But then it turns to a darker tone, as one rereads some of the posts, including that of the blogger himself.
"Far more pragmatic and less self-reflectively thanatophobic than the first one, I realize that my body is a meat machine that has a lot of parts that can be inordinately useful to others when I’m dead. I hold no reverent sentiment toward my meat – when I die, that’s the end of me caring what happens to my body. Bury me, burn me, freeze me, shoot me into space, carve me up and use me as a bizarre sideshow in a Hallowe’en display – I won’t be around to have an opinion. However, I am cognizant of the fact that there are a lot of people who are literally dying to have a fresh shot at my slightly-used organs. If my atheism-fueled joi de vivre leads me to a premature death in a freak motorcycle-jousting-with-a-tiger accident, let those salvageable bits of me go to some use!"
Yeesh. As I've said before, the contempt that post-modern secularists have for human life has gone well beyond anything imagined in the late 19th century intelligentsia. At least they thought European life was somehow special, though some like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche properly understood that without God, all is pointless and it's dog-eat-dog, which is more ore less what our good atheist blogger is saying. Life is only worth something for the moment, for me, based on me having fun and doing what I think is important because it's all about me. If I'm cut shot, so be it. Another slab of worthless meat for the grinder. Welcome to the brave new world.
There's a reason that over the centuries religion may have killed its millions, but within a matter of decades, the elimination of religion killed its tens of millions.
Wha...?
ReplyDeleteThe individual you quote plainly states he holds no reverence for his dead body, and you take that to mean he's contemptuous of human life?
You might want to remove those Catholic colored lenses for a minute and re-read what that guy wrote.
No, I realize that it mirrors that same 'humans are nothing but glorified animals' attitude that was all the rage as we stumbled into the last century. To think our bodies are just meat machines is one or two steps away from treating them that way, and only a couple more from not waiting until death steps in to do something about it.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess that explains why non-believers all over the world are killing themselves, since your logic is foolproof.
ReplyDeleteNo, but it would go far in explaining why it's becoming more and more difficult to justify caring that they do. Hence, the movement toward letting parents abort babies after they are born, to heck, letting them do it even if they their kids are adults who are disabled. That's possibly why most ancient religions took eons to slay their millions, while philosophies based entirely on post-religious sensitivities have slain their tens of millions in a matter of decades.
ReplyDeleteIt would be helpful if you could provide evidence that it's "becoming more and more difficult to justify caring that they do". For example, consistent rises in murder rates in countries where non-belief in a god is also increasing.
ReplyDeleteHow does one abort a baby after it's born, or even when it's an adult?
I'm not sure which philosophies you refer to. Communism maybe? If so, it wasn't based on "post-religious sensitivities", but on Christian theology, as I document here:
http://www.makingmyway.org/?p=449
The old crime and religion argument famously floated by Sam Harris has long been debunked. Some religious countries have high crime, some have low. Some non-religious and highly secular have high crime, some have low. That argument has long been buried.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that ever since the West said that it's time to ditch religion, and accepted the belief that we are all just animals, we didn't end up with a utopian paradise. Instead, we ended up with states that treated humans like animals. If we want to only see religion and evil in history, fine. But eliminating it has done nothing else than codify the slaughter for a secular age, showing that evil will be there with or without religion.
But today, as we are seeing people suggest it's time to thin the weak, the helpless, the unwanted from the human herds, it's history repeating itself. Only instead of it being a cultural distinction, it's being applied to the human family universally. At least it's equal I suppose.
Oh, and the idea that communism has Christian roots because the early church advocated no property is about as stretching it as you get. The desire of the Church to share possessions, and the Communist state attempted in the last century are hell and gone from one another. And Christians don't say atheism started communism. The very historically accurate charge is that the Communist states, inspired by Marx’s contempt for religion, adopted an 'eliminate religion' mandate. Talk to Christians who lived in the USSR if you want to find out what life was like. Communism is the most abhorrent social and political theory ever attempted. It’s been disastrous every time it’s been tried, especially with those nations that made the elimination of religion a priority in establishing a communist civilization.
I'm not making a "crime and religion" argument. I was asking you for evidence to support your claim that it's becoming "more and more difficult" for atheists to justify caring about live human bodies. If you cannot reasonably justify it, then perhaps you need to re-visit this belief.
ReplyDeleteThe communist/fascist regimes of the 20th century were not intent on eliminating religion; they were intent on eliminating rival or autonomous institutions. Besides, you're conflating atheism with anti-religiosity, when the two are in fact separate.
Who is suggesting "it's time to thin the weak, the helpless, the unwanted from the human herds"? Please provide names. But more importantly, what societies are actually carrying this out?
It's clear you didn't read my article on communism's Christian roots. It wasn't just the early church that communism later drew inspiration.
Finally, Marx wasn't contemptuous of religion; he saw it as a byproduct of capitalist oppression. Religion was an "opium" to help people deal with their misery. Religion would naturally fade away as communism spread.
I will post a response on the blog when I get back. Long school trip and competition tomorrow. Look for it at the end of the weekend or early next week.
ReplyDeleteEh, what's so wrong about what this guy said? He just said that they can use his dead body however they want. Nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteAh, I never did get back to this. It isn't that they can use his body, it's his disdain for it. There's a fine line between 'I'm more than my body, and ashes to ashes' and all that, and 'I'm just a slab of meat at the end of the day.' True, that probably is more honest for an atheist to admit, and it seems to be something that atheists want to proclaim, and yet deny at the same time. But again, there's a difference, there's that spark of the divine that is missing in such a description.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, welcome and thanks for the comments!