Sunday, May 26, 2013

Are You Tired Of Reading About Atheism?


                                                                            

 In I don’t believe in Atheists  Chris Hedges writes:                                                       

“The cult of science is used, like the cult of religion, to provide meaning and hope, to feed the illusion of moral superiority. … A belief in the limitless possibilities of science, and the belief that science will save us from ourselves has replaced, for many, faith in God.”

Atheists claim that religious people are guided by irrationality, therefore they are intrinsically dangerous. But emotions can lead to intuitions of enormous importance, and the intuition of the transcendent, which is the domain of the religious sense, is one of them. 

In existing primal religions there is continuity between mind and matter, imagination and reality, or even objects and individuals. Boundaries are an illusion. A supersensory world can be discerned by those who achieve spiritual awareness, and the shaman has this power. The spirits of the ancestors offer protection and help to the living, like how saints are believed to do in Catholicism. We can’t dismiss the common outcome of human imagination in different societies too easily, for it may well give insight into something real.

Modern atheists maintain that our moral sense stemmed from evolution, but this theory doesn’t explain our benevolence towards our fellow human beings. The struggle to survive, in fact, is more severe among members of the same species, because they fight for the same type of resources. 

In the ancient world it was custom to fight the members of a different tribe. We certainly are the children of evolution but, I believe, of something else too, or even better, of Someone else. Many of His creatures vanished  or mutated, then we are inherently worth much more than any other inhabitant of this planet.

Of course, modern intellectuals enjoy to place themselves on the same level of, let’s say, a chicken. My son made me watch a video of a deceased American comedian, may he rest in peace, who was actually wondering why we call the destruction of a human fetus an “abortion” and the one of a chicken’s egg an “omelet”. Considering the amount of omelets and the likes I’ve ingested during my lifetime, I don’t find the comparison particularly funny. But how silly of me! Chickens don’t have consciousness after all. How do I know? Well, I’ve never had a conversation with a chicken, so I’m just guessing.

The moment I find out that chickens don’t want me to eat their eggs, I won’t make omelets anymore, I swear. 


7 comments:

Manny said...

An omelet? Ha! I've heard that comparison between a chicken egg and a fetus. A chicken egg is an unfertilized egg. It will never develop into a chicken. No one making an omelet would want to crack open a fertilized chicken egg. The contents would be repulsive.

Yes, atheists have formed their own cult. I was actually thinking of this earlier today because I was reading a particular atheist on a web site last night. The only reason he was there was to proseltiyze like a religious fanatic. I was thinking they should make him priest or bishop. ;)

Manny said...

Antonella, I just read another atheist to Catholicism conversion story, and it's one I know you'll enjoy. I thought of you immediately. Check it out:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/2013/05/23/the-atheist-orthodoxy-that-drove-me-to-faith/

Antonella said...

Unfortunately I was unable to find this link! But thanks anyway.

Manny said...

No? Try doing a Google search for "catholic herald megan hodder". It should come up.

Antonella said...

I found the link, it's great to see young people so intellectually alive! On the last publication of TRACES (the Communion and Liberation monthly magazine) there is an interview with a famous young atheist blogger who converted to Catholicism, Leah Libresco. To be honest with you I'm starting to think that my son is not intellectually curious enough to explore other views of the world!

Manny said...

LOL on your son! I think you're right. I have visisted Leah Libresco's blog. She made a huge news event in the blogging world the day she announced her conversion and I remember congratulating her in a comment. I don't usually go to her blog. It's too philosophical for me and deep philosophy spins my head around. ;)

Antonella said...

The interview with Leah was too difficult for me too! But it's nice to see that such a smart person would convert!