Sunday, December 03, 2006
Outrage
Ever notice that something's always lurking around in this great big wide world just waiting to outrage you? You'll be flowing along, all relaxed and mellow, and WHAM! Someone says or does something stupid or mean or unfair or outrageous and you're MAD! Ready to kick some butt. Change the world. Painful as outrage can be, it gets stuff done . . . sometimes. Depends on whether you focus your energy and get moving or whether you rant and rave and let the outrage dissipate without ever lifting a finger. Once the outrage dissipates, you're back to the mellow - until the outrage strikes again.
Here's a story of outrage for you, no matter which side of the fence you sit on. The National Museum of Kenya is being pressured by evangelicals to hide away its prehominid fossils, so the evangelicals can pretend that there is no evolution. I'm for the evolutionists in this case. Museums are not religious institutions. They don't tell religious institutions what to preach. The purpose of museums is to talk about ALL of history, not sweep disagreeable things under the rug and pretend they didn't happen.
Here's a story of outrage for you, no matter which side of the fence you sit on. The National Museum of Kenya is being pressured by evangelicals to hide away its prehominid fossils, so the evangelicals can pretend that there is no evolution. I'm for the evolutionists in this case. Museums are not religious institutions. They don't tell religious institutions what to preach. The purpose of museums is to talk about ALL of history, not sweep disagreeable things under the rug and pretend they didn't happen.
Labels: africa, evolution, history, mood, museum, outrage
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Magical Thinking
Biologist Richard Dawkins is getting a lot of press lately, primarily for his views on atheism. I was listening to an interview with him on MPR not long ago and he indicated that he feels that any child brought up solely in one religion is undergoing child abuse. I agree with this sentiment to a certain extent. I realize that people who are raising their children in one faith, and one faith only, are primarily doing so for what they feel are the most noble of reasons, however, unless these children are cloistered, they are going to rub shoulders with people of different faiths. If for no other reason than to avoid social insensitivity, children should learn a little something about other religions. On a more fundamental level, what if a kid doesn't fit with the faith of his/her parents? I was raised Catholic, which never matched my mindset. When I found Unitarian Universalism, I felt that I had come home spiritually.
Now that I've found a point of agreement with Richard Dawkins, let me spin into a point of disagreement with him and other atheists. Those who believe there is no god cannot seem to tolerate people who engage in magical thinking. It's all hard-edged, cold, complex, beautiful reality for them. The vast majority of us slip into magical thinking now and again, believing our prayers work; believing in ghosts, fairies, Big Foot & the Loch Ness monster; attributing unexplained phenomena to some mystical, mysterious force; believing that that force is God.
I'm rereading Neil Gaiman's American Gods, a book so full of magical thinking that I wouldn't be surprised if it turned into a raven and flapped away into the night. The beauty of magical thinking, which is as gorgeous and complex as our physical reality, is its ability to let us imagine the unimaginable. If we did not think that gods could fly, could we have ever figured out how to make humans do so? As an evolutionist might argue, we kept the ability for magical thinking over time because it is evolutionarily advantageous for our species. Let's not reject it out of hand because we think we know better now that we've evolved past the point of needing gods.
Now that I've found a point of agreement with Richard Dawkins, let me spin into a point of disagreement with him and other atheists. Those who believe there is no god cannot seem to tolerate people who engage in magical thinking. It's all hard-edged, cold, complex, beautiful reality for them. The vast majority of us slip into magical thinking now and again, believing our prayers work; believing in ghosts, fairies, Big Foot & the Loch Ness monster; attributing unexplained phenomena to some mystical, mysterious force; believing that that force is God.
I'm rereading Neil Gaiman's American Gods, a book so full of magical thinking that I wouldn't be surprised if it turned into a raven and flapped away into the night. The beauty of magical thinking, which is as gorgeous and complex as our physical reality, is its ability to let us imagine the unimaginable. If we did not think that gods could fly, could we have ever figured out how to make humans do so? As an evolutionist might argue, we kept the ability for magical thinking over time because it is evolutionarily advantageous for our species. Let's not reject it out of hand because we think we know better now that we've evolved past the point of needing gods.
Labels: american gods, evolution, god, magical thinking, neil gaiman, raven, religion, richard dawkins
