Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Religion: hindering free thought and poisoning minds all over the world
As we all know, naturalistic materialists (also known as atheists) are the only ones who think freely. They are the only ones who open themselves up to scientific and philosophical scrutiny. They would never push their kids to hold to ideas like naturalistic materialism. And there is no way they would ever threat with consequences those who would abandon their worldview. And there is no "psychological button" that could be pressed to blindly convince someone that materialism, physical properties, and matter in motion is all that there is. Nope, the materialistic worldview is completely free from all prejudice and all bias. They are the only ones out there who are after the truth. And they were willing to follow the truth wherever it may lead. Right?
I think we all know better. While it is unhelpful to categorize naturalistic materialism as a religion, it can be every bit as dogmatic, close-minded, prejudicial and hateful as any religion. And any "free-thinking" producer of a video like the one above would have known this to be the case and should have mentioned his own worldview along with the others.
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5 comments:
Haha, good post. You're not being ironic at all, are you?
I can't help but believe that people like the one that made this video, have to feel a little insecure in their own beliefs. They put so much stock is science, that they forget that they are putting faith in science itself. In turn they are being just a Religious as a some of the ones they criticize. They just don't look at it that way. I often wonder what goes through an evolutionist head as he lays on his death bed. Is he saying. "Wow I'm so glad I stood up for my beliefs in this life, I'm sure it will benefit me in the next...oh wait, ...there is no next." Game over.
Dan, the interesting thing about this video is that I found it on an "anti-JW" website. But even if most of what they say is true of the Watchtower, we have to be careful that our argumentation is consistent and are willing to apply it to our own beliefs as well.
Mike, that very true. My Mom used to say "what's good for the goose is good for the gander".
It doesn't surprise me that you found the video on a ex-jw web site. There are a phenomenal amount of JWs that leave the religion and all belief in God at the same time. We all have come out with a "I'm never doing that again" attitude. That's why so many of us have a hard time adjusting or even getting comfortable with the idea of going to church. There is still these crazy thoughts in our subconscious that keep saying things like "If the organization isn't the truth, then there isn't one, so God must not even exist."
I know God exist, he's proven it to me in amazing ways, yet from time to time I find myself fighting the mentality JWs are programed with. I guess it's just part of the way my thinking was molded from childhood. I pray for the power of the Spirit to overcome it when I'm feeling low.
Ex-JWs are notoriously fundamental in their atheist faith, much as they were in the JW faith.
I watched an interview with Prof. Brian Cox recently, here's what I got from it;
Brian Cox was asked by Jonathon Ross if he was agnostic, an atheist or if science was his god. His reply was, "Yes, is it in the sense that I'm comfortable with the unknown, that's the point of science. There are places out there, billions of places, that we know nothing about. The fact that we know nothing about them excites me...it's if you're not comfortable with the unknown that it's very difficult to be a scientist. So I don't need an answer, I don't need answers for everything, I want to have answers to find."
Woah, wait, what?
That surely can't be in accordance with The Brights such as Dawkins and their stance that they only believe in things that can be proved empirically. It rather sounds like a statement of faith.
"Comfortable with the unknown."
"I don't need an answer."
"I don't need answers for everything."
These are statements of faith! Good on him for having the cajones to admit he has faith in the unknown. Just like I do. But different. In a way.
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