What is my head noise?

   I have one or two more things to say about this topic, and we'll leave it behind for a while. I want to examine a potential explanation of why I believe what I believe.
   Using Dawn's, and Dianna's comments as a leaping off point, I think it is safe to say that many people who believe in God do so because they have had some kind of spiritual experience in their lives. It may have been dramatic and seemingly revelatory like an answer to a prayer, or it may have simply been a feeling of awe, like one might feel at the sight of a wondrous sunset.
   I, too, have had similar experiences. I just don't attribute them to a higher being. And the question I want to examine is, why not?
   The answer, I think, comes from my feelings about the nature of the concepts of good and evil (Alec and I have had this discussion before, so he'll know where I'm going with this). People who believe in God, also hold the concurrent belief that 'good' and 'evil' have absolute values independant of human society; that events can be classed as good or evil in and of themselves. I do not hold that belief. Good and evil are subjective values that we assign to events or actions based on our social mores.
   About a year and a half ago, the second largest earthquake ever measured by a seismometer occurred on the floor of the Indian Ocean, triggering a Tsunami, or giant wave, that killed as many as two hundred thousand people. Some people have said that was a bad, or evil happening. They have looked for reasons for the huge death toll, assigning blame for some imagined sins to those who lost their lives.
   I don't see the world that way. The Tsunami was an event. The loss of so many lives, while unpleasant, and regretable, was not an evil, or a bad thing. Now, don't make the mistake of accusing me of thinking it was a good thing. Believing that bad or good are the only two choices is what's called a false dichotomy. The event was neutral. It was neither bad or good. It just happened. I don't feel the need to assign some kind of value, or meaning to every event in the world. I'm not looking for meaning in everything. I don't need it to be there. That's why I'm an atheist. I think.

   This quiz has been going around the skeptical blogosphere. I thought it was a rather timely quiz for me to take.

The Pyrrhonian
The results are in, and it appears that you have scored 59%... Quietly confident and aloof, the Pyrrhonian recognises that religions exist and that people subscribe to them, but manages to keep well out of it all. Pyrrhonians came to the realisation long ago that all matters of faith are beyond the scope of reason or argument, and thus retains a clear-headed skeptical approach to religion in general. They refuse to place belief in anything for which there is no proof, and regard the majority of theistic claims as irreconcilable. Leading a life of tranquility undisturbed by religious concerns, the position of the Pyrrhonian is enviable, if a little frustrating for others at times.




My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on pentagrams

Take The Atheist Test written by chi_the_cynic

via Pharyngula, via Science and Politics

   Here is a quote from Isaac Asimov that also describes the way I feel quite succinctly:

“I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don't have to waste your time in either attacking or defending.”

And with that, let's move on to another topic.

tags:Skepticism, Religion, Memes