God-Tinted Glasses

In an RE lesson years ago, I was introduced to an interesting concept: That atheists, unable to see the god(s) they (supposedly) depend on, are like fish, unable to see the water they swim in. Since then, that idea has rattled around inside my head, but recently it bumped into a brain-cell and some thoughts occurred:

Firstly, although a living fish may be unable to see the water it is in, I have little doubt it is very able to detect said water using its other senses. Meanwhile, nobody has any senses for detecting deities -- or at least, none that work reliably or have been proven to exist. (That dastardly classic problem of being unable to trust ones senses is still around!) What I am saying is: Just like an embarrassed puffer fish, the simile deflates under scrutiny.

Secondly, I wish to turn the concept on its head: What if atheists are right and this metaphorical god-water isn't really there at all? What if theists are, metaphorically, wearing God-Tinted Glasses?

There are many religions with many branches and they all contain logical flaws, (I intend to write more about these in future posts,) which, logically, prevent them from being completely, if at all, true. In addition to these flaws, different religions contradict each other by definition -- if they didn't, they'd be the same religion -- and this prevents there from ever being more than one "true religion." Knowing this, it is logical to conclude that most theists are, knowingly or otherwise, fooling themselves and each other into holding false beliefs.

But then which theists hold the true beliefs? Well, they all seem to be convinced that they personally do, despite a total lack of evidence and much careful reasoning to the contrary, so it's very likely they're all fooling themselves.

Some people try to get around the contradictions and other flaws. They claim that all religions are true by using wishy-washy ideas like, "We're all looking out different windows at the same light." Unfortunately, such statements totally fail to reconcile the myriad differences and merely sweep them under the metaphorical rug, where they will come out and cause trouble again later.

Yet more theists say things like, "Believe whatever is right for you," which is tantamount to admitting that the various religions offer little more than a selection of fantasies to choose amongst. Of course, it isn't quite that simple: The religion you claim to belong to can have a large effect on the sorts of places and people you end up going to and socialising with. What I fail to understand is why some theists think this is a good thing. Why should they let their religion dictate who they befriend, rather than simply sticking around with the people and places they normally get along with?

Regarding the aforementioned fantasies: I do not object to fantasies in general. I think it's fair to say that most people fantasise about things they like most of the time. I often think it's useful to have a dream I like, to aim for to give my life purpose.

Those who know me may be aware that I often cannot think of a way to get to where I want and have to ask for advice, but that is beside the point. The point here is that no dream can come true if it is self-contradictory, because it would then be both false and true, which makes no sense. To put it bluntly, regardless of how well motivated you are, you will never fulfil your dream or fantasy if you choose one that is self-contradictory. Thus, if your fantasy is religious, your efforts are futile and can only complicate things for everyone. I like simplicity; hence I am motivated to write this.

One of the things that rarely fails to surprise me is that my words appear to have no effect on religious people. I am mystified as to why they insist on clinging desperately to religious fantasies even after I've explained to them the conspicuously complete futility of their religious efforts. And if you think "clinging desperately" is too strong a phrase then bear in mind that most of the people I've argued with, especially those I meet online, have been unable to put up a coherent defence for their beliefs and have resorted instead to insulting or ignoring me personally.

There must be an infinite number of non-contradictory fantasies they could hold instead, but religious people are never really interested in what I say. It is as if they only pretend to listen, thinking in their closed minds, "The poor fool will be damned." Or they interrupt and exclaim that they must not listen because my words and intentions are evil. Or they listen patiently but quietly dismiss my every word as false -- and then they leave saying, "Thank you for questioning my beliefs; you have helped me to strengthen them," because they believe that anyone who disagrees with them is wrong by definition.

I get frustrated when people continue their misguided actions even after it has been explained to them that their efforts are actually observably detrimental to themselves and others. For instance, when two religious groups clash and both cling to their irrational beliefs with equal ferocity, the only possible eventual outcome is war. I suspect that theists hold onto their futile beliefs because they fear that the alternatives are equally pointless. Fortunately, at least one alternative is not: As a being with a mind, each of us is able to find a purpose in ourselves and in other things.

Good purposes for things tend to run along the lines of, "Food is for feeding hungry people." Meanwhile, a good purpose for people is to cause widespread knowledge and happiness. I attempt to do that by writing both philosophy and humour, which I put online. Those purposes do not require any gods, and yet I found them and try to work towards them.

If people got a better understanding of themselves and the world they would achieve better and wouldn't try to force others to do unreasonable things. I try to help but some just fool themselves even more and everybody ends up doing something utterly stupid like going to war about whose religion is better. All the theists in the world are fooling themselves and each other -- they are wearing differently-coloured God-Tinted Glasses, which prevent them from seeing sense. If they took them off, life would be simpler and therefore nicer.