Re: Leading Darwinists Admit That Life Has No Purpose

On May 9, 9:36=A0am, Elf M. Sternberg <e...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Sound of Trumpet <soundoftrum...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
>
> > Christianity teaches that God made the universe as a home for humans.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Hmm. =A0The huge universe is either an enormous waste of
s=
pace,
> or a lie.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The reason so many people react so vehemntly to the
discov=
ery
> that religion is a lie is that the promises they were made were so
> great.

There's also the burden of comprehending of the wasted time and energy
of one's ancestors in the pursuit of whatever religion gripped them.
Thing is there is nothing we can do about the past but much we can do
about the future.

A bit of dialogue in this Stargate SG-1 episode:

http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s3/319.shtml

got me to thinking on this issue:

Rigar: I am sure because we have not spent our lives praying to a god
who does not exist and many of our people have not lost their lives
fighting a meaningless war. I won=92t accept that. I have studied the
book of Nefertum word for word, cover to cover. It is the truth.

He's perfectly comfortable with refusing the hard evidence in front of
him and perpetuating the meaningless war and killing millions because
he can't stand the idea the millions have been killed pointlessly.
There's plenty of irrational people like that in reality.

And irrationality is the point.  Terrified people are rarely rational
(look how many believed Bush and company) and terror of what lies
beyond life is the motivation for religion.  I myself have been
terrified about my life, career, and condition of my condo.  How much
more terrified will I be when death is staring me in the face?
Tonight's Battlestar Galactica has a woman (played by DS9 alum Nana
Visitor) who's drawn to Baltar's latest pronouncements because of her
impending death and need to believe in an afterlife.

Despite the best efforts of people like Dawkins (I do own The God
Delusion) there will always be religions as long as a significant
number of people need to believe in an afterlife in order to not be
terrified.

I wonder if the increased secular nature of the GI generation and the
original Star Trek had to do the increased real wealth and perceived
orderliness and bright future.  Religion seemed passe in TOS and much
of TNG, but in the messier, less bright DS9 it becomes a major factor,
and even more so in Babylon 5.

This is probably all very obvious to everyone, except maybe for my
bringing in SF TV series, but I think it bears repeating.