--Preface: The skeptic versus the believer
The question pondered in every period of history is that of meaning. Is there some purpose to human experience, some hidden or divine source for the cosmos? In virtually every age human beings have puzzled about their roots. They have debated the question of whether human life is finite or whether there is a divine promise of eternity. The lines have been drawn between two conflicting approaches to the ultimate nature of human reality in the universe. The proponents of the practical stance call themselves empiricists, or rationalists, or scientific skeptics. They are skeptical about the claim of faith that the universe is divine. They are the atheists and agnostics of old; today they are called secular humanists and are castigated as such by believers. Ranged against them are the disciples of a transcendental and theistic world-view. The former are content to live in the world as it is and to deal with it as best they can; they seek to understand it using the categories of logic and experience, and are willing to undertake the arduous task of transforming it by their own courageous efforts in the light of their own plans and projects. Opposed to them are all those who are discontented with mundane reality and who seek to escape to an imagined universe based upon faith and credulity. Incompatible with the world they encounter, they find that it is too little; they yearn for deeper mysteries and truths, for the promise or hope that there is an unseen dimension to existence.
The scientific rationalist is a skeptic about the received myths. He believes the dominant religions of revelation to be mythological conjecture full of vain hopes and illusions. These religious fantasies are kindled by a fearful response to the ambiguities of mortal existence, and they weigh down frail human spirits who are seeking to find in their dreams some refuge from the vicissitudes of fortune. Herein lurk the motives that nourish even the most pretentious religious aspirations. Paradoxically, as Kierkegaard admitted, the more absurd the claim, the more grandiose the dream; the more incredible the mystery, the more committed and devoted the true believers are likely to become.
The wounds run deep in human civilization. Some cultures become fixated on the quest for the eternal, and some individuals, overwhelmed by this life, forever seek another. The contrast is between the scientist and the mystic, the philosopher and the theologian, the doer and the follower, the knower and the prophet, the independent person and the dependent soul.
In a sense, the schism between those two parts of ourselves is reflected in our culture and is never completely resolved; for no sooner is an accomodation reached in a historical period than it emerges in the next, often even more pronounced than in the previous, though it may assume different forms. It is as if the species Man has a schizoid nature--his feet implanted on the earth but his imaginative soul soaring toward a heaven of magical unreality. Overwhelmed by the ache of humdrum existence, he seeks an escape to another dimension.
Today, a similar dichotomy exists between scientists and paranormalists, the disciplines of rigorous inquiry and the cults of the occult, the world of modern science and the mythology of fundamentalist religion.
It is often difficult to know which side of our nature will dominate and control us. To live and function, one must accept the practical realities of common sense and ordinary life and come to terms with them. One cannot be completely out of touch with the external world of brute existence for long--that is, if one is to endure. We need to bake our bread, build our shelter, forge our plowshares, ward off the threats to our daily existence, and deal with friend and foe alike. Men and women could not long survive if they remained fixated in a dream world of religiosity. Knowledge is an instrument of action. We need to understand the objects and events of the world about us, if we are to cope with them and solve the problems of living that may arise. Yet man is fascinated by questions concerning his origin and destiny. Troubled by disease and death, he often craves something more. Thus he tends to read into his life some divine mystery. He erects cathedrals and monuments, develops creeds and dogmas, engages in ceremonies and celebrations--all to deny his mortal existence and to reinforce and give permanence to that which is absent. Homo religiosus invents religious symbols, which he venerates and worships to save him from facing the finality of his death and dissolution. He devises paradise fictions to provide succor and support. Man deceives himself about his ultimate destiny so as not to be tormented by the comtemplation of it. Although he must of necessity use his intelligence to cope with the world--at least up to a point--he is forever poised, ready to leap beyond reason in an act of faith. There is, he insists, something more to the human drama, thus straining to resist and deny his existential demise. In acts of supreme self-deception, at various times and in various places he has been willing to profess belief in the most incredible myths because of what they have promised him: Moses on Mt. Sinai delivering the Ten Commandments to God's "chosen people," Christ crucified beckoning man to salvation, Mohammed the true prophet of Allah so appointed by Gabriel, Buddha the Light, Joseph Smith and the New Zion of the Mormons, or the Chariots of the Gods transporting extraterrestrial beings from outer space to observe mankind.
The pathos of the human condition is that many or most human beings cannot easily accept the stark realities of human finitude, the fact that there is no ultimate providence or purpose for our existence. Extraterrestrial beings may exist in remote corners of the universe, but there is no evidence that they have had anything to do with us, can commmunicate through ESP, or are responsible for our future destiny. One must be skeptical about the very existence of extraterrestrials until it is verified and demonstrated--though it remains an exciting possibility of tremendous import.
Most members of the human race consider skepticism to be disenchanting; since it questions their revered dream-fictions, it is also held to be dangerous. The methods of science and reason leading to technology and industry have contributed enormously to the progress of human civilization. Religious believers cannot deny this. They are willing to use the fruits of science and technology--but only up to a point. They are ever ready to leap beyond science by fashioning a doctrine claiming two truths, insisting they have a right to their beliefs in religious revelations, however fanciful they may be. Skeptics refuse to be lured by the transcendental myths of the day. Unable to accept uncritically the prevailing beliefs, they often stand alone condemned and hated by believers for their "negative" heresies.
One may ponder why skeptical dissent about religion has been held by a relatively small group of intellectuals and naysayers. Are the religious needs of men and women too powerful, the hunger for the divine too pervasive for skepticism to ever prevail? Does religiosity have its roots in biology and genetics? Does it have adaptive value? Is there deep within the human breast a transcendental temptation that reappears in every age and accounts for the ready acceptance of myths about the transcendental? If so, can or should it be overcome, and how?
There was the supposition at one time that, given the availability of education, the increase in literacy, and the elimination of poverty and disease, humankind might someday outgrow the religiosity of its infancy. There was the hope that in its place might develop a mature scientific outlook and a responsible moral and social philosophy grounded in a naturalistic view of the human condition. Under this view the universe possesses no purpose or meaning per se and is indifferent to human achievement and failure. It is not divine in origin or sustenance. The human species is a relatively minor species on a tiny planet in one galaxy among countless others. Hence the beginning of wisdom is the awareness that there is insufficient evidence that a god or gods have created us and the recognition that we are responsible in part for our own destiny. Human beings can achieve this good life, but it is by the cultivation of the virtues of intelligence and courage, not faith or obedience, that we will most likely be able to do so. We can attain some measure of social harmony and justice, as well as a creative and bountiful life full of potential excitement and exuberance. But what we do depends upon whether we can develop scientific knowledge and moral excellence. The human adventure is not alien to adventure and poetry, romance and beauty. Nor is it insensitive to wonder and awe at the splendid majesty of the cosmos. These are religious qualities, but natural piety need not be devoid of stark honesty about our past and future. Surely we need to avoid a schizoid approach. The method of critical intelligence as used in science, philosophy, and ordinary life is an essential therapy if we are to rid ourselves of false illusion and dogmas.
This was the pagan conviction that prevailed in Hellenic and Roman civilization. It was eventually overtaken by a failure of nerve, and the Dark Age of religiosity descended upon Western civilization. A humanist outlook emerged during the Renaissance and reached fruition during the Enlightenment, with the development of modern science and the ideals of democracy and freedom. But the belief that reason and science would properly emancipate human beings from false mythologies of illusion was mistaken; for the twentieth century has withnessed the growth of virulent new ideological religions (fascism and Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism) and the persistence of orthodox, supernaturalistic religious dogmas. It has also witnessed an outburst of a new set of beliefs in the paranormal and the occult: astrology, UFOlogy, psychic and space-oriented science-fiction religions, and a bizarre magical-spiritual world-view.
Secular humanism provides an outlook on man and the universe, a philosophy of life, and ethic of reason and freedom. It is the story of possibility and outreach. Secular humanism is an alternative to the religions of illusion and salvation. But how it copes with the claims of the transcendent without dogmatically dismissing them and how it deals with life, offering opportunity and power, is a crucial issue. Can secular humanism provide a meaningful substitute for God and the transcendent? Can it deal with the world as it is and yet help us to fulfill our basic yearnings and hopes for what we might become?
The Bible Says!!
America and Religion
The Gods Must Be Crazy!
Main Page
Get your own Free Home Page