Quote:
Originally Posted by fazstp
Just got the current NewScientist in my letterbox and it's called The God Issue. I'll have a read and see if there's anything interesting.
For starters here is a quote from Alain de Botton's Religion for Atheists;
As an atheist raised Catholic and a parent of young children I can certainly understand the attraction of the notion that you will be reunited with loved ones in the afterlife. The bond between parent and child is such that any mental gymnastics required to at least imagine that we can maintain that bond beyond death is entirely understandable. |
I agree with this. I mean, if religion isn't divinely inspired, then it is a process of evolution that came about to fulfill some need that wasn't being met without it, and since it's still around, we likely are still not meeting that need on our own.
As an atheist, without religion to justify ethics I've largely been left with nihilism and the concept that I keep going on and engage in morality because it is in my nature to do so, which is rather circular (life perpetuates itself and seeks to exist simply because it is instinctual) and doesn't hold much logic, since it doesn't really matter whether the atoms that constitute my body continue to constitute my body or whether they instead become a chair. Religion sort of gives you a reason to go on and engage in morality that can't really be argued over so we are able to engage in the minutiae of life without our minds being taken over with such thoughts.