The ideas that life evolved by events of chance, and the idea that events in our life happen randomly (without a divine reason) seem to threaten a lot of people. I will expound on that more later- it requires the mathematics of probability and some psychology to unravel. For the moment, I just want to explain my choice of banner- a fern, generated from a not terribly complex equation, plus lots of randomness- fractals.
http://bioquest.org/esteem/esteem_details.php?product_id=249
The biological world certainly does have the appearance of design- complex parts functioning in complex wholes. And it is difficult to imagine such structures appearing by chance- mainly because it is hard to conceptualize the time scale involved in evolution. But this fern, along with snowflakes and other crystals, proves that random inputs, given a few natural constraints, will form an apparent order organically, through a reiterative process, with beautiful results. Randomness is the opposite of design. But it does not occur in a vacuum; there are laws of physics and chemistry and such. How structures began to reproduce themselves, thus becoming "life", remains a mystery; but one thing is clear- given time and energy, randomness can "create" something beautiful.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Acting for a more reasonable world
This blog is not an attack on religion; but it is a positive effort in support of reason. Unfortunately, there is persistent and pernicious propaganda which continues to equate atheism with an assumed lack of values ("moral compass", and an unending flow of shoddy logic and uncritical thinking which seeks to prop up old mythologies, most pervasive among them Christianity, and most annoying of that cult the literalist and evangelical brands.
I am not hostile to Christianity per se; I have many Christian friends who are very positive people and whose faith seems to ground them personally. In fact, I am married to a practicing Catholic. Oddly enough, we both believe in love, in helping our fellow humans, and in our daily affairs give our life on this earth a higher priority than whatever afterlife may or may not await. Most Christians make great neighbors- as do most atheists, especially those of us who identify as secular humanists. Religions, like belly buttons, would be irrelevant were they not constantly thrust in our faces and inserted into politics by an apocalyptic, fear-driven band of theocrats. The sky is falling, and they have the only shelter. As always.
This blog is a release valve and a place to think out loud and work through ideas. It will explore issues of faith and the lack thereof; psychology, science, reason, skepticism, evolution and ethics. Some of the posts will inevitably be reactions to the media, to time spent sitting in Mass, etc. but there will also be random ponderings, rants (sadly, I suffer from Jesus Fatigue) and philosophical detours. I hope it provides as much pleasure to any reader who happens upon it as it does for me, the writer.
Comments and discourse are welcome, but this is a space in support of reason. Declarations of faith, readily available elsewhere, are as common as a cold rhinovirus, and just as annoying. The mental acrobatics of apologetics around ancient books can be fun, but preaching will be ridiculed or deleted here depending on my mood. Feel free to start your own blog if you want to share your Good News. My News is this: we are all on the planet together and thus interconnected; this knowledge gives us the power, and arguably responsibility, to improve our collective lot, regardless of our views on the metaphysical. I don't have faith, but I do have hope- and I don't need a mythical dead-resurrected dude or an invisible watcher in the sky to tell me to love my fellow man; we evolved to live harmoniously in small groups, and we are smart enough to extend that to the larger tribe of our species and indeed all of life. The great struggles may be painted as good vs. evil; but within that Disney narrative you will find our compassion pitted against our greed, our intelligence failing to restrain our animal biology and tribalism. Satan is not the enemy- we are. Good and evil are not external spirits, to be absorbed through sprinklings of holy water or purged through the exorcism of demons- they are behavioral potentials to be nurtured or starved within each of us.
So let's get on with the good work of living together- rationally, please.
I am not hostile to Christianity per se; I have many Christian friends who are very positive people and whose faith seems to ground them personally. In fact, I am married to a practicing Catholic. Oddly enough, we both believe in love, in helping our fellow humans, and in our daily affairs give our life on this earth a higher priority than whatever afterlife may or may not await. Most Christians make great neighbors- as do most atheists, especially those of us who identify as secular humanists. Religions, like belly buttons, would be irrelevant were they not constantly thrust in our faces and inserted into politics by an apocalyptic, fear-driven band of theocrats. The sky is falling, and they have the only shelter. As always.
This blog is a release valve and a place to think out loud and work through ideas. It will explore issues of faith and the lack thereof; psychology, science, reason, skepticism, evolution and ethics. Some of the posts will inevitably be reactions to the media, to time spent sitting in Mass, etc. but there will also be random ponderings, rants (sadly, I suffer from Jesus Fatigue) and philosophical detours. I hope it provides as much pleasure to any reader who happens upon it as it does for me, the writer.
Comments and discourse are welcome, but this is a space in support of reason. Declarations of faith, readily available elsewhere, are as common as a cold rhinovirus, and just as annoying. The mental acrobatics of apologetics around ancient books can be fun, but preaching will be ridiculed or deleted here depending on my mood. Feel free to start your own blog if you want to share your Good News. My News is this: we are all on the planet together and thus interconnected; this knowledge gives us the power, and arguably responsibility, to improve our collective lot, regardless of our views on the metaphysical. I don't have faith, but I do have hope- and I don't need a mythical dead-resurrected dude or an invisible watcher in the sky to tell me to love my fellow man; we evolved to live harmoniously in small groups, and we are smart enough to extend that to the larger tribe of our species and indeed all of life. The great struggles may be painted as good vs. evil; but within that Disney narrative you will find our compassion pitted against our greed, our intelligence failing to restrain our animal biology and tribalism. Satan is not the enemy- we are. Good and evil are not external spirits, to be absorbed through sprinklings of holy water or purged through the exorcism of demons- they are behavioral potentials to be nurtured or starved within each of us.
So let's get on with the good work of living together- rationally, please.
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