Thursday, January 02, 2014

Decline

I don't believe this but I'm willing to entertain the article. Actually I think fundamentalism is increasing and getting more fanatical.

AlterNet: 10 Signs Religious Fundamentalism Is in Decline - If you are a nonbeliever in the mood for a party, here are 10 reasons to celebrate.
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5 comments:

Ed said...

>>> The cutting edge of freethought is less cutting and edgy. In generations past, coming out as an atheist required a devil-may-care attitude. The social and even financial costs were so high that most admitted atheists were also unflinching social activists, people who had a high degree of zeal and high tolerance for conflict. Most were also white males who were comparatively safe taking on the religious establishment. Until recently, then, atheism was virtually synonymous with anti-theism, and even today people complain that pioneers of the New Atheist movement like Dawkins, Harris, Dennett, and the late great Hitchens are unnecessarily antagonistic.

Well I disagree with the above completely. Atheism used to go without saying. Thoughtful people didn't believe in medieval cults, and there was no reason to talk about it. It is only with the rise of fundamentalism that non-believers have had to respond with aggression.

9:48 AM
Jim Sande said...

I have a new thought on religion. This comes from reading Rick Hanson's Hardwiring Happiness and especially the first section of the book which gets into the evolution of the brain. Take Buddhism which rises up roughly 4,000 years ago. I think that in the last few thousand years a large enough class of people evolved that did not have to go about their day to day activity living in a reactive mode. The reactive mode is the result of millions of years of evolution where our ancestors had it tough in terms of keeping out of harms way and dealing with sickness, injuries, environmental changes, weather, basic survival etc etc. So the brain was on high alert and evolved on high alert. Only in the last few thousand years has a class of people arisen that as a group could rationally indentify the reactive mode of the brain and begin to identify the responsive mode of the brain. This is the relax and digest mode as opposed to the fight, flight, freeze reactive mode. So with this large enough class of people we get the arising of the modern religious traditions that teach love, compassion, consideration, forgiveness, a state of happiness perhaps, well being - these kinds of things. They teach it as a lifelong pursuit and that there's the reward of living a heavenly afterlife etc etc. So relatively speaking modern religions are rather new in the human brain evolution considering our wiring is millions of years old. This argument of course only works with the agreement that there is evolution. Back to the point though - religion is new, the adoption of the responsive brain mode is tricky for anyone, and requires attention regardless if one is an atheist or not. That doesn't matter at all. What matters is how much we have adapted our minds to live in a reactive or responsive mode. Our natural default is to be reactive that's why we freak out when someone cuts us off in traffic or why if 20 people say you're a good guy and 1 says your not, we tend to ruminate on the 1. Religions are designed as a guide through the reactive mode and to provide methods for doing this.

12:10 PM
Jim Sande said...

Let me also add, that I don't believe you need a religion to do this work especially if you are not receptive to the idea of working within that kind of structure. Clearly there are workarounds as it were, many ways to find your personal peace and happiness if that is what one wants. In my opinion though, everybody is basically seeking to be happy with the preference for a lasting happiness rather than a short term happy experience.

12:15 PM
Ed said...

Hmm, inneresting. Some thoughts...

I think that religion is much older and came out of fear and superstition, D. Dennett calls it assumption of agency. In other words, if your food disappears you assume someone took it. Usually you're right to assume some agent is causing your problem, but extend this to windstorms and floods and lightning strikes, bad hunts, and you get Gods.

E.O. Wilson says the origin of Gods was a kind of extended tribalism. The tribe was all important and taking it to the limit, to divinity, was key to power and survival.

The laws about love compassion and forgiveness are wise social customs which help keep the tribe together. If your tribe didn't develop these ideas it didn't last. Religion codified these ideas but maybe didn't originate them.

Religions were used by rulers to consolidate power, divine right of rule was common. And tribes and chiefdoms and central government were important for survival, maintaining armies for protection against the marauding other. So powerful leaders and religions were important for survival.

On happiness, I think it is a false and unwise goal. Happiness comes to those who are not seeking it but who are living strong lives, maybe suffering hardship to reach an impossible accomplishment. Happiness comes from living a rich and full life without a thought for happiness. Just my opinion!

I have seen the movie, "Happy" and have read a bit about happiness therapy, etc. Baloney.

1:53 PM
Jim Sande said...

Lots of interesting and valid points Ed. Someday we'll have to talk further.

3:12 PM

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