(the following is a response to a comment on: http://nakedmeadow.blogspot.com/2011/03/schmutz.html)
I've got nothing but love for what you say, max. Nothing but love. And don't think i'm belittling your indignation. But i've come to realize that there is a difference between writer wrob and wrob. Writer wrob says things that (maybe) need to be said. Writer wrob writes for the world, from a place that is sometimes centuries from here (in which direction, is subject for debate, if not laughter). Wrob is full of shit, so of course writer wrob is too...but we do what we can.
I hope you can you at least understand what drives sensitive, thinking people to a place of militant athiesm. Religion's sins are of course just a mirror of humanity...but in the face of our incomprehensible barbarism, the choking horror of which would literally drive one insane if you were able to take it all in...feeling the taste of such horror, one searches for something to blame. Religion is the most obvious target. Nothing else comes anywhere close.
Except that purple dinosaur. But i digress.
My sister has a similar reaction to things i say about religion...she has trouble not taking them personally. I've tried (and succeeded, at least in some degree, i hope) to de-personalize her response.
Writer wrob sits in his wrolling chair in the year 2391. Then he wakes up and he's just wrob, here again, and the pain drops him to his knees.
Try to remember the laughter that followed my (very possibly unheard) swipe. I was laughing at my own frail smallness. Sometimes, especially in these past few raw years, i feel things so deeply that i taste insanity. I love you, my silly, wonderful brother.
1 comment:
I can certainly understand what might drive a sensitive, semi-thinking person to a place of "militant atheism". That said, I'm convinced that if you think too far you will find your way out of it. I think of militant atheism as an intermediate zone in which the thinking-but-not-thinking-enough or in some cases just the critically underexposed find themselves trapped. I think of you as neither of those two things, which is why I hold you to a higher standard. You have the exposure and the intellect to see past the absurdity of militant atheism, and you should act like it. I totally understand that there's a place on one's blog for the passionate, unthinking character in all of us, but I hope you don't believe what you say. That frame of mind is nothing but destructive.
I also think, and have long thought, that you are missing a vital component of the whole religion debate. You miss religions' value to people. I grew up Catholic and far from having any scars or damage, I am much better for it both intellectually and philosophically. Until you recognize the value there, your vision of the future will be cracked and likely of limited use. I MEANT that a nonreligious world will still have a place for religion, because I believe that human nature will always benefit from the presence of religion. I'm not going to go into detail as to why I think the "I'm not religious and I'm well-balanced so why does anyone else need religion" paradigm is fallacious, but I do think so.
The bottom line is that before you can fairly tear something apart (I'm thinking of music criticism here), you need to understand what about it is genuinely (and not superficially) compelling. I find religion intensely compelling. I don't get all of it, but I get enough. Were I to live in overwhelmingly religious company, I would be a champion of agnosticism. Given my context though, I've long found it more appropriate for me to wage my little war against militant atheism. You are too smart and reasonable for me to leave you alone on this subject.
Post a Comment