Not too long ago I heard some catchy sentence from Dr. Robert Sapolsky, neurology professor at Stanford, about religions
Get it wrong, and we call it a cult. Get it right, in the right time and the right place, and maybe, for the next few millennia, people won’t have to go to work on your birthday.
Witty as it is, and loving this guy, I always wonder why scientists entitle themselves so often to an expert opinion on the issue.
A professional on God existence will tell us over and over how cool God is and that it must exist (and be cool). A militant atheist will act in an opposite way. Typically, the former are considered by the latter to be illiterate, when not intentionally dishonest. But why is so? Well, ignorance makes you more welcoming to God, magic, or any supernatural forces, I buy that. Things need an explanation and God is an easy one, right? Well, not quite so anymore.
Taking advantage of people lacking books, theocracy was the easy explanation and meant easy control over the masses. But also the brave men defying the unquestionable truth did it not to displace God, but to share the wonders of what there was in -they believed- his creation. Instead of that humble spirit, scientists today drop God out of the equation. If one day objects used to fall for God was pulling them down but the following day it was something called gravity, a property of objects with mathematical description, nothing used to happen. And that was a quite direct impact on your experience with God, since he didn’t interact physically with objects anymore. Or think about someone finding out what a cloud is, stripping God from his most welcomed present: the rain. Alright, it was physics, so what? Kudos to God. Now people hear about something as outlandish as string theory and they think like… hey…there must be no God, cause… you know…. uhm…. Hawking radiation?
I think it is not a ‘discovery spoils innocence’ thing. Scientist, just like butchers or policemen, are a part of the society they live in. And some of them even practice some religions. So it’s not about science, it’s something else. And the second role of God, the one that really pisses us off, is the Ruler. “He may have a son, Jesus, befriend Muhammad or go have a drink with Joseph Smith, but why does he have to get into my business? Whichever serious religion I approach, they come to me with that ‘Love your neighbor’ crap. Look, if you knew him, you would hate him too, so get out of my life.”
Capitalism, understood in the filthiest way, is about making you care about stupid things in life and disregard important ones. Producing the stupid is way easier, and demands no sacrifice from the consumer. So as your neurons go on holiday, you make someone’s pockets full. For this system to work, you have to create the adequate environment, so you expose people to shallowness by using the media and now they can focus on your products. That is, bluntly explained, why it is convenient to keep you godless. And you find it attractive too: it’s a way easier to walk than a more spiritual one, full of morals and don’ts.
Scientist, then, are not experts in God, they are experts in science, their opinion is of special interest only in this field. Your atheism shouldn’t come from science. I believe this occidental atheism / laicism outburst come from people asking themselves: How many excuses can I make so I can live this easier life? And obviously scientists can find more, which make them look more strongly opposed to religions, but currently what it is behind, I believe, is a society that wishes not to be judged for their behavior and turn that feeling into a way of life.
Personally… well… I enjoy science a lot. The more I know, the more wowed I am, and I can only think of knowledge not as a threat to God, but as its revealer.
