Jesus Christ—who as it turns out, was born of a virgin, cheated death, and rose bodily into the heavens—can now be eaten in the form of a cracker. A few Latin words spoken over your favorite Burgundy, and you can drink his blood as well.
Is there any doubt that a lone subscriber to these beliefs would be considered mad? Rather, is there any doubt that he would be mad?
The danger of religious faith is that it allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy. Because each new generation of children is taught that religious propositions need not be justified in the way that all others must, civilization is still besieged by the armies of the preposterous.
We are, even now, killing ourselves over ancient literature. Who would have thought something so tragically absurd could be possible?
(Sam Harris, The End of Faith, p. 73)
I think Sam makes some great points here — but wouldn’t a lone subscriber to heliocentrism also be considered mad in the ancient world? Wouldn’t a lone subscriber to quantum physics have been considered mad in the 18th century? Just because something is perceived as crazy doesn’t mean it is.
Though I do think it’s crazy to believe someone can crunch on the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood. The difference is, we can provide evidence for heliocentrism, but not for transubstantiation.
I love the line, “We are, even now, killing ourselves over ancient literature.” To me it really highlights how absurd it all is.
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9 Comments
Even with quantum mechanics or heliocentrism being expounded much earlier than their time, if the proponent is able to show that they give similar results to the then-current theories (e.g., classical mechanics comes out of quantum mechanics, and geocentrism and heliocentrism give the same results with observations that are imprecise enough), then while the proponent might be considered part of the fringe, they wouldn’t be considered crazy.
Those who are alone in believing a particular religious belief comparable with the myths associated with Jesus would still be considered crazy whatever the time period, though. If they can lure enough crazies into their beliefs, however, it turns into a respectable religion. (Perhaps not all religions started out this way, but it’s pretty certain that some religions did start out this way and still do.)
Christianity didn’t start believing in those things… they sort of accumulated this theological rubbish over the centuries.
religions start in understandable ways, then spiral inwards.
Christianity didn’t start believing in those things… they sort of accumulated this theological rubbish over the centuries.
It didn’t? Granted, transubstantiation didn’t become official until something like the 12th C., and most of the Creeds came along no earlier than the 3rd or 4th. But those pronouncements were just formalizations and canonizations of ideas that were already considered true by a lot of the church — frequently the main reason for the formal statement was to settle an argument among rival claims, all of which would be considered absurd by our lights. And which faction won often seemed to have more to do with ecclesiastical politics than the merits of the position.
Yes, crazy claims will always be floating around out there; but organized religion makes them socially respectable and insulates them from criticism.
Daniel,
I love that ancient document quote as well. It hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I read it. Sam Harris tells it like it is. I guess that’s why I like him so much.
BTW, I completely agree with you guys. Just because a bunch of people believe in a bunch of crazy, unsubstantiated BS, doesn’t make it true. However, the more people who believe in something, the more credence it gets. It’s amazing how so many people can be brainwashed into believing in something for which no physical evidence exists.
Also, the vast majority of these people tend to compartmentalize their belief systems. For example, they require no evidence whatsoever to justify their imaginary friends, but most of them wouldn’t think of trying medicine that hadn’t been sujected to rigorous scientific scrutiny. Nor would they fly in an airplance that wasn’t proven to be safe. These people are hypocrites, and should be exposed as such.
Thanks, but the reason most of us are here is because your religion offered us false encouragement and beliefs. Once we saw through the charade of Christianity, we realized it offered us nothing but guilt and fear.
I suppose as a Christian, you wonder where an athiest like me finds encouragement with out an imaginary friend to comfort me or lift me up. I myself find comfort from talking and sharing time with friends and family. We are all real people with real problems, joys, pains, and fears, and we support each other. I used to try praying, but I soon realized that no one was there to answer them.
I also find encouragement and inspiration from the cosmos itself. I think it’s absolutely amazing that we live in a universe where atoms and molecules can assemble themselves to form proteins, and these simple molecules can (with the aid of billions of years of evolution and natural selection) form all of the lovely diversity of life we see today, including humans. I am awed and humbled that I live in a time and place where it is possible for my species to actually learn and discover new things about the strange, wonderful universe we inhabit. When one looks at life on our planet from this vantage point, they begin to realize how small and fleeting we really are when compared to the grand scale of the cosmos. All of our wars, posturing, and unabashed pursuit of profit and gain are so we can control an insignificant mote of dust in the vastness of space. Moreover, any concept of god (Yahweh, Allah, FSM) seems as small, petty, and insignificant as the human race itself, when I contemplate the cosmos. As human beings we are all in this great endeavor together. Our time is finite, and once we die, it’s gone. I feel duty bound to aid human understanding as much as possible, not through mysticism and spirituality, but science. Science is the only thing that leads us forward to understanding and enlightenment. We owe it to our ancestors and our children to illumiate the darkeness of our ingorance bit by bit, and thus enhance our quality of life and that of future generations. This, the undending quest for knowledge and understanding, is also what inspires me.
Finally, before shamlessly plugging your own Yay Jesus website. Try addressing the original post.
Hmmm…. It seem that the poster who I was addressing got his comment pulled while I was composing a response. Now I feel kinda silly. Oh well.
Yeah, I considered it spam. They didn’t contribute to the conversation and they linked to their site. That’s spam.
Sorry to make you look crazy! :)
“but wouldn’t a lone subscriber to heliocentrism also be considered mad in the ancient world? Wouldn’t a lone subscriber to quantum physics have been considered mad in the 18th century?”
Not if he had the evidence to substantiate he wouldn’t.
@ slarty
Nope, just a heretic.