Thoughts Before The Alarm Sounds

Previously I discussed the futility of arguing the existence or non-existence of God (April 4, 2016, Some Thoughts on God is a Question, Not an Answer ). This is not the same as discussing the merits of a belief in God’s existence.         When Voltaire wrote “If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him,” he was not saying that he doubted God’s existence; i n fact, the statement was made as part of a piece that he wrote condemning and refuting an atheistic essay called The Three Imposters. He was concerned that the essay was an extremely dangerous work since it questioned a notion that was useful for society: the idea that criminals would be punished in the afterlife. I think Voltaire’s view was too small.          Let me digress to discuss the concept of a worldview, which, according to Merriam-Webster, is a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world especially from a specific s...

William Irwin, professor of Philosophy at King’s College, posted an opinion piece in the New York Times (March 26, 2016) entitled God is a Question, Not an Answer. Professor Irwin contends, rightly I believe, that both the true believer and the avowed atheist “must admit that he has his doubts, that occasionally he thinks he might be wrong.” Does God exist? Irwin goes on, “There is no easy answer: Indeed, the question may be fundamentally unanswerable.” As a result, Irwin suggests that people should not be too dogmatic in their discussions of the question, but should be open to opinions from all areas of the spectrum. I should like to discuss how the question arose in the first place. Both the believer and the non-believer eventually arrive at an answer which, although they may not realize it, turns out to be the same unfalsifiable hypothesis about which Bertrand Russell wrote so clearly in 1952. 1 Or as Carl Sagan so succinctly put it, "Your inability to invalidate...

Homo sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to invest passion and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions. - Joyce Carol Oates The short answer is: Evil does not exist! I doubt that I could find anyone who agrees with me, but please hear me out. “ Evil” is a word, a symbol of the type Ms. Oates is describing above. As a noun, it is the name of a set of activities that society deems to be “evil;” as an adjective, it is a description of certain actions of people . It does not exist by itself i.e., without people, any more than “beauty” exists without beautiful things, or for that matter, “goodness” exists without good things. Although they make wonderful adjectives, striking the nouns “evil”, “beauty”, “goodness”, etc. from the language would eliminate much misunderstanding. There is only one way to eliminate evil: Eliminate people. That's probably not a good idea. ****** My books, “There Are Only Seven Jokes” and “The Spirit Runs Thr...