quote:And I’d point you at our recent rehashing of virtue and morality, and ask you whether you really, really believe that virtue would have evolved culturally outside the framework of faith.
Perhaps it couldn't have, but only in the trivial sense that no part of society as we know it could have evolved culturally in the absence of faith. Obviously religion comes very naturally to human societies, at least in some point during their development. I don't think belief in virtue could have evolved in the absence of weapons, or romantic love, either. But that's just because I don't think humans could ever have evolved without these traits. Neither of these evolutionarily inevitable features of our species is a precondition for belief in virtue.
quote:I assert that it could not have, and I don’t think we’ve reached the point that we can abandon faith, as a species, and hope to survive. I’m trying to imagine what pogrom would have to be implemented to convince 8 billion people to give up their faith. It simply is not going to happen. This is not the moment in our evolution for it.
I also agree with this. Such a fact is not incompatible with my position. I don't think most people are ready to set religion aside, but I do think that when they get around to doing so it will be a positive development. Thus I'm glad when I see someone convinced to become an atheist. If you feel the same way then perhaps we don't really disagree.
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Yeah, I guess we don't disagree, then. I obviously like it when people face the truth and learn to live "in the abyss," as my wife says (by which she means learning to forge meaning on your own despite the overwhelming lack of meaning in the universe). It just isn't an easy choice or task, and as a result, I don't see it as appropriate for me to actively "convert" people, though I am more than happy to talk to them about my views if the subject comes up.
[ February 22, 2005, 10:26 AM: Message edited by: David Bowles ]
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