Why Religion Is For Big Infants
Offline It is generally agreed by rational individuals that Religion is rooted in fear, ignorance and self-deception. But Religion has a further source which is in no way reprehensible like the three just mentioned: namely, a powerful [i]metaphysical need[/i]. This metaphysical need is a natural consequence of simply being alive in the world. The need is tied to a momentous awareness which comes to all thinking creatures sooner or later concerning themselves and their situation, and it usually expresses itself in the form of a question - the most fundamental question: viz. [i]Why is there such a thing as existence as opposed to complete nothingness? Why does the universe exist, along with myself, and all these other living things that I see around me? Instead of nothing, why is there anything at all?[/i]
The German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, depicts this profound metaphysical awakening as follows:
[i]'In endless space countless luminous spheres, round each of which some dozen smaller illuminated ones revolve, hot at the core and covered over with a hard cold crust; on this crust a mouldy film has produced living and knowing beings: this is empirical truth, the real, the world. Yet for a being who thinks, it is a precarious position to stand on one of those numberless spheres freely floating in boundless space, without knowing whence or whither, and to be only one of innumerable similar beings that throng, press, and toil, restlessly and rapidly arising and passing away in beginningless and endless time.'[/i]
Within every human being, then, there is an enduring need to obtain an answer to the mystery of existence. But what is tragic from the point of view of humanity is that throughout the ages Religion has hijacked and perverted this need by falsely claiming to know the answer to the metaphysical mystery. As Schopenhauer notes:
[i]'The fundamental, secret and primal piece of astuteness of all priests, everywhere and at all times is as follows. They have recognised and grasped the enormous strength and the ineradicability of the metaphysical need of man: then they pretend to possess the means of satisfying it, in that the solution to the great enigma has, by extraordinary channels, been directly communicated to them. Once they have persuaded men of the truth of this, they can lead and dominate them to their heart's content.'[/i]
Unfortunately, there are many individuals who find submission to Religion extremely seductive and they are only too ready to be dominated and mentally enslaved by it. One of the reasons why these individuals are happy to surrender control over their life and mind to Religion is because this allows them to escape the responsibility of having to think and act for themselves. It is evident that at some level within the religious believer the prospect of taking charge of his own life arouses a feeling of dread ([i]angst[/i]). Therefore, the believer's surrender of his personal autonomy to Religion is an attempt on his part to eliminate the occurrence of this unpleasant affective state. However, making Religion (and 'God') the master and regulator of one's life has a detrimental effect on one's development as a human being for it results in psychological weakness and dependency. This becomes clear if we look at how religious mental enslavement works in general. Viz....
The type of religious attitude fostered by all authoritarian religions is characterised by submission to an external authority or power. Under the direction of monotheistic creeds like Christianity and Islam, the sense of power and value which individuals feel in themselves are projected onto a 'Deity'. The more steadily individuals remove power and value from themselves and accord them to a 'Deity' the more impoverished they become: so much so, that their centre of gravity shifts from within themselves and they cease to be the active propellant in their own life. Thus, the general effect of authoritarian religion is to remove any autonomy which an individual might possess and replace it with a state of dependency. In other words, authoritarian religion seeks to turn its adherents into Big Infants, or as its velvet-tongued spokesmen put it: [i]'little children of God'[/i].
As was noted above, the hijacking and perversion of the metaphysical need by Religion has been tragic for humanity historically. For instead of this need being allowed to [i]manifest itself naturally[/i] - that is, as [b]the fundamental driving force behind every attempt to understand the universe and increase human knowledge[/b] - it was channelled by Religion into myriad worthless endeavours (e.g., endless pilgrimages), preposterous theological speculation (e.g., 'How many angels can stand on the end of a pin?'), and some of the vilest conflicts on record (e.g., the Crusades)...among other lunacies. And this tragedy continues in the present day under new forms (e.g., the rise of the Religious Right in America).
The sabotaging of the metaphysical need by Religion has been harmful not just for humanity but, paradoxically, for Religion itself. Thus, Carl Sagan is correct when he writes:
[i]'How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant"? Instead they say, "No, no, no! My God is a little god, and I want him to stay that way." A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.'[/i]
Regards
James
might I suggest you come ever here: http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/campus.php?
[quote]It is generally agreed by rational individuals that Religion is rooted in fear, ignorance and self-deception.[/quote]
Meh, I think it is more rooted in hope...
I agree with a large portion of your post... however I think that you seem to say that religion deliberately hijacks our 'metaphysical wonder' of the universe. I think that most if not all high ranking religious leaders actually believe that their religion is true (I think that in some churches (LDS) some high ranking members might actually know that the church is wrong and still participate and promote it)
[quote]
it results in psychological weakness and dependency.[/quote]
I don't think that religion automatically makes you psychologically weak... it certainly can have that effect... but so can science... just go by what the experts say and don't investigate for your self...
[quote]The type of religious attitude fostered by all authoritarian religions is characterised by submission to an external authority or power.[/quote]
Meh, I would say major religions... some small authoritarian religions (cults) have a leader that required submission.
metaphysical need my ass.
Yeah, do we actually have any metaphysical needs? Haha, sounds sorta like an oxymoron... I said wonder... which is what it is... religion hijacked our wonder of the universe ~ sorta...
I would argue that more that religion, nonthinking has taken our 'wonder' away...
But I could be a little off the point here
This guy is a complete wacko.
Haha, I don't know... but he/she keeps posting these long things and has not (as far as I have seen) responded to a comment
[quote=Guruite]Haha, I don't know... but he/she keeps posting these long things and has not (as far as I have seen) responded to a comment[/quote]
[url=http://www.freethinkingteens.com/forum/freethinking_teens_community/freethinkers_debate/2674]He already did.[/url]
that wasn't a response, that was a default post he had already set up. If you go to the same forum, you can see my evidence for this.
[quote=AgnosticAtheist1]that wasn't a response, that was a default post he had already set up. If you go to the same forum, you can see my evidence for this.[/quote]
I see. Well, I think we should do something about him.
The Title of your forum is Religion is for Big infants. You said we all have a metaphysical need I think you called it.
Well, when you say it it for babies you have just called *deep breath* Patrick Henry, Andrew Jackson, William Mckinley, Rutherford B. Hayes, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, John Quincy Adams, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Robert E. Lee, Daniel Webster, George Washington, George Washington Carver, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Voltaire, William Shakespear, Charles Dickens, Fisher Ames, Anne Boleyn, Alexander Hamilton, Helen Keller & countless others babies. You may try & argue about a few of these but if you do I will post their quotes about life, death or God.
I will post Voltaire's because I know someone will eventually try to debate his words.They are:
"I am abandoned by God & Man! I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months of life. Then I shall go to Hell; & you shall go with me. O Christ! O Jesus Christ!" Many people know what Voltaire had said about Christ earlier in his life. If you don't here it is:
Again, He said this of Jesus & Christianity - "Curse the wretch! Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian Sect in horror. Christianity is the most ridiculous, most absurd & bloody religion that has ever infected the world." He said the first quote shortly before his death. He realized that all he had written was false when it came time to face death. He was a deist throughout his life but, as you can see, he hated Christ & Christianity.
I can give you any other quotes you might ask for from these others. I can also give you tons of other names.
Praise God,
GWG
The Title of your forum is Religion is for Big infants. You said we all have a metaphysical need I think you called it.
Well, when you say it it for babies you have just called *deep breath* [b]Patrick Henry, Andrew Jackson, William Mckinley, Rutherford B. Hayes, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, John Quincy Adams, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Robert E. Lee, Daniel Webster, George Washington, George Washington Carver, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Voltaire, William Shakespear, Charles Dickens, Fisher Ames, Anne Boleyn, Alexander Hamilton, Helen Keller, Mark Twain, [/b]& countless others babies. You may try & argue about a few of these but if you do I will post their quotes about life, death or God.
I will post Voltaire's because I know someone will eventually try to debate his words.They are:
"[b]I am abandoned by God & Man! I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months of life. Then I shall go to Hell; & you shall go with me. O Christ! O Jesus Christ![/b]" Many people know what Voltaire had said about Christ earlier in his life. If you don't here it is:
Again, He said this of Jesus & Christianity - "[b]Curse the wretch! Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian Sect in horror. Christianity is the most ridiculous, most absurd & bloody religion that has ever infected the world[/b]." He said the first quote shortly before his death. He realized that all he had written was false when it came time to face death. He was a deist throughout his life but, as you can see, he hated Christ & Christianity.
I can give you any other quotes you might ask for from these others. I can also give you tons of other names.
Praise God,
GWG
Actually, Mark Twain was atheist. Here are some Mark Twain quotes for you:
"The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also."
"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."
"Faith is believing what you know ain't so."
"I do not fear death, in view of the fact that I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."
He is also in this video, which I strongly urge you to watch. It's pretty interesting. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdVucvo-kDU
I love that video! :)
<3
"fool" does not mean stupid. It means futile attempts at wisdom. There is a big difference between wisdom and knowledge.
And before we call all religious people retarded, let us concider a few people who were religiously stupified.
My signiture quotes Newton and Pascal, but Sir Francis Bacon, the founder of the scientific method wrote "Let no man think that he can be too well learned in the book of God's word, or the book of God's works."
Galeleo Galilei (the same one who was persecuted by the church for his beliefs) "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them." In a private letter to boot.
Johannes Kepler "It may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer."
J.S. Bach put SDG at the end of all of his works [i]Soli Deo Gloria[/i], "to God alone be the glory." (The same SDG is in my signiture.)
Ben Franklin: "God heals, and the doctor takes the fee."
He also is refered to as having asked for prayer at the beginning of the Continental Congress. When pointed out that this conflicted with his own deistic beliefs he said "Yes, but when Christians pray it seems to have an effect."
J.R.R. Tolkien "If you do not believe in a personal God the question: 'What is the purpose of life?' is unaskable and unanswerable."
Most of these were not forced, or even really expected at their own time to hold to these beliefs. Descartes wrote "I think, therefore I am." I am, if you hadn't noticed, is not a proof of self-existance. That was never in question. It is a thimb in the nose of God, who identified himself as "I am that I am" in Exodus.
Think before you speak. It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Hey Egann,
When you get a chance go look in the announcements section & checl out the forum called Juror Debate rules. I would like you to check it out & see if you would like to be a juror. I offer a better explanation there.
Praise God,
GWG
Also, Agnostic Atheist,
When you get a chance go look in the announcements section & check out the forum called Juror Debate rules. I would like you to check it out & see if you would like to be a juror. I offer a better explanation there.
Praise God,
GWG
[quote=Egann]"fool" does not mean stupid. It means futile attempts at wisdom. There is a big difference between wisdom and knowledge.[/quote]
Who said that "fool" means stupid?
Futile attempts at wisdom?
Anyway, the atheists in that video are wise and smart.
[quote]And before we call all religious people retarded, let us concider a few people who were religiously stupified.[/quote]
Nobody was going to call anybody retarded.