driving forces. The church leaders were compelled to be involved by political and economic reality and then were allowed to take credit as compensation for their acquiescence. I'm not saying that's the way it went down, but I'd find it unsurprising.
A reflection of the positive events in ones life is a far better way to go.
I think we are all capable of determining the best "way to go" for ourselves.
My religious friends seem very content with their beliefs, and that is fine with me.
We live just south of Washington DC and last week we took our grandkids up to Gettysburg for an overnight trip. On the way back we stopped at the shrine built for Ann Seton, the first Catholic saint from the Americas. Even though I am a Atheist, I thought it was beautiful and it seemed to be very important to other people we saw there.
I saw one mosiac that a guy had dedicated to his deceased wife and it made me think how lucky I am to sharing my life with my wife. I think I am always nice to her, but I'm going to be even nicer in the future. Carpe Diem.
I still seek clarification as to what lies you think I have accepted.
John 13 was referencing those who embrace the lies of religious mythology, not you.
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