7.12.2010

Welcome, Inquirers of Derek's Religion!

I took the Religious Perspective survey linked from PZ Meyers' blog Pharyngula. While the survey had more than a few design flaws, it gave me a good opportunity to further clarify some ideas regarding atheism itself, my current understanding of atheism, and my attitudes (and prejudices?) regarding belief, with consideration to my attitudes (and again, prejudices!?) toward Christians and Muslims. Like anyone, I'm still learning about how the world works, and thus constantly learning more about how to parse these ideas. As such, I'm revising my opinions and ideas daily to fit known data.
So, in short, I'm an Atheist, and this is why:

Q.1 Which of the following best classifies your beliefs?
Atheist
Q.2 How many atheists do you know?
0-6
Q.3 Please indicate which of the following concepts you think atheists believe:
All Don't believe, except for Science. Science is not a belief, it's a systematic approach to understanding the world. I'm not sure why digitallyborn included science in this, but I'm going to interpret it as "accepting as true the phenomenon of science exists." Perhaps digitallyborn was trying to tease out the fundamentalist belief that "evolutionists" believe in science as the fundies do in God. To this end, I have to play the Non-overlapping Magisteria card. The sum of human knowledge may, in fact, trump any notion of God altogether. I have to point out though, that blind, unquestioning belief in a personal god requires no evidence whatsoever. If you want to believe that it's necessary to have the If scientists continue to quibble over this premise with Christians, the culture war will continue to wage.
Q.4 Do atheists believe there is no god?
Atheists simply don't believe that there is no god. This presupposes belief in a systematic non-belief. Atheism, in its strictest sense may itself be a belief, but in order to properly answer this question, I'm assuming that it's referring to all atheists' ideas concerning a supernatural deity. There is a possibility that some atheists may truly believe that there is no god. However, when considering all atheists, I have to answer "no" to accurately characterize the set of atheists the question considers.
Some atheists, such as myself, argue that there is no direct way to know god, but reserve the possibility that one may exist in some form or another*. But, if God does happen to exist, how do we know he's not fooling us? What if this god is a malicious alien?

Q.5 Do you think atheists are spiritual?
Considering all atheists, I'd say no. The vagueness of the word "spiritual" confuses me a bit. If spiritual is meant as a belief in a supernatural deity, I'd still say no. When a broader definition of supernatural is applied, however, I'm not sure. I still answered no to side with probability.
Q.6 Do you think atheists value morality?
There are evolutionary advantages to observing and maintaining a secular humanist system of morality. Though there is a learned component to morality, god is not required to adopt such a system. Therefore, an atheist may enjoy all of the benefits of valuing morality without the pesky overhead yielded by belief in the supernatural.
Q.7 How many Christians do you know?
More than 20. It's the whole fam.
Q.8 Please indicate which of the following concepts you think Christians believe:
God, Afterlife, Heaven/Hell, Reincarnation: yes, as a prerequisite to Christianity.
Voodoo, Soul/Spirit, Ghosts, Destiny/Fate: It depends on the Christian's culture.
Science: Irrelevant. As a phenomenon of modern enlightenment thinking, science's existence exists. To deny its existence (eg a Christian claiming to disbelieve all of science.) It would be similarly absurd for a scientist to disbelieve Christianity as a sociological phenomenon. One need not believe in a phenomenon for it to be objectively true.
Q.9 Do you think Christians are spiritual?
Using the definition of spiritual offered in Q. 5, Christians presuppose a priori, the existence of a supernatural being.
Q.10 Do you think Christians value morality?
Most Christians value morality. However, morality and behavior are separate and distinct. One may value morality, but behave in opposition to a moral code. In addition, Christians' adherence to a particular moral code is more a function of his/her environment than the code set forth in the Bible.
Q.11 How many Muslims do you know?
1-5 Something tells me I'm about to learn how little I know about Muslims and Islam.
Q.12 Please indicate which of the following concepts you think Muslims believe:
Believe: God, Demons, Afterlife, Heaven/Hell, Destiny/Fate,
Don't Believe: Voodoo. As far as I know, Voodoo is a West African/Haitian belief system.
Irrelevant: Science. Again, not a belief system. It's real. I can believe in an invisible dragon if I want, (thank you Carl Sagan) but it doesn't mean that it's there.
I don't know: Ghosts, reincarnation
Q.13 Do you think Muslims are spiritual?
Yes. Again, as described above with Christianity, Islam presupposes a supernatural deity.
Q.14 Do you think Muslims value morality?
Yes. Again, there's a marked difference between behavior and one's values. As one becomes more in touch with his/her personal prejudices and biases, he/she will be better suited to apply a pattern of behavior more consistent with a set of externally consistent ethics prescribed by all of humanity. This process does not require belief in a supernatural being.

*To fundamentalist Christians: The bible is not proof that God exists. Think about it: we have a holy book that was demonstrably written by humans. That we can agree upon. We only have 2 Timothy 3:16 claiming that the entire bible is divinely inspired. There are individual claims of divine inspiration sprinkled throughout the Bible, but this is a tautology. Just because the book itself claims that it's divinely inspired, doesn't make it so.

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