As a prefatory statement, we do not intend to castigate the human inclination to religious or otherworldly beliefs. We consider “faith” a naturally occurring supplement to the innate limitations of human cognition. Its existential utility resides in reconciling the most profound metaphysical mysteries whose origin and nature are beyond the prowess of the mental capabilities as evolved in the homo sapiens. The nuanced style and characteristics of various “belief structures” are usually inherited and taught to the young, becoming a significant ingredient in their cultural upbringing and perceptions.
The sad history of group accepted cultural beliefs at times in Man’s checkered history led to the wrongful prosecution of non-believers (including believers in an alternate style of “faith”), warfare, and unnecessary human tragedy. However, the overzealous evangelistic history of religious faith does not detract from our recognition of the utilitarian dynamic of non-factual belief and its beneficial role in, among other matters, ameliorating the fears of the “unknown.” That the “Sun God” died after the Fall and was resurrected in the Spring was an outcome of Man’s discomfort with the bizarre mystery of seasonal change.
We have elected to overlook the historical record of communal faith relative to its anecdotal need to enforce its belief system upon other human beings. We also recognize the utilitarian benefits of common religious belief in its contribution to the human need for societal and personal identity, and its communal role in softening the ultimate tragedy of death. In sum, we affirmatively recognize the pragmatic service rendered by ” faith belief” in the existence of a universally stable and all-powerful governor of matters beyond Man’s ken.
Nonetheless, we have observed that, in sync with many others who enjoy great intellectual and moral veneration, including: Locke, Descartes, Kant, Leibniz, Hume, Erasmus, Bacon, Hobbes, and Spinoza, that the progress of Mankind, socially, intellectually, and morally is more efficatiously, accutely and justly accomplished by the enlightenment derived from empirical experience as opposed to culturally derived, atasvistic belief in non-factual, superior powers.
Penicillin and the polio vaccine were not discovered by “faith,” nor were the railroad and the airplane products of religious inspiration. The scientific method of inquiry, was the source, as distinguished from non-factual belief in superior, omniscient entities; as in all other discoveries, such as Copernicus and the heliocentric understanding of the Solar System, viz. that the Earth travels around the Sun, and not the other way around. The latter erroneous theory was based on the universal religious belief that “Man” is the “Center of the Universe.” The atom, for better or worse, was not split by religious ritual, but rather per the natural law of physics. Hungry people should be fed, not because it is pleasing to the Deity, but based on the human capability for empathy. People do not go to “heaven” as a reward for good deeds, but enjoy a good conscience in their elder years. Morality is not enforced by punishment in some “afterlife,” but experienced or fondly recalled by others.
It is our respectful view that religion has certain cultural and social interactive benefits, however, ultimate enlightenment by human reason derived from empirical experience is the sole route to Mankind’s ultimate realization of its award of Natural Evolution’s golden Trophy.
-p.
plinyblogdotcom 