contact@onbelief.orgBeyond a Critique of Religion
When reading some of the works of the 'New Atheists" such as Dawkins it becomes disappointing that they concentrate so much of their criticisms and considerable intellects to the apparent errors of religious belief systems. The appearance of error arises because science simply has a better story to tell concerning the way things are and their functional relationships (in a purely mechanistic sense). There are of course other questions to be asked about our actions in the world to which a purely computational approach does not seem to produce satisfactory answers. One must also suspect that the 'New Atheist' writers are as much exercised by 'abuse of power' on the part of religious institutions and individual religionists as they are by errors of belief.
Instead of concentrating solely on the excesses of religionists or religious institutions we should go beyond the domain of religion to examine beliefs in a wider context. Think for example what dedication to empire formation and political totalitarianism did for the world in the 19th and 20th century. A belief in racial segregation, fascist dictatorship, genocide, transient "dictatorship of the proletariat", Marxism-Leninism, or military and economic empire building has been at least as destructive as the excesses of religious fervour.
Hitchens in his book "God is not Great" points out that in some cases such as South African apartheid religion has even been used to justify the repression of political belief systems. Hitchens also makes the argument about how supposedly peaceful quasi-religions of the East were subverted to the cause of empire building, violence and aggression. In a strange twist to the story of empire the anti-establishment liberation theology has emerged as a way of solidifying post-colonial influence and an exported belief set.
(At Wikipedia see also: American Empire, Monroe Doctrine, British Empire, Soviet union, dictatorship of the proletariat, Marxism-Leninism, Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, Empire of Japan, French colonial empires).
On a more personal level, consider how irrational belief in the healing powers of alternative medicine, even amongst the British royal family, potentially deflects it practitioners and recipients from more useful courses of action. If you had toothache where would you rather go: to the witch doctor or pharmacist? Even if the pharmacist gave you a placebo sugar pill you would still be better going to the pharmacy. At least the sugar pill would not harm you. Despite the fact that it is easy to rule out the magic of the witch doctor we have in the British National Health Service, the chemically bizarre practice of Homeopathy (see pseudosciences >). Any beliefs that are aberrant by the standards of today's most disciplined examination should therefore be questioned be it the domains of economic theory or evangelical theology.
Although religions are amongst the greatest of the potentially destructive forces in human culture, adaptive skeptical critiques of many other domains of human thought are clearly required to prevent cultural stagnation, degeneration and misdirection. We also need to take special particular care that the methodology of science is not subverted to malicious use because of the spurious authority that it can bestow. Equally we need to be watchful that science is not used to produce what is possible rather than what is desirable.
On the Nature of Belief
www.onbelief.org
Scotland, 12th October 2007 and thereafter
Copyright 2007 onwards
