Rock My Worldview

Christians often complain that Science can’t meet the human desire for meaning in life.

But have you ever imagined what Science would look like if it tried to do this?

What would an enterprise that sought to explain things in a way that was pleasing to the human ego – rather than in a way that was based on the observable – produce in terms of dependable knowledge about the world and universe?

For example would a system that revolved around appealing to the human need for a sense of self-importance – rather than what is actually observed – have accepted the astronomical discover that the earth was not at the center of our solar system?

It is a very good thing indeed that Science is FOCUSED on explaining things in a way that is observable – with the type of technical language suited to such a task – rather than in a way that appeals to the human need for feeling of value and importance in the midst of it all – or the type of language more likely to accomplish this.

In other words, it’s very good that Science is Science and not something else.

It is in fact the very thing which our Christian protestors of Science turn to for their sense of meaning – Religion – which has been guilty of failing to accept observed facts about our world that were felt to challenge the sense of importance that religion ascribed to human beings – such as lay in the idea of our being at the center of the universe.

In summary, please don’t ever ask Science to be your source of meaning in life.

We certainly don’t.

And certainly please don’t ask it to submit to your religion’s description of things.

We’ve already tried that time and time again.

Let’s just let it to be what it’s meant to be…

A source of observation based knowledge.

You can continue to look to your religion for your source of meaning.

And we’ll continue to look to things other than science too.

(at least other than science alone.)

Thanks for reading.

For those of us involved in the atheist vs. theist discussion, we are often asked by believers – why?

“Why waste your time talking about Christianity if you don’t believe it’s true?”

For me there are at least three reasons that I do this:

• First, I spent over ten years of my life as a Christian thinking deeply and reading heavily about matters of faith.  This eventually lead me to challenge and ultimately abandon my Christian beliefs of my first 25 years of living.  The significance of this journey for me has left me with the desire to discuss the overall experience – and also the things I learned through it – with others.¹
• Second, I’ve always and continue to enjoy thinking about and discussing this “type” of subject – religion, philosophy, psychology – or what I believe are called “soft sciences.”^{2 3}
• Third, while I may not think Christianity is serious in terms of its truth value, I do recognize it’s significance in people’s lives – and our society as a whole.  I see it as well worth discussing – and for related reasons – on at least some points – worth challenging.

My interest in this conversation – as best I can understand myself – is really this straightforward.⁴

As regards some of the common Christian interpretations of why former believers and life-long agnostic/atheists would be interested in challenging their religious beliefs⁵ – I may do an entry at some point responding to these – but for now I’ll just say that I believe these are often simply the result of theistic beliefs – sitting in a vacuum – encouraging misconceptions about so-called “non-believers” like me.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and thanks for reading.

Cheers.

¹ The strength of this desire to converse on these things is at least partially rooted in the fact that during my faith exploration period, I kept the questions I was asking and things I was discovering mostly – though not entirely – private from my fellow believing family and friends – people I still have resignations about sharing all my thoughts about faith with today.

² This is part of why I understand myself having read and thought about these things enough to bring me to where I am in my thinking today where as most of the people I know do not care for books or conversations on these subjects; a few close friends are exceptions – and all of these believers I should add.

³ I’m also open and interested in learning more about these things – and even open to finding that I was wrong about theology – in some sense anyway.

⁴ If there is some nefarious plot at work in my heart, I am not aware of – nor do I actively support – it ; )

⁵ It may be worth noting here that my reasons #2 and #3 will also apply for many life-long “non-believers.”