A few years ago, I heard on National French radio, the screams of, and the conflict being waged among themselves by, illegal, famished immigrants, fighting over the limited supplies of food provided for them by a hamstrung municipality – not in Africa but in northern France, the fifth richest country in the world.
This may be a omen of what is to come world-wide. People in the starving nearby continent of Africa are already trying to save their lives by sailing in pathetic, tiny, overcrowded boats, to land in Europe, which is, for them, if not the home of the brave, at least the land of the free – and the well-fed. Many do not make it. Many drown. Others are caught and sent back “home”. The U.S. and Australia face the same bid for freedom and food – both notoriously lacking in Central American and some South-East Asian countries.
Malthus was brutal, his doctrine cruel and inhuman. We must above all, said he, not provide food for the starving. We are already overpopulated. Today we would say that we need TWO Earths to provide sustenance for the world at the European level, FIVE Earths for the world’s population to live like Americans. Malthus suggested that we force the starving to die. There is just so much room (“lebensraum”, living room, in recent parlance . . .), just so much food. We cannot support unlimited population increase. There will be blood. Or worse, starvation. Mothers will, in increasing numbers, watch their babies die. An imminent Slaughter of the Innocents.
My book, “From Illusions to Illumination”, and this blog are neither a political nor a sociological thesis. They are collections of reflections on belief in God and its consequences for mankind. I am convinced that religious faith is not only useless in face of the potential catastrophe before us, but dangerous in the comforting illusions it creates (“Worry not about tomorrow” !). Hitchens went so far as to say that it poisons everything.
Atheism will not solve the world’s problems. But, liberated from the God delusion, we can at least face reality. And perhaps, without any help from a non-existent deity, find the means to save ourselves from destruction. Time, like an adequate food supply, is running out.
RIDENDA RELIGIO
P.S. For technical reasons, publication of the next post will be delayed until the end of the month.
Blind Faith: Blind Folly 
I agree with you 100% about religion and do believe it is poisonous and the most destructive and damaging force on earth. What started as a control on people through fear and intimidation, has become a source of hatred and judging of others, fear of eternal hell and thus living only for the afterlife and not this life and a producer of war, the ultimate killing machine.
And the pathetic thing is everything is right here on earth to have a decent standard of living for all. And when people have a good standard of living, populations naturally go down and it would become more balanced.
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More education means fewer children and less credulity.
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As an outside observer, it amuses me to observe how you small circle of blind unbelievers exercise your “freedom” from religious “indoctrination” to get yourselves into such a worried state. You desperately need each other for reassurance in your minority (dis)belief. You claim to be free from the shackles!
What drives Frank to zealously repeat some 900 times that there is no God,and also that God is nasty? He claims a “duty” to liberate those who appear to be contentedly enjoying life in the shackles. Of course these poor wretches (I am one of them) only imagine their peace and contentment. A Jordan Petersen would probably conclude, in Frank, a concealed doubt.-Methinks that he protests too often and too loudly!
As there is no supreme authority,higher than human authority,the world’s problems can only be solved by quarreling humans who band together in opposing ideologies.
Why should we worry about the plight of humanity if we are all mere material animals who exist for a blink and then cease to exist? Does it really matter then, if humanity ceases to exist? What purpose is there in living? Where does it all lead? Who cares?
The growth of disbelief in God and the consequent apparent purposelessness has lead to increasing suicide rates, especially among the young in affluent countries.
Purpose for existence and for caring for the plight of others can only be rationalised from belief in a benevolent Creator who has created us for a purpose beyond our brief span on earth. It is all so obvious to the vast majority of humans who believe in a spiritual as well as material reality. There is absolutely no evidence that the only reality is what we observe through our physical senses. There is abundant evidence to the contrary.
I am amazed that Frank,from his background, does not see it. I suspect it is a matter of will rather than reason.
Frank seems to believe, and has recently stated so, that scientific discovery is increasingly leading to a materialist interpretation of reality. That is not correct. It may have been the case during the 19th century, but over the past 120 years, the tide has reversed.
At the moment, there is a prevailing confused state of belief in something beyond the material with small but positive signs towards return to traditional Catholic belief, the most sane state, according to agnostic Jordan Petersen.
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The delay in responding to this latest comment from Jim is due to a computer connection problem, now (partially) resolved, but also to a certain lassitude in bothering to pursue a dialogue of the deaf. As I said to Thom : “When is Jim going to say something new, something worth responding to ?”. However, nice bloke that I am, I have decided to do Jim more honor than (Frankly) he deserves.
1. While I can’t say that we atheists have “no worries”, the ones we have do not include uncertainty about our convictions, based on our minority status. Where did Jim get the idea that we are in a “worried state” ? In fact, we are far more certain of our atheism than many believers are of their beliefs. The one that worries them most, and which we consider absurd, is the existence and fear of Hell.
2. “God IS nasty”. The Bible is full of His cruelty. The Deluge is evidence enough.
3. Claiming “a purpose beyond our brief span on Earth” is the fruit of pure imagination and wishful thinking. (Please don’t start quoting the Bible, which is no more divinely inspired than this Blog.)
4. “Positive signs towards return to traditional Catholic belief”. Even if this were a fact, it would hardly motivate atheists to “get religion”. Different from the Good Shepherd’s flock, we are not sheep. He who has ears to hear, let him hear . . .
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If one was to judge by the length and repetitiveness of content one might conclude that Jim is the one working himself into a state of worried anxiety. I will admit however that I share Frank’s concern that some people can be persuaded to believe some really ridiculous things.
Jim’s third para perhaps reveals what he is really afraid of – that is that there is in reality ultimately no extrinsic purpose in life or existence. To acknowledge this is not to fall into despair but to accept life for what it is – our very temporary sojourn on earth. His fourth para is factually incorrect as many philosophers have pointed out. Ethical values do not require a foundation in religious belief. It is a conceit of some Christians that this canard is trotted out on feeble support of their claim that only they can act ethically.
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In response to Frank:
1.I clearly got the idea of atheists’ worry from the angry tirade by Mary Plumbago above.
2.God is good. He gave you an enjoyable life on the luxurious Basque coast, even though you deride and mock him.
3. Everything you imagine has a purpose(or final cause) as your philosophy training should tell you. Why is your life any different?
4. Without the shepherd to tend you, the wool has grown over your eyes.
In response to Thom:
The reference to my 4th para is weird and off the point..
Ethical values?
Many philosophers?
Some Christians claim,,,?
It would take too much time and space to decipher and respond to all these ridiculous, unsubstantiated generalities…
Maybe Thom is also suffering from the absence of a shepherd to remove the wool over his eyes.
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1. Mary does not express worry but anger, implicitly quoting Christopher Hitchens’ subtitle to “God is Not Great ” : “Religion poisons everything”.
2. To proclaim that God is good – or even great – is a begging of the question of His very existence. God gave me nothing, neither life nor good health nor educational and professional opportunities, and certainly not my ‘ouse On Zeee Beeech, which I am enjoying as I write this, nor the food for which you thank Him in your grace before meals. Nor did he give me my heart-attack (nor my good fortune in living with a successful triple by-pass). He is not responsible for the recent dog-days in France, nor tsunamis, earthquakes and bush-fires. He is not responsible for the birth-defects of handicapped children, accidents on the road, at sea and in the air, poverty, pain or persecution. To claim the opposite is to voice the illusions of religious credulity.
3. The fiction of “Intelligent Design” is an example of your unfounded belief that “everything has a purpose (or final cause)”. I have already, years ago, shared with you the quotation from Henri Atlan in “Le Monde S’est-il Créé Tout Seul ?” (“Did the World Create Itself All Alone ?”), collective work, Ed. Albin Michel, Paris, 2008, p.175) : “Nature, in reality, does not function with programs; it is moved, which is to say, pushed, by efficient causes, not drawn forward by final causes”. Evolution is not intelligent design but hit-and-miss, as we have been reminded by, for example, the Chairman and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute, Amory B. Lovins, quoted in TIME, October 29, 2007 : ” Some 3.8 billion years of evolution have exposed the design flaws of roughly 99% of nature’s creations – all recalled by the ‘Manufacturer’ “.
4. To change the ovine metaphor, I was lucid enough to wash away the mud with which religious indoctrination had covered my eyes. “I was blind, but now I see.”
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I make a humble apology. My reference to Jim’s 4th para should have been a reference to his 5th para. A quick glance at the two will explain my error as they appear to be one on my screen.
Jim should know that the stats on religious affiliation in first world countries do not support his claim.
And Jim must acknowledge that he frequently cites merely one or two individuals in support of whatever claim he might be currently making. Of course there will be examples of scientists and others who might embrace Catholicism (or Judaism or Islam) after a lifetime of unbelief. For every one of these there would be another who has abandoned a long-held religious belief and embraced atheism or agnosticism.
And NO I am not feeling the lack of a shepherd – nor can I feel the presence of Wool over my eyes which his mythical shepherd could remove, according to Jim, who is constantly endeavoring to pull the wool over the eyes of blog readers and sadly his unfortunate charges in his indoctrination classes .
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As I am for the nonce technically unable to register a “Like” on Thom’s comment, be it known Urbi et Orbi that I think it’s a bitta aw rye (note of the Strine translator : ” a bit of all right”, or “spot on, old chap” or “right on target, Mr Wayne” or “Amen, amen I say to you : thou hast said it.”
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Jim has elsewhere commented that I never register a “LIKE” for any of Frank’s comments – whereas he apparently frequently registers “likes” for mine. How Jim knows this is another if life’s little (or big) mysteries – maybe divine inspiration.
I hope to remedy this inequitable imbalance at once – and hereby register my “LIKE” of Frank’s most recent approval of my contribution.
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I am happy, at my subtle prompting, that Thom has recognised his former lack of Christian charity towards Frank and repented. Frank will be delighted.
Also a humble apology from Thom to myself!
Perhaps a first step towards final repentance and the salvation of another UOTB!
My cup runneth over.
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Coming generations will treasure this scintillating exchange of correspondence between two Australian engineers, diametrically opposed in religious belief. When this Blog becomes required reading in the seminaries still functioning in the Catholic Church, it will be icing on the cake for students of Theology, as well as for its other readers whose name will be Legion.
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