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So, Chris Hitchens died. The really snarky part of me wants to say something about evangelical atheism's supreme pontiff dying. But the less snarky part of me sympathises with their loss. Atheists don't have an easy time. And Hitchens was a smart guy who articulated that belief system very eloquently. Good for them, good for him. And I applaud a belief system that says that you should be a good, moral person without the promise of a jolly sexy afterlife.
What I take issue with is what Hitchens pushed as "antitheism" which is pretty fucked. Hitchens said that he didn't need a god, didn't want a god. That's fine, but to press the idea that no one should have one because they can't prove its existence is fucked. Some people need a God, or the promise of something better after this is all over. Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, as they say. Some people, and maybe even a grand majority of people, need something else to relieve that reality. Let them have it.
My issue is with fundamentalism, evangelism, with pressing your beliefs on others. I'm not an atheist. I'm not a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or anything really. I guess I'm technically a Copenhagen Model Agnostic. But the way I see it is that the one thing humans do really, really, well is make meaning. We can take something as mundane as a tree falling in the woods and make it mean something. We tell stories, we put things in order, we make narratives, and we infuse the world with meaning.
If you live your life and look around and what you come up with, if seeing glory in the random-chance chaotic construction of the universe without a god and that means something to you, awesome. If this model you've built in your skull helps you live a better, more meaningful life? Keep on keepin' on, brother. If you look around and what makes sense to you, the way you build your model of the universe, in all this chaos if what makes the most sense to you is a loving creator who watches over you and cares about your redemption, and this helps you live a better, more meaningful life, fucking awesome.
And so forth.
But don't run around like a fucking douche-canoe making everyone else prove their model to you. We all share our models. We all like our models best. We want people to understand us, to see the beauty we see in our models. It's only human to want to share the beauty we see, the meaning we find in life. That's fine. But when you go and break another kid's train, well, fuck you. Go stand in the corner, you rotten shit.
What I take issue with is what Hitchens pushed as "antitheism" which is pretty fucked. Hitchens said that he didn't need a god, didn't want a god. That's fine, but to press the idea that no one should have one because they can't prove its existence is fucked. Some people need a God, or the promise of something better after this is all over. Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, as they say. Some people, and maybe even a grand majority of people, need something else to relieve that reality. Let them have it.
My issue is with fundamentalism, evangelism, with pressing your beliefs on others. I'm not an atheist. I'm not a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or anything really. I guess I'm technically a Copenhagen Model Agnostic. But the way I see it is that the one thing humans do really, really, well is make meaning. We can take something as mundane as a tree falling in the woods and make it mean something. We tell stories, we put things in order, we make narratives, and we infuse the world with meaning.
If you live your life and look around and what you come up with, if seeing glory in the random-chance chaotic construction of the universe without a god and that means something to you, awesome. If this model you've built in your skull helps you live a better, more meaningful life? Keep on keepin' on, brother. If you look around and what makes sense to you, the way you build your model of the universe, in all this chaos if what makes the most sense to you is a loving creator who watches over you and cares about your redemption, and this helps you live a better, more meaningful life, fucking awesome.
And so forth.
But don't run around like a fucking douche-canoe making everyone else prove their model to you. We all share our models. We all like our models best. We want people to understand us, to see the beauty we see in our models. It's only human to want to share the beauty we see, the meaning we find in life. That's fine. But when you go and break another kid's train, well, fuck you. Go stand in the corner, you rotten shit.
