Once more reaching into the well for links saved back in April, just before my world almost ended, and before I was effectively zoned out for two months.
Nonexistent problems; the next phase of human civilization; a new unchurched majority; how atheists don’t get the endurance of religion; how evolution produced everyone, including skeptics.
Washington Post, Alexandra Petri, 29 March 2021: Opinion: Some people were worried about a nonexistent problem, so we made a real one
A parody based on how politicians pass restrictive voting laws not because evidence of voter fraud exists but to address the concerns of their constituents.
Hi, yes, we heard people were worried about demons getting into the water supply, so now we’ve passed a little tiny law saying you have to sprinkle holy water on the faucet every time you turn it on. If people have these concerns, it’s our job to address them! Sorry about the inconvenience. Yes, I am the only person who sells Faucet Holy Water™, so technically this does benefit me, but I mostly just care about addressing constituent concerns.
Hi, yes, we saw that some people were worried about a UFO landing on the community playground and replacing all the children with empty spacesuits full of bees. Yes, technically, this has never happened to anyone, but it would sure be terrible to be the first — so we have put up an electrified UFO-proof fence around the playground! This will keep all the UFOs out. Also, the kids won’t be able to use it, but this will help keep them safe from UFOs, so, win-win!
And so on.
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Several from the Patheos bloggers. Context: always about long-term trends, and where society is heading, and the big issues.
James A. Haught, 29 March 2021: A New Phase of Civilization
Following a long list of phases, from Stone Age to Information Age, he mentions the Anthropocene Epoch, but then detects something else.
Amid all this chaos of history, I think another growing phase of civilization can be detected: The Secular Age – the death of religion – the disappearance of supernatural gods, devils, heavens, hells and the like. Miracles and prophecies no longer are treated seriously in advanced western democracies. They’re ignored with amusement, like old wives’ tales.
Look around you at newspapers, magazines, television news, etc. Does any part of society seriously expect divine magic to cure human problems? A few people give lip-service to such a fantasy, but most know it’s just a fantasy.
In most of the west, including America, churchgoing has fallen spectacularly in the 21st century. It’s becoming a province for dwindling elder men and women. Soon, supernatural beliefs may be an odd fringe.
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Adam Lee, 7 Apr 2021: America’s New Unchurched Majority
As much as apologists want to proclaim that they stand for God’s unchanging and eternal truth, faith is nothing if not adaptable. It’s always reshaped itself to move with the times, and there will always be a hard core of believers who’ll never throw in the towel. It’s likely that religion in America will reach an equilibrium at some level above zero. But it will be in a much diminished state, no longer able to dictate public policy or control how the rest of us live our lives, and that will be worth celebrating.
Comment: I’ve gone back and forth about this; 50 years ago the common assumption in science fiction (including e.g. Star Trek) was that religion would have no visible presence in the future. Yet religion doesn’t go away, and now one of America’s political parties is motivated by religious fundamentalism. And the psychologists confirm it’s inherent in human nature, if only because it serves survivalist protocols. On the other hand: any philosophy of life that rejects, for example, vaccines, in favor of snake-oil remedies and prayer, is not long for this world; in a group-selection scenario, they will die out in favor of those who accept reality.
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This piece makes the same point about how religion will never go away. (Comment: my own thought is that religion might become like believing in Santa Claus, fun for holidays and school plays but completely harmless no matter how fervent the belief. Like a LARP, as I described in a previous post.)
Neil Carter, 3 April 2021: What’s So Good About Good Friday?
Humans are an insecure, self-doubting species. We are very easy to manipulate, and religion continues to thrive because it keeps evolving to give us what we want. Do you feel guilt for mistakes you’ve made? Have they got good news for you! Do you feel lonely, insecure, uncertain about what the future holds? Well, guess what? They’ve got something for that, too! Do you want your life to have purpose and meaning? Boom! Done. They’ll even provide activities for your kids and help mark the important milestones of their lives and yours.
I get so frustrated with how many atheists don’t get this. I know so many people who are convinced that if you could only rid the world of religion, the world would be a much better place. What they don’t get is that more of them will always spring up no matter how many gods you kill because we just keep making more. Sometimes they’ll drop the religious language and dress up as political ideologies, but as we’ve seen over the last few years, those can be just as good at radicalizing zealous young people as anything else (see the alt-right, Q-Anon, Trumpism, etc).
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Jim Haught, 12 April 2021: Evolution Produced All Creatures, Including Skeptics
The mind boggles to realize that natural selection – driven by weak hydrogen bonds that let the long DNA molecule unzip and replicate itself – could produce the planet’s incredible array of millions of living species, including humans. It’s almost unbelievable. How could such amazing diversity come from a self-replicating molecule? How can an assemblage of amino acids and cells write symphonies or put manned space stations into orbit?
However, honest, intelligent people must accept scientific evidence that evolution produced all living things, because no other trustworthy explanation exists. There’s no evidence whatever – zilch – that a magical god created life.
Evolution is ruthless, heartless, killing off most creatures it spawns. Almost 99 percent of all species that ever lived became extinct – and humans nearly did.
And so on, with several quotes from E.O. Wilson’s book The Meaning of Human Existence (see my summary with links to details near the very bottom of this page).
Comment: but there’s another point here that almost no one recognizes: that the amazing things humans have done, that our minds are boggled, is a *relative* reaction. Humans have no idea what things a truly advanced, more intelligent, species might accomplish; let alone what things an omnipotent god might accomplish. The analogy here is the range from the simplest humans to the occasional extraordinary genius; or the familiar thought about how much a dog, or a cat, would understand about human life. Given the (supposed) infinite conceptions of a god, why wouldn’t there be intelligences in the universe whose intuitive understandings are as far beyond humans’, as ours are above animals’?
Endpiece
1, When I’m depressed, I think things like this. I have to acknowledge that I don’t think I will ever be able to finish my book, in the way I’ve imagined, if only because my partner opposes any time I do reading or working on the computer.
At the same time, I’ve come to think no one would care if I did. Increasingly, SF is being overtaken by identity, not concept, and I don’t think yet another book by an old white man would have resonance with current readers or fans.
2, Today the “lesson” at the end my cardiac therapy session today was about stress, and trying to achieve mindfulness. And it struck me that the only source of stress in my life, currently, is my partner, and his resentment of my work, and his once or twice a week temper tantrums.
Gotta go. It’s 5:30, and he’ll be upset if I’m not done and ready to help him with dinner.
