Glass Maze Every jumbled pile of person

Oh, Come On

Ross Douthat, on inflexible atheists:

But it is one thing to disbelieve in God; it is quite another to never feel a twinge of doubt about one’s own disbelief. And just as the Christian who has never entertained doubts about his faith probably hasn’t thought hard enough about the matter, the atheist who perceives the Christian God and the flying spaghetti monster as equally ridiculous hypotheses really needs to get out more often.

Look, Ross is clearly a much smarter guy than me, and he generally argues his points quite eloquently. But this is just silly. There are, in purely evidentiary terms, no differences between the Christian god and the Flying Spaghetti Monster — or Scientology’s Xenu for that matter, or Plato’s Forms, or Conan’s Crom. They’re all equally unprovable.

What is indisputable, I think — and Ross alludes to this in his post — is that the human race has a generalized tendency to confuse the unknown with the ineffable; to fill the gaps in our knowledge with gods who don’t so much explain things as render the need for explanation moot. This tendency manifests as the Christian god, yes, but also as the Muslim god, a host of Hindu gods, etc. All of whom can be beautiful outgrowths of human need, creativity and love (when they’re not telling their subjects to slaughter everyone who isn’t like them, of course). But they’re not based on facts.

Atheists who refuse to acknowledge their own vast gulf of ignorance should be mocked and derided, of course. But atheists who refuse to consider a god in their quest for understanding are just acting like post-enlightenment human beings confronted with a pervasive lack of evidence.

Which is not to say that the Christian god (or any of the other ones) are pointless exercises in mass delusion. I have seen gods give solace to people who believe fervently in their existence — and that makes them very different, and infinitely more worthy, than creatures made out of pure snark, like the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

But it does not make them more credible. It just doesn’t.

“the human race has a generalized tendency to confuse the unknown with the ineffable; to fill the gaps in our knowledge with gods who don’t so much explain things as render the need for explanation moot.”

Perfectly said. Take that to the BANK.

Nice post. Michel de Montaigne reckoned doubt is the essence of civilisation. You might enjoy reading John Gray.