From: Ira Brodsky (ibrodsky@ix7.ix.netcom.com)
Date: Mon Nov 18 1996 - 11:51:06 MST
Shaun Russell wrote:
> Now here's the disclaimer of this post. I'm a total
>atheist. Not a single scrap of belief in a conventional or
>dictative 'God' or 'U-Prime' whatsoever. I firmly believe that
>we, as humans, totally control what we do and how far we go in
>life. To put it bluntly I think that we are 'God'; 'God' on a
>human progress basis. However, if a giant meteor comes from
>virtually nowhere and knocks the earth into the sun, there will
>be nothing I can do to stop it. I don't think anything can
>stop it. It happens. No 'conventional God' or 'U-Prime'
>caused it, the universe caused it because it happened within
>the universe. *But* the universe is just a variable that human
>'Gods' will have to accept. We cannot control the universe, but
>we are a part of it just the same. We have the rationale to create
>and explore. We can live our lives as we see fit, ignorant of
>the universe around us. We can create as much as we want within
>the universe. We can go farther and farther into the universe...
>as far as we want to go. But we *are* the universe, or at least
>a part of it.
I'm not sure I see much difference between what you are saying and the
conventional belief that there is "God" and there is "free will."
I would cast things a bit differently. I believe there are laws of nature
and that they extend into questions of morality. I think the purpose of
life is to understand and employ those laws. I am not ready to rule out
the possibility that, by doing so, we will one day rule the universe.
(Notice that technology permits us to do things today that once seemed
impossible. Yet we have achieved these things not by denying the laws of
nature, but by better and more fully comprehending them.)
It seems unfortunate to me that people tend to believe that either a) there
is a God whom they must obey because if they don't he/she will punish them
later, or b) there is no God and therefore no "higher law."
In other words, I believe it is possible to believe in a higher law without
believing in a higher being.
This has resulted in a philosophy which may shock some of you. When I was
twenty years old I wasted much time arguing with "believers." I was never
able to dissuade any of them (although I have heard it has been done).
Today, my philosophy is that if you are truly comfortable as an atheist you
will not require that everyone else be an atheist. In fact, if I had to
choose between everyone being an atheist and no one believing in objective
morality, on one hand, and everyone believing in God and objective morality
on the other, I would rather be the only atheist on earth.
Ira Brodsky
Datacomm Research Company
Wilmette, Illinois
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