After my posts pimping The Great Faith Debate, several people have wanted to know, “what is there to debate?” and “why should we debate this, it should be a personal issue”. Things like that. Good questions.
In a perfect world, where religion was in its appropriate place (which is right around the same place as knitting and masturbation: it’s something a lot of people do, it makes them feel good and they don’t go around trying to get everyone else to do it too*) then there wouldn’t be a “debate”. It would be just another philosophical topic to burn some extra intellectual energy on.
But we don’t live in that world. We live in a world where religionists are forcing their views into our government. We live in a world where those who promote religion are trying to invade our science classrooms. We live in a world where children are being killed and mutilated in the name of religion and it’s attendant superstitions. We live in a world where prominent politicians joyfully align themselves with those who would participate in such activities. We live in a world where a woman’s right to choose what to do with her own body is being violently attacked in the name of religion. We live in a world where those who don’t believe in the predominant religion are relegated to second-class citizens and a president even says that they should not even be considered citizens.
So this debate takes on greater meaning. It extends beyond existential musings and thought exercises and enters the real world with real world consequences. It is an attempt to bring rationality and acceptance of differing views to the forefront. This has become a human rights issue, as a percentage of the population of the world are being discriminated against, and in some cases physically attacked, simply for not accepting the premise of a supreme being or beings. A debate like this is one form of promoting the acceptance of non-believers. And if it makes people think and consider their own positions and those of others, that can’t be anything but a good thing, right?
#1 by rationalbehavio on September 17, 2009 - 4:54 pm
This is why I think one of the better books to read, as a theist who takes offense to atheism, would be Hitchens' "God is Not Great." He really focuses on these aspects of religion and how it does indeed poison everything.
#2 by CyberLizard on September 18, 2009 - 4:37 pm
And he didn't pull any punches pointing that out in the debate, which was quite refreshing to hear.
#3 by Jason Thibeault on September 20, 2009 - 3:48 am
It's always refreshing to hear anything but the all too common bending-over-backward to accomodate whatever crazy beliefs people happen to have.