Re: Dawkins on Channel 4 tonight

From: Kate Distin (memes@distin.co.uk)
Date: Mon 16 Jan 2006 - 10:59:20 GMT

  • Next message: Chris Taylor: "Re: Dawkins on Channel 4 tonight"

    Chris Taylor wrote:
    > I think the basic thing is that saying 'God says' sidesteps having to
    > reformulate Kantian ethics every damned time you want your associates to
    > stop hacking each other to bits.
    >
    > God (of whetever kind) is of course attached to all sorts of (frequently
    > abhorrent) systems. But then evolution kicks in, which means that of all
    > those nascent irrationally founded belief systems, only the functional
    > ones (usually Golden Rule plus diet advice plus washing) survive.
    >
    > The basic point is that God shortcuts a lot of argumentation, which in a
    > philosophically naive context is no bad thing...
    >
    > So whatever the reason a seer might see, the reason that meme
    > proliferates is entirely functional. I reckon. And of course completely
    > anachronistic for us.
    >
    > Cheers, Chris.
    >
    >
    > Kenneth Van Oost wrote:
    >
    >>
    >> So is religion than still a disease, a malfunction in the brain !?
    >> And was, for that matter, Christ himself a patient !?
    >>
    >>
    >> Regards,
    >>
    >> Kenneth
    >>
    >>

    Speculation about the reason why belief in God persists - whether the speculation latches onto genetic or memetic explanations - is irrelevant to the question of religion's *truth*. An evolutionary account of religion is usually *based on* the assumption that God doesn't exist: it is not a proof of that assumption.

    The same point stands in response to Kenneth's question whether religion is a mental disease. Language like this (or like Dawkins's "mental virus") implies that religion is something harmful and misguided, but neurological explanations of religion are no more relevant to the question of God's existence than evolutionary explanations are.

    Kate

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