Religulous

Uriel

I'm going to see Religulous tonight, but I've been noticing the effects of belief in our culture for a long time now.  Here's a line from a Time article I read recently:

"Americans live in an enchanted world and engage in a kind of casual mysticism independent of established religious ritual, doctrine or theology." http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1842179,00.html

Tell me about it.  Most people I have talked with think personal beliefs are just that, personal, and therefore harmless.  That's never sounded right to me.  I'm concerned about supernatural leanings for several reasons:

 1.    They're anti-scientific.  We're not teaching ourselves and our

children to demand evidence.  We're saying, in effect, you can believe

anything you want to, as if all beliefs are on a par with each other.

2.    Dressing up the natural world with enchanting add-ons obscures the

true wonder of the universe.  We don't need fantasy to be awestruck.

3.    They make us susceptible to manipulation.  If we aren't in the habit

of critical thinking, the media or politicians can more easily foist

misleading or false ideas on us.

4.    Most of the supernatural things people believe in are in direct

response to their fears of death and uncertainty.  This is the flip side of

solace and comfort.  Conjuring angels isn't comforting.  It's an

acknowledgement that you need angels.  Can't I be secure without wishful

thinking?

5.    Invoking supernatural explanations puts an end to inquiry.

Curiosity sounds like "I don't know, but I'm keen to find out", rather than

"God did it".

6.    They counter intellectualism.  There is a strong anti-intellectual

current in America that has done incalculable political harm for 150 years.

Despite the windfall of scientific and medical advances we all benefit from,

many people remain suspicious of intellectual endeavors such as stem cell

research.  Supernatural beliefs cloud our connection with the external world

of facts. 

This isn't to say that people don't have the right to believe whatever they

want.  Of course they do.  But that doesn't mean their choices have no

impact on others.  We teach our children not to harbor thoughts of violence

and greed.  We encourage them to love and share.  We even encourage them to

shed childhood fantasies when they grow up.  Why do we drop that requirement

when people reach adulthood?  I think it's because we don't want our own

beliefs examined.  They mean too much to us.  They are our coping skills.

But do we need to make stuff up to live happily in the world?  I don't know,

but I'm keen to find out.