"Religion Is Dragging Us Down And Must Be Eliminated"

Started by stromboli, January 29, 2015, 08:43:05 PM

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stromboli

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/famed-biologist-religion-is-dragging-us-down-and-must-be-eliminated-for-the-sake-of-human-progress/#.VMlD1Wg

QuoteBiologist E. O. Wilson, who is known as the “the father of sociobiology,” said recently that the Earth was suffering “the death of a thousand cuts” because of religion.

In the most recent issue of New Scientist, Wilson explained that his next book would look at the future of humans and the Earth.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist warned that people had not yet realized that the “tribal structure” had been destroying the planet by “a thousand cuts,” according a partial transcript obtained by the International Business Times.

“All the ideologies and religions have their own answers for the big questions, but these are usually bound as a dogma to some kind of tribe,” he said. “Religions in particular feature supernatural elements that other tribes â€" other faiths â€" cannot accept … And every tribe, no matter how generous, benign, loving and charitable, nonetheless looks down on all other tribes. What’s dragging us down is religious faith.”

“Humans everywhere have a strong tendency to wonder about whether they’re being looked over by a god or not. Practically every person ponders whether they’re going to have another life,” Wilson continued. “These are the things that unite humanity.”

But he said that the “transcendent searching has been hijacked by the tribal religions.”

“So I would say that for the sake of human progress, the best thing we could possibly do would be to diminish, to the point of eliminating, religious faiths. But certainly not eliminating the natural yearnings of our species or the asking of these great questions.”

Wilson, who was raised as a Baptist in Alabama, has said that he “drifted” away from Christianity, but he doesn’t refer to himself as an atheist.

“I’m a scientist,” he told the magazine.

“All the ideologies and religions have their own answers for the big questions, but these are usually bound as a dogma to some kind of tribe,” he said. “Religions in particular feature supernatural elements that other tribes â€" other faiths â€" cannot accept … And every tribe, no matter how generous, benign, loving and charitable, nonetheless looks down on all other tribes. What’s dragging us down is religious faith.”

Very well said, sir.

Solitary

I don't think religion is dragging us down, but ignorance thinking it is knowledge.  :eek: Wait, that is religion.  :wall: :madu:
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

SGOS

Quote“So I would say that for the sake of human progress, the best thing we could possibly do would be to diminish, to the point of eliminating, religious faiths. But certainly not eliminating the natural yearnings of our species or the asking of these great questions.”

The great questions aren't all that great.  They are pointless questions, and after asking them for thousands of years, people should realize they are pointless because they have no answers.  People do produce answers, answers that they pull out of thin air and present as wondrous truths.  And wondrous they are, since you have to wonder how and where a guy got his truth.

The great questions are the fertile fields of charlatans who pass themselves off to the gullible and the dissatisfied as men of wisdom, but they are just bull shitters, nothing more.

Sure, we should ponder the questions for a minute or two, just long enough to know that no one can answer them, and then get on with life and seek real answers that can be tested and verified.

stromboli

Quote from: SGOS on January 31, 2015, 05:36:11 AM
The great questions aren't all that great.  They are pointless questions, and after asking them for thousands of years, people should realize they are pointless because they have no answers.  People do produce answers, answers that they pull out of thin air and present as wondrous truths.  And wondrous they are, since you have to wonder how and where a guy got his truth.

The great questions are the fertile fields of charlatans who pass themselves off to the gullible and the dissatisfied as men of wisdom, but they are just bull shitters, nothing more.

Sure, we should ponder the questions for a minute or two, just long enough to know that no one can answer them, and then get on with life and seek real answers that can be tested and verified.

All true. It took me years of study to wade out of Mormonism, but once you figure it out, the truth isn't very complex. There is stuff we know and stuff we don't, but the stuff we don't we are learning about. There were a few things that occurred to me along the way, just basic logic. Religion relies on belief without testing their tenets of faith- belief without faith is not belief. But that makes no sense. In science the truth is testable and meant to be examined. What good is faith or a testimony that doesn't stand up to scrutiny? If your faith-based testimony can be damaged by factual, provable material, what good is it? That was the first epiphany that led to everything else.

Mormonism especially buries you in not only the belief but the culture, a 24/7 bath of belief, do this, observe these ordinances and covenants. Go to church for hours on Sunday, the Home Teachers come by once a month to keep tabs, go weed at the welfare farm on Saturday, send the kids to Mutual (Mutual Improvement Association or MIA) mid week, the wife to Relief Society whilst the men are in Priesthood meeting, do temple work on Tuesday- women do crafts and projects and learn home skills, men do stuff like 2 year's food supply- did all that. Keep the family submerged in the lifestyle all the time, until repetitive reinforcement is imprinted in you. It took the death of my brother to make me step back and look at it. Freedom is a wonderful thing.

SGOS

Quote from: stromboli on January 31, 2015, 09:26:08 AM
There were a few things that occurred to me along the way, just basic logic. Religion relies on belief without testing their tenets of faith- belief without faith is not belief. But that makes no sense. In science the truth is testable and meant to be examined. What good is faith or a testimony that doesn't stand up to scrutiny? If your faith-based testimony can be damaged by factual, provable material, what good is it? That was the first epiphany that led to everything else.

So simple really.  Religions have been proclaiming truth without evidence forever, and over the centuries many of the most precious truths have been destroyed by advancements in science.  How many times does this have to happen before everyone realizes that you can't just believe stuff because it's been proclaimed by an unknown ancient or a church elder who claims he learned it in a dream last night.  People should be at least a little bit skeptical after the sources have been burned once or twice.  They have every reason to demand that the sources be accountable for their pontifications.  In fact, it makes sense to simply ignore the sources until they provide a reasonable amount of evidence.

Even with such a rotten track record of producing durable truth, few people have your epiphany.  As simple as it is, it's not easy to let go of something that promises the moon, but delivers nothing of substance.  People want closure and assurance so bad that they keep listening when they should have written off the charlatans centuries ago.

And indoctrinating children to process information is such a sloppy and careless way (actually the worst way possible) is a horrible thing to do to a child.