And now, a thought on religion
Jan. 25th, 2007 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cmdr_zoomBecause I'm trying to see how much hate-mail I can get in one day.
No, actually, this is something that I've been thinking of, on and off, for the last couple of years.
A while back, one of the characters in a webcomic I used to read suffered a crisis of faith. Her religion, the teachings of her church, were telling her things that she found very hard to accept as right or fair. In the discussion on the message board, some people asked why she didn't just quit - renounce her god that said these things she didn't agree with, and find another that worked better for her.
What I thought of saying at the time, and finally am now, is this: It doesn't work that way. Belief, real belief, isn't something you can choose. (That's where Pascal's Wager has always failed my bullshit test. Faith is not a matter of game theory.)
If one believes in the existence of (a) god, then what one thinks of Him, Her or It does not influence that existence. I cannot make God go away because I don't like what He does, any more than I can wish away hurricanes, malaria, or bullies. (I note that I only have direct experience of the last; the other two, I must take on faith.)
Pretty much the only wiggle room a believer has is that the will of the divinity is interpreted by mortals, who can be fallible. But unless you happen to be a prophet or a hero, there's no arguing with God. God just is. Take it or... well, I guess you can't really leave it, can you?
No, actually, this is something that I've been thinking of, on and off, for the last couple of years.
A while back, one of the characters in a webcomic I used to read suffered a crisis of faith. Her religion, the teachings of her church, were telling her things that she found very hard to accept as right or fair. In the discussion on the message board, some people asked why she didn't just quit - renounce her god that said these things she didn't agree with, and find another that worked better for her.
What I thought of saying at the time, and finally am now, is this: It doesn't work that way. Belief, real belief, isn't something you can choose. (That's where Pascal's Wager has always failed my bullshit test. Faith is not a matter of game theory.)
If one believes in the existence of (a) god, then what one thinks of Him, Her or It does not influence that existence. I cannot make God go away because I don't like what He does, any more than I can wish away hurricanes, malaria, or bullies. (I note that I only have direct experience of the last; the other two, I must take on faith.)
Pretty much the only wiggle room a believer has is that the will of the divinity is interpreted by mortals, who can be fallible. But unless you happen to be a prophet or a hero, there's no arguing with God. God just is. Take it or... well, I guess you can't really leave it, can you?
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-25 10:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-26 12:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-26 01:13 am (UTC)It is if you're a game theorist.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-26 02:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-26 02:43 am (UTC)(Consider: famous probability/game theorists include Blaise Pascal, John von Neumann, and John Forbes Nash.)