http://www.thummy.com/roodee/2006/07/23/square-peg-in-round-hole/ My Wrong Opinions.. Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:31:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 http://www.thummy.com/roodee/2006/07/23/square-peg-in-round-hole/#comment-7 anathema Mon, 24 Jul 2006 21:22:46 +0000 http://www.thummy.com/roodee/?p=34#comment-7 It appears to me that you have identified a problem, but what is the solution. For instance, do we convince society at large that they should begin thinking critically or do we put the responsibility on the people conveying the message? If religion is to continue to serve the role of "rounding up" the masses (which I am neither advocating nor criticizing), clearly it will have to be the masses that have to change as clergy would have much to potentially lose by encouraging independent thought. If the will of the clergy were to teach, I believe that they would encourage independent thought. The only true voyage of discovery is to make the trip yourself. Most theists that I have learned from have encouraged me to investigate what they were saying, and in the end much of what they say (from a message standpoint) has stuck with me. The obvious problem with moving the solution to the masses is that the masses (I think) do not want to think critically of their belief system. For many, I believe they would not like what they find when they lift the hood. Many would lose hope in the very fiber of their existence. This raises another point, is it necessarily bad that people are willing to follow without question? As an atheist, I find that I have a moral code that I follow, regardless of who the messenger is. I also choose to follow laws, regardless of the rationality of those laws (I also break laws too, so . . . ), mainly because the person in position to convey those laws has the authority to enforce them. Many people consider their clergy to have the same level of enforcement, with afterlife punishment. They have the freedom, and the intellectual tools to make that decision and many continue to blindly follow. One could also make the argument that the impact of this problem is not the person themselves, but the impact to others which they influence. People that fall into this category also have the capacity for choice and in the end they take what is conceivably the easy way out. Maybe they are too busy with living that they cannot bother with finding truth. Maybe it is a crutch to prevent them from acting on bad impulse. Whatever the reason, ultimately it is theirs. Do not misunderstand, I agree that it is a sad day, I just do not know how we fix it. It appears to me that you have identified a problem, but what is the solution. For instance, do we convince society at large that they should begin thinking critically or do we put the responsibility on the people conveying the message? If religion is to continue to serve the role of “rounding up” the masses (which I am neither advocating nor criticizing), clearly it will have to be the masses that have to change as clergy would have much to potentially lose by encouraging independent thought. If the will of the clergy were to teach, I believe that they would encourage independent thought. The only true voyage of discovery is to make the trip yourself. Most theists that I have learned from have encouraged me to investigate what they were saying, and in the end much of what they say (from a message standpoint) has stuck with me. The obvious problem with moving the solution to the masses is that the masses (I think) do not want to think critically of their belief system. For many, I believe they would not like what they find when they lift the hood. Many would lose hope in the very fiber of their existence. This raises another point, is it necessarily bad that people are willing to follow without question? As an atheist, I find that I have a moral code that I follow, regardless of who the messenger is. I also choose to follow laws, regardless of the rationality of those laws (I also break laws too, so . . . ), mainly because the person in position to convey those laws has the authority to enforce them. Many people consider their clergy to have the same level of enforcement, with afterlife punishment. They have the freedom, and the intellectual tools to make that decision and many continue to blindly follow. One could also make the argument that the impact of this problem is not the person themselves, but the impact to others which they influence. People that fall into this category also have the capacity for choice and in the end they take what is conceivably the easy way out. Maybe they are too busy with living that they cannot bother with finding truth. Maybe it is a crutch to prevent them from acting on bad impulse. Whatever the reason, ultimately it is theirs. Do not misunderstand, I agree that it is a sad day, I just do not know how we fix it.

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