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Atheism as a Stealth Religion

Posted by Raymond on November 9, 2009

From ScienceBlogs:

In today’s polarized world, the conflict between atheism and religion is shaping up to be the fight of the century. In this corner, the new atheists, flexing their muscles with books such as God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. In that corner, the religious fundamentalists, who are responsible for 9/11, the Christian takeover of America, polluting the minds of their children, and numberless other atrocities. It’s science and reason against dogmatism and blind faith, making it obvious who the enlightened liberal should root for.

Well, not quite. The truly enlightened liberal should experience a twinge of doubt about the very blackness and whiteness of it. Let me show you how a bit of evolutionary thinking can paint a more interesting picture in shades of gray.

The new atheists hate religion for causing between-group conflict and especially for its wanton disregard of the canons of rational thought. Yet, both of these problems extend far more widely than religion. Between-group conflict pervades the animal world. Ant colonies, lion prides, and chimp troops don’t have religion, but they do have between-group conflict. As for the canons of rational thought, to the extent that brains evolved by natural selection, their main purpose is to cause organisms to behave adaptively in the real world–not to directly represent the real world.

This leads to a crucial distinction between what I call factual and practical realism. Consider Hans and Igor, who are mortal enemies. Hans understands that Igor is much like himself, even to the point of competing for the same square of ground. Igor regards Hans as an inhuman monster, completely unlike himself. If Igor’s belief makes him fight with greater determination, then it counts as practically realistic, even if it is factually incorrect. Now imagine similar contests among beliefs–and the brains that create beliefs–taking place over thousands of generations of genetic and cultural evolution. Voila! We arrive at a conception of human mentality that is far more nuanced and interesting than the black-and-white cartoon of atheism vs. religion.

[Read more at ScienceBlogs]

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  • simonperry
    Raymond, I don't understand your concept of practical and factual realism, and their effects on evolution. You didn't explain it. Please can you give a clear description, with examples? Thank you. I like your article, it's good to challenge complacent assumptions and lazy thinking.
  • simonperry
    I find that atheists are every bit as intolerant of other beliefs as religious people are. On some matters they are very inflexible, to the point of irrationality. Such as, life after death. Try talking to an atheist about that and see what you get.
  • kencreten
    Atheists understand nuance, but are tired of things being assigned to them; my guess. Atheists think differently about different things. "Black and white" usually isn't one of them regarding thought, depending on the individual. People are atheists "because" they are flexible thinkers.

    This seems to be at least one fact that people keep missing.
  • Senate
    What is the Christian takeover of America?
  • look around if you dont see it, you have to give lip service to christianity to run for any office, even liberals do it, win an award....you better thank god, libraries are under constant assault to limit "non religious" reading material, scientific policy is constrained by religious notions, try serving in the military, when i was a soldier we had mandatory meetings with clergy, religious organizations get special privileges over secular organizations, we let christianity decide who we can marry and doing so let christianity dictate the terms of large portions of employment compensation....it's funny how americans pride ourselves on freedom yet willingly let undemocratic tyrants dictate so many portions of our life to us.

    that said, we would be much better off trying to get rid of states than religions, without states concentrating the power of many into the hands of a few it would be much more difficult for the theocrats to achieve their destructive goals. imagine trying to organize a war if you had to convince 50 governors to invade instead of on decider with a messiah complex.
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