The phantom limb

**"Brother Crow "makes a good point about the "cost" of evolving to atheism. I often feel that old hankering for my Imaginary Friend, the "easy believism" that eases fear and provides a measure of courage. During some of the scarier and painful moments of my recent physical problems, I could feel that old twitch, the turning to a "comforter," like a phantom limb.

In a recent poem, The Hole, I note that simply having an experience isn't proof of the reality of what seems to prompt it:

Calling it good doesn't make it real.
Every conned victim believes, for a time,
in value received from the predation;
every junkie's jiggered brain
runs movies indistinguishable from reality;
every drug is a prayer,
every prayer a drug.
Every delusion works
awhile.

Here are some excerpts from Crow's recent blog:

But - actually - I am not thinking of that kind of thing when I talk about the cost of agnosticism/atheism. I am talking about something else, possibly a spiritual dynamic (and certainly psycho-social) that resists the notion of denying or questioning the reality of God. It's really a question of the head versus the heart. My head has always doubted the reality of God - my heart yearns for his reality. Rationally, reasonably, I can question (at least) and deny (at most) the existence of a Divine Being. But my heart wants magic, mystery, and the sense of wonder that can be part of the journey of faith and belief.

I don't have much respect for those on either side of the God debate who deny the role of the aching heart in the agnositic/atheist community. Of course, I admit that not all have the emotional resonance with Christianity that I have as a former Christian. But anyone who denies the role of emotion in the formation of faith and belief is a liar and a fool. We are not just thinking animals...we feel, and our feelings are often a far more powerful reality than our reason.

I miss God. I often want to fall back on easy believism. A recent commenter on this site reminded me of the rules of "easy believism" - God says it, I believe it, that settles it. No questions asked. I wish! My heart wants - indeed, aches - for a trust in a Heavenly Daddy who loves me, desires the best for me, has a plan for me, and will help me accomplish that plan if I put my trust in him (and give his church my money)!

A few days ago, I saw a guy wearing a religious tee-shirt. It showed a knight in armor, kneeling, with his sword in front of him. Over the picture were these words" "The difficulty of what you face is not as great as the Power behind you." It nearly brought me to tears. How I yearn to believe - simply, as a child - that there is God who stood behind me, held me up, helped me through. Alas...and forsooth.

Remember the movie "Pitch Black" - the sci-fi movie that introduced us to Vin Diesel as Riddick, the space cowboy? In that movie, a mullah challenges Riddick, saying "you don't believe in God." Riddick responds - "No, I absolutely do believe in God. And I absolutely hate the M---F---er!"

It's hard to believe. It's harder to choose not to, especially when your heart - your emotional life - yearns to believe.

But there is a reason I choose not to believe...and the cost of atheism is high.

The godphone in your head

**A friend concerned about my evolution to atheism sent me the following link. The article is: "The atheists who came in from the cold" by that modern apologist for theism Dinesh D'Souza. In its rationale against atheism the article refers to a hypothetical

example of a child raised on a remote island who finds a satellite phone. Voices come out of the machine. The child recognizes these voices as human and is thrilled by the discovery that she has found a way to interact with other humans. Perhaps there is life outside the island!

Then the elders of the tribe (if I may embellish Flew's account, let's call them Big Chief Dawkins, Grand Pooh Bah Dennett, and Witch Doctor Pinker) scorn the child and say, "Look, when we damage the instrument, the voices stop. So they're obviously nothing more than sounds produced by the unique combination of metals and circuit boards. Forget about learning about other humans. From all the evidence we have, we are the only living creatures on earth. So go back to making sandcastles." Who are the real dummies here?

The answer is obvious. It's the ignorant "elders," who don't understand phones, or metaphor. A sat (or any other kind of) phone is designed to link two speakers. If there's no one speaking at the one end, there's no sound at the other. A phone isn't designed to produce voices if there's no one speaking.

The brain, on the other hand, has the ability to conjure voices and images and all sorts of things that don't really exist outside the brain. It's called imagination, which is a condition precedent to delusion (as well as to art and empathy and all sorts of good things.) A person who "hears" god's voice is not an authority as to the existence of god. Only rigorous research and experiment can determine the probability or improbability of such a being's existence. And so far, the only authorities for that claim are the imaginative claims other deluded people and the books they write and the churches they organize to maintain their baseless belief.

Again, in order to be up to date and informed on these matters, the books to read are:

• The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

• Breaking the Spell - Daniel Dennett

• The End of Faith - Sam Harris

• God is not Great - Christopher Hitchens

• God: the Failed Hypothesis - Victor Stenger
  

Christianity less dangerous than Islam

** John Loftus runs a blog called Debunking Christianity, and has written a book, Why I Rejected Christianity. The site often has interesting items, such as "de-conversion" stories that I sometimes post here. His book is very uneven, needs strong editing (and cutting) but is interesting as a chronicle of a former apologist's emergence from religious/spiritual delusion. In a recent blog, he cites some reasons why we should be more paranoid about Islam than Christianity:

There are four things that make Christianity less dangerous than Islam in my opinion.

One) Christianity has a Virgin Mary who helped bring in the redeeming Messiah. The Catholics have even made Mary a co-redeemer. This feminine Biblical example exalts women to some degree. Women aren’t entirely worthless chattel. Islam only has an Eve, who is known for being a temptress to Adam. She is weak, needing to be ruled over, who can be blamed for bringing upon the earth such misery.

Two) Christianity has its Jesus, who is basically seen as non-violent and who laid down his life for humankind. Islam has no corresponding figure. Mohammed was a political ruler, whereas Jesus had no earthly political power. So the Koran reflects the political goals of religion, whereas in Christianity it’s merely implicit.

Three) Christianity has gone through an Enlightenment beginning in the 16th century with the rise of science and modern philosophy. The only version of Christianity we see in today’s world is one reflecting various degrees of this enlightenment. As a result the only Christians we see are “cherry-picking” from the Bible based upon their modern experiences and understandings. They do not take the Bible literally. They do not think it honors God to stone adulterers, kill witches, or keep women in submissive silence at home. By contrast, Islam has had no Enlightenment. Muslims still take the Koran at face value, and there are some pretty hateful things said in it about infidels, Jews, and women, along with some barbaric ways to punish criminals.

Four) Christianity does not have the same political power that Islam has within any country in the world today. There are whole countries ruled by Islamic law. There are no countries ruled by Christian law, although there is a heavy influence of Christianity in America, the most powerful nation in the world. Even many Christians think it’s best to have the separation of church and state. But in this nuclear age with WWD's, all it would take to destroy millions of lives is a rogue Muslim state or a small group of militant Muslims who gained access to them.