cont...
You're also right that our perceptions of the world around us are rife with flaws. Whether it be fading/false memory or
outright hallucination, there are a number of reasons why we could (and perhaps should) doubt our own experiences. I do feel that
there comes a point where this stops being useful though. Speaking personally, I'll happily accept that some of my experiences
(those that could be construed as supernatural) could have been in my mind. I may never know the truth on that one, but I see no
value in dismissing them. Firstly, because they've helped to shape the person I've become. Secondly, because I find it extremely
problematic to dismiss what goes on in the mind as having no place in reality.
That's a problem with your perception then. Unfortunately, our beliefs inform our actions whether we like it or not and studies
have shown that the more irrational nonsense you allow into your head, the more you're likely to accept. We know that the more
religious one is, the more likely they are to accept other unscientific, irrational and nonsensical woo. Ghosts, alien
abductions, conspiracy theories, Bigfoot, all manner of ridiculous bunk is much more likely to be accepted by those who buy into
the god claims than by those who are skeptical of things that cannot be demonstrated. You're arguing for personal emotional
comfort, I'm not. I don't give a damn about personal comfort. Reality doesn't exist to make us feel good, reality exists
regardless and it's up to us to deal with it as it is, on it's own terms. It doesn't have to make us happy. It probably
shouldn't. People die horribly every day, they starve, they get hacked up with butcher knives by religious extremists, they get
terrible diseases and live horrible lives and that's just the way it is. Wasting time on our knees talking to ourselves because
it makes us feel good to think that an imaginary friend in the sky might do something about it, but conveniently never actually
does, is foolish. The only way to solve these problems is to get up and actually do something about it. Prayer solves nothing.
Action does. Sure, you might feel powerless but that's mostly because you are. That's why we have to band together and do things
collectively, something we can't do if we're all concerned about bowing down to the wrong imaginary friend.
Dealing with reality as it actually is, that's part of the maturation process and there are far too many people who never really
grow up, they're still pretending that Santa Claus is going to bring good boys and girls presents and the Easter Bunny is going
to bring them a basket of candy. That's not reality.
Your closing sentence really stood out to me:
That's just not how religious experiences operate though and that's why individual experiences with "gods" are just not valuable
to anyone but the person who had the experience and frankly, they ought to be skeptical of them as well I have a couple of issues with this. Firstly, you accept that such experiences are valuable to the individual while simultaneously rejecting them. This seems weirdly arbitrary to me. Why should you reject something that's valuable? I suspect the answer may lie in our very different views on the value of reality.
That brings me on to my second issue. This neatly summarises a recurring theme throughout your post - that it's important to
determine a single, objective reality and that anything which falls outside this reality is flawed at best. Why is it important to
determine what is universally true/untrue?
Because, as I said before, our beliefs inform our actions and when we have faulty beliefs, we have faulty actions. There are
reasons we send doctors, armed with modern medicine, to deal with problems like ebola and not dance around a fire, singing songs
to the skies. Gods don't actually do anything. If we want to feed the hungry, praying isn't going to do it, we need to realize
that we are personally responsible for what goes on and we need to get up and actually do something to accomplish our goals. Some magic man isn't going to do it for us. The question is not, do we reject things that are valuable, it's are these things really
valuable? Or are they just culturally indoctrinated beliefs that don't actually accomplish anything meaningfull and are getting
in the way of things that would actually help? We waste a lot of time and money sitting on our butts in big expensive buildings,
listening to well-meaning people explaining what a fictional father figure in the sky wants us to do. What might we accomplish
with that time and that money if instead of paying for these huge buildings and salaries, if we just went out and helped people?
There are plenty of religious charities who are only using their so-called charitable work as a means of pushing their religious
beliefs on the most helpless and vulnerable people around. There are some who won't give you food until you listen to their
sermon, or won't give you a bed to sleep in unless you profess belief in their religion. It's not about helping people, it's
about converting them to your beliefs. Sure, there are some legitimate religious charities out there, but there are a ton that
are just fronts for religious prosletyzing. People need to stop doing this stuff because they think it's earning them brownie
points with their gods and just do it because it's the right thing to do.
