August 7, 2007 by Dr. Mc.

“A man who has no assured and ever-present belief in the existence of a personal God, or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which seem to him the best ones.”

Autobiography of Charles Darwin. As compiled and edited by his granddaughter, Emma Nora (Darwin) Barlow,  p.94.

If each individual would do what is best in their own eyes, guess who’s interest each person would consider best. Their own. Darwin’s astute observation can be further delineated by Emile Durkheim’s that society is the ultimate constraint to mankind’s behavior. With this, the best that a godless mankind can be hoped for is Machiavellian: Everyone will do what is in their own best interest, which may include convincing others that one is doing what is best for others. Note this is not necessarily the same as doing what is best for others as individuals or society at large. If lying and false impressions achieves that, so be it. The net? Society and mankind (and ultimately the individual) loses if their is no perception of supernatural accountability beyond himself. So the answer for the faithless person is to convince everyone else that he or she believes in god and that everyone else should believe in god, for their own sake. I’m afraid there is a lot of that going on out there.

But let me take a deeper track: What about the truth? Does it make sense for a biology to evolve without god in a way that requires a belief in god by its highest form in order to function at its best? The answer to me seems simple: No.

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May 20, 2007 by Dr. Mc.

I appreciate the response to “Religion and Life” (Apr 26, ‘07) by an honest atheist. He offered some interesting thoughts, including several embarrassing quotes as accusations against faith in God in general and Christianity in particular. One was Preacher Richard Furman’s 1823 statement in support of slavery. I would like to offer a quote of my own: In reference to the two opposing sides of America’s great Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said in his Second Inaugural Address, “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged.” Many Christians throughout history have stood on opposite sides of issues and defended their positions (rightly or wrongly) from Scripture. Most were victims of their cultures. In any case, rejecting Christianity or God in general, based on selected anecdotal evidence (cherry picking) is easy. Would it take me long to find equaly nasty quotes by atheists such as Hitler or Stalin? Christians are humans and some can always be found with their foot in their mouth. I recommend a more compelling challenge: Find for me an atheist (or follower of any other religion for that matter) who has established an institution of giving to others to compare with any of the orphanages, hospitals, homeless shelters, and disaster relief agencies established by Christians. There is no Atheist General Hospital; no Buddhist Disaster Relief Agency.  Find it, and then I will consider if Christianity is less compelling as a positive life force than any alternative belief system.

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May 14, 2007 by Dr. Mc.

On March 25, 1807 King George III signed into law the abolition of the slave trade for the entire British Empire, the climax of a 20-year struggle by a handful of dedicated men and women to bring a nation to awareness of its own atrocity. When William Wilberforce got the news, he turned to his cousin Henry Thornton and asked riley, “Well Henry, What shall we abolish next?” His reply: “The lottery, I think.”

Source: Bury the Chains, last pages of Chapter 21.

(Might I suggest that there is either a moral law that links it all together, or there is no basis at all for morality.)

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April 26, 2007 by Dr. Mc.

In Bury the Chains, a book that details the struggle to outlaw the slave trade in England, it is noted that a time came when “evangelicals” arose and began saying that true Christians should live every day free from sin. This was a radical concept, to which Lord Melbourne, future prime minister of England, responded, “Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade your private life!”

Today, society pushes Christians to hold their religious beliefs to their personal lives, and makes it “politically incorrect” to take faith into public life. During Melbourne’s time it was the opposite, in that religion was public only, and not personal. Neither allows religion to be real, because reality requires total permiation of life and being. That which we compartmentalize we do not really consider real.

Posted in Politics, Notable Quotes, History | 1 Comment »

March 24, 2007 by Dr. Mc.

Thomas Huxley (Darwin’s Bulldog) makes the following observation in his essay “Evolution and Ethics;” indeed it is the theme of his essay:

“[t]he practice of that which is ethically best–what we call goodness or virtue–involves a course of conduct which, in all respects, is opposed to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of ruthless self-assertion it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside, or treading down, all competitors, it requires that the individual shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is directed, not so much to the survival of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as possible to survive.”

Huxley is acknowledging that the concept of evolution is diametrically opposed to the concept of ethics, but that ethics nonetheless should be our pursuit. He argues that we must work hard for the social good, and the work is because it contradicts our nature. He does not acknowledge however, nor can anyone defend, how blind evolution could lead an organism (over millions of years) to a condition where its progress depends on contradicting the process that brought it about.

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January 25, 2007 by Dr. Mc.

“Perhaps materialism was liberating philosophy when the need was to escape from dogmas of religion, but today materialism itself is the dogma from which the mind needs to escape. A rule that materialism should be professed regardless of the evidence … is he equivalent of a rule that science may not contradict the teachings of a church …”

(emphasis in the original) Phillip E. Johnson, 1998, Objections Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law & Culture, Page 56.

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October 14, 2006 by Dr. Mc.

On Oct 1 the Washington Post carried a very well-written argument by Paul A. Hanle entitled “Waging War on Evolution.” I don’t know how long they post articles, so I will repeat exerts as I comment here. What I find interesting is how much I agree with many things he said, yet I totally disagree with what he meant. For example, he said,

“This is not a war of religion against science. The two have thrived together for centuries. Nor is it a struggle of believers against godless materialists; many believers practice science and find inspiration for it from their faith. It is a battle between religious dogma cloaked as science and open inquiry that leads to new knowledge and understanding of the natural world.”

I agree that it “is not a war of religion against science,” but for a different reason than Dr. Hanle concludes. Science deals with facts—what can be demonstrated by repetition under controlled conditions, plus extrapolations on why those phenomena occur, for the sake of prediction and understanding. This definition is consistent with that given by most state school boards around the country. Unfortunately, “science” has been expanded by some to speak boldly, confidently, and conclusively about realms such as the first cause of things—history (onetime events) cannot be tested in a laboratory. Hanle states that “it is a battle between religious dogma cloaked as science and open inquiry that leads to new knowledge and understanding of the natural world.” Again I agree: Religion has crept into science when we ask people to believe without questioning something (dogma?) that cannot be proven. “Open inquiry that leads to new knowledge and understanding of the natural world” is blocked by such censorship of alternative ideas. I believe the best way for truth to be found is to let all ideas be pitted in open debate. So again I agree: It is not “a struggle of believers against godless materialists.” It is instead a struggle of godless materialists against science.

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September 17, 2006 by Dr. Mc.

“I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts.” Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson, Chapter one of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

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September 17, 2006 by Dr. Mc.

In the Devine Comedy, Dante encounters Virgil, the Roman poet, who volunteers to help him find his way to God. But Virgil, who represents human reason, can only lead him the first part of the way, and then must turn Dante over to Beatrice, who represents divine love. At the first level of Anti-Purgatory, when Virgil’s part is near completion, he says “She must be your lamp between truth and mere intelligence” (Dante, Purgatorio, Canto VI, 47-48). Intelligence and reason, if we are honest, can lead us to an acceptance of God’s existence, but they cannot explain the love of God that offers salvation.

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