So today I would like to have a discussion with you. A rather light hearted one. Let me give you a little bit of background...
Sometime back I went through this phase where I watched Atheism vs. Theism debates online everyday. I wasn't shopping or curious, I just found it entertaining. Over the course of a few debates I noticed that I more often than not agreed with the atheist. This surprised me! I may not have believed in a "created the world in 144 hours" kind of God, but I did fancy myself a religious/spiritual person. Naturally, I began to wonder why I related more with the atheist than the religious person. It didn't take long to answer that question.
The arguments made by the religious people in these debates seldom, if ever, reflected what I thought of when I thought of religion. Me and the religious person simply defined religion differently. They seemed to define religion as a system of belief, or a collection of tenets that they held to be true. While, I look at religion as a process of experimentation that leads me to a direct experience of truth. Therefore, the atheist were not, in my mind, arguing against religion; rather they were in opposition to a set of beliefs that were not supported by evidence or truth.
They tend to cite the beliefs of fundamentalist across the board as a way of suggesting that religion is an evil, ignorant, and corrosive thread that humanity could do with out. Of course I agree that any belief that forces you to fly a plane into a building or have 30 underage wives is ridiculous, but I am a religious person, and am in no danger of participating in either of the before mentioned activities! It is easy to refute religion when you make a straw-man of it, but I question whether or not any real good can come out of such a shallow and meaningless discussion...
The atheist in these debates included some big names. Many of them had an air of condescension that I did not appreciate. However, there were two that I came to enjoy watching. Both Daniel Dennett
and Sam Harris
had depth and weight to their arguments, and articulated their position in a respectful manner. So here is the discussion I would like to have...
Do you consider yourself a religious or spiritual person? Do you find the arguments against religion in these videos even apply to you? Do you find yourself agreeing with many of the points made in the talk below? Do you think that religion has a deeper meaning that is simply being neglected in this discussion? What place do you think religion has in the 21st century? Or add anything else you would like to share along these lines.
I have chosen to embed a 10 minute video of Sam Harris providing an argument against religion in general. The video runs out in the middle of his spill, but if wish to watch the rest I am sure youtube will make that easy enough. But I think the 10 minute snippet provides ample information for our discussion. I have also provided links to several other videos, including a debate between world renown intellectual Christopher Hitchens
and Al Sharpton that you may find surprising and hilarious! The Dan Dennett
link is extremely intelligent. I look forward to reading your comments below!
Click here to watch Dan Dennett respond to Rick Warren at T.E.D.
Click here to watch Al Sharpton vs. Christopher Hitchens
