I have recently read the book written by Richard Dawkins entitled ‘The God Delusion’, and must admit that although it contained many arguments I have already encountered, I certainly found the explanations from this enlightened ‘brain on a stick’ much better conveyed than my measly pustule of a narcotics-damaged cabbage of a head could probably ever elicit.
Ever since the attempted indoctrination by my school at the age of 7 (and in fact, before then through prayers at infants’ school from the age of 5), I have always held a rather sceptical mindset and found the whole culture of Christianity (and other religions) very confusing, and easily treated as quaint and occasionally amusing. Indeed, the main reason my peers chose to celebrate Ash Wednesday was to evade a whole hour of teaching in chapel and drink a pitiful amount of red wine in the hope of getting pissed.
Now, however, my mindset has been changed. I think it changed a long time ago, but one point Dawkins makes that really resonates with me is the exceptionally privileged place a person’s religious beliefs hold. Whereas all other points of view are open to debate, religion is the one aspect of culture that advocates unwavering, unquestioning and ignorant belief. It is apparently a virtue to believe in the teachings of your religion. And the more you believe it, and the less evidence there is to back it, the more virtuous you are. Unfortunately, in our society this also means that people respect a pious person’s beliefs, even if they are absolutely ludicrous, detrimental to others, and can easily be blown out of the water.
An old example, a boy of Quaker parentage in the first world war could happily evade conscription citing religious belief, whereas an atheist pacifist could not, and would be tried and imprisoned for desertion of duty. A more up to date example is demonstrated by the current controversy surrounding the wearing of veils or burqas when teaching children, recently added to by the Dutch cabinet, which has backed a proposal by the country’s immigration minister to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public places.
Another aspect I am worried about is the prescription of children to religious beliefs. I don’t know what may have happened to my views if my parents were not the unconcerned heathen that they are, but bringing up a child as a Jew or a Christian seems comic considering the child’s understanding of such matters. You don’t tend to see Socialist or Conservative children.
Despite the barriers to integration and a world view of humanity that this culture introduces (from the moment of birth), even more scary is the total incompatibility of all these faiths and the ultimate conclusion that ‘I am right and everyone else is wrong’. As I have said before, how can you argue against a religion whose virtues are based on unquestioning, blind faith.
And so, I have decided to become an activist of sorts. I would never insult people’s beliefs, of course, but I will question them, and often have done. And probably the biggest question, as always, is at home – my nephews’ likely entry into an exclusively Jewish school.
Some interesting points raised. I wonder what Soapbox thinks about all this…?
Looking at the flip side, I think I was pretty much strongly indoctrinated by my parents to be an atheist. You could look at it that they influenced me to be the cynical chap that I am, as much as a kid that gets the Koran drummed into them.
yes, but being taught to be critically minded is surely the whole point of going to school. Did your parents teach you how to think for yourself? Or did they tell you that you are an atheist?
Another point, view me as a control. My parents did not teach me to critically think or indoctrinate me into a religion. Surely the two points of view we must come at are either being told something is true, or being told something may be true and being given the faculties to make your own mind up. My curiosity led me to read up on many of the things I didn’t understand, whereas many people never even do this. Perhaps my parents always telling me to get a book from the library because they didn’t know the answers to my incessant questions caused this curiosity. (I always remember them answering my “Why…?” questions with a “Because.”)