Posted inReligions

Believers in God, others believe like you do. Just not in God.

Everybody has that wonderful feeling of "I'm certain this is true." Everybody. I blogged about this neuroscientific fact in I know I'm right about uncertainty. I included an Amazon summary of "On Being Certain: Believing You are Right Even When You're Not." You recognize when you know something for certain, right? You "know" the sky is blue, or that the traffic light had turned green, or where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001--you know these things, well, because you just do. In On Being Certain, neurologist Robert Burton challenges the notions of how we think about what we…
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Posted inReligions Science

Science progresses. Religion doesn’t.

Science knows a lot about reality. Even more impressive, science steadily knows more and more about reality. I subscribe to several science magazines, New Scientist and Scientific American. In every issue I learn about advances in the scientific understanding of the cosmos. But when was the last time religions told us something factually new about how the world works? In fact, so far as I know there hasn't been a first time. Or an anytime. Meaning, even though prophets, mystics, sages, gurus, enlightened masters, and such supposedly have had access to beyond-normal ways of knowing, none of them ever have…
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Posted inReligions

Atheism: natural, moral, open-minded

I suppose I'm an atheist. After all, I don't believe in God. There's no demonstrable evidence of God. I want to spend what likely is my one and only life as close to reality as possible. Imagination is fine and fun, but it should be a supplement to living, not the main course. I used to shy away from the term, "atheist." It's got a negative vibe in the United States' highly religious culture. Reading Julian Baggini's wonderful little book, Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, has made me more comfortable with saying, yeah, I'm an atheist.  Here's some reasons I've…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Weird religious stuff I’ve believed or done

A couple of weeks into the New Year, I still haven't completely broken a half-hearted resolution: be more understanding and less in-your-face toward people I disagree with.  Such as on matters of religion or politics. Which are the main areas in life where I can get frothy at the mouth with indignation at how incredibly stupid some people can be who aren't like wise me. I've been trying to remember that over my 64 years of living, my own religious and political views have changed a lot. I've believed and done things in the past that my present self would…
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Posted inBooks Religions

Give up religious certainty. Embrace antifragile chaos.

Antifragile. It's my new favorite word. It's the title of Nassim Nicholas Taleb's latest book. I'm only a few chapters into it, but already love the notion that what sustains nature, life, economies, just about everything, isn't rigid robustness. Stresses that leave us the same aren't growthful. What we want is to be able to thrive on unpredictability, not-knowing, random stresses. Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos: you want to use them, not hide from them. You want to be the fire and wish for the wind... The mission is how to domesticate, even dominate,…
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Posted inReality Religions

How atheists comfort children about death

Interesting story in the Washington Post: "Atheist parents comfort children about death without talk of God or heaven." As so many millions of Americans turn to clergy and prayers to help their children sort out the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, parents like Drizin do not. They don’t agonize over interpreting God’s will or message in the event. They don’t seek to explain what kind of God allows suffering, and they don’t fudge it when children ask what happens to people who die, be they Grandma or the young victims of Newtown. It's kind of weird, of course, that non-religious…
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Posted inReligions

Religious arguments I respect, and those I don’t

Having served as the un-pastor of this here Church of the Churchless for over eight years, I've heard just about every argument for the existence of God, soul, spirit, heaven, miracles, life after death, and other supernatural stuff. Naturally -- given my current skeptical, scientific nature -- I don't resonate much with religiosity. Been there, done that. But I can understand why other people do embrace religion. And I respect their viewpoints when they're presented in a reasonable, open-minded fashion. TypePad, my blog service, tells me that there have been 24,143 comments on the 1,637 posts I've written. Like I…
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Posted inReligions

Religion at root of opposition to gay marriage

Today is a happy moment for lots of gay people in Washington state, Oregon's neighbor to the north. Last month Washingtonians ratified the legislature's legalization of gay marriage. They also legalized marijuana -- which means that, as painful as it is for me to say this, I have to give Washington the edge over Oregon on "coolness" (cultural, not meteorological). Same sex people in Washington became eligible to get marriage licenses today. Their mood was celebratory, according to the Portland Oregonian. Who can blame them? As a harpist played in the lobby, excited couples converged on the Clark County auditor's…
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Posted inReality Religions

Be adaptable like a fox, not stalwart like a hedgehog

In his fascinating book, "The Signal and the Noise," Nate Silver talks about two thinking styles: that of the fox and hedgehog. I've blogged about this before in "Sure you're right? You're probably wrong."  In other words, those who were most certain they were right were more likely to be wrong. It's better to be a fox, someone who knows many things, than a hedgehog, who knows one big thing. The article's author, Sharon Begley, lists the characteristics of foxes (better predictors) and hedgehogs (worse predictors). Foxes... cognitively flexible, modest, open to self-criticism, consider competing views, doubt power of Big…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Indian cultural attitudes help explain guru devotion

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." Well, back in 1892 Rudyard Kipling might have been right about the relationship between Britain and India, but obviously since then the world has become, in Thomas Friedman's jargon, a lot flatter. Meaning, a lot more interconnected, alike, accessible. Yet there still is a cultural gulf between East and West. A question I got from an Indian in an email today reminded me of this. I was a member of an India-based spiritual organization (Radha Soami Satsang Beas, or RSSB) for over thirty-five years. I've been…
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Posted inReality Religions

Have faith in reality, not religion

I feel a sermon coming on... can't help myself... spirit is moving me... reality must be praised... glory be! I'm happy to be your not-so-humble servant, Almighty Reality. --------------------------------------- Fellow humans, stand strong for what is real. Believe this: a single grain of sand is more worthy of your worship than any holy book, any religious theology, any supernatural theorizing. You can feel that grain of sand, taste it, see it.  Where's God? Where's soul? Where's spirit? Where's angels, heaven, reincarnation, Buddha nature, enlightenment, or any other abstraction lacking concrete this-ness and that-ness? Nowhere, reality worshipping brothers and sisters. Nowhere. …
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Posted inReligions

Why blasphemy is justified (mostly)

I enjoy blasphemy. If you think that I say unduly nasty things about God, religiosity, and holiness on this blog, you should hear how I insult divinity inside my head. Like a few days ago, when I watched the local news and saw a story about several high schoolers with bone cancer, one of whom only had a short while to live. They were chosen to be prom king and queen of their school by classmates who had a lot more compassion than any fucking asshole god who might exist who allows so much pain and suffering even though the…
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Posted inBuddhism Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Lineage means little in science and art. Why so important in religion?

When you learn about an important scientific discovery, does it matter to you what "line" of scientists the researcher is associated with? When you listen to a scintillating musical performance, does it matter to you what "line" of musicians the artist is associated with? No. At least, not much. Likely not at all.  Recently the Oregonian had a story about a classical guitarist who is going to play in Portland. It was mentioned that Scott Kritzer was the "grandson" of famed guitarist Andres Segovia, because his teacher was a Segovia student. But that fact has no bearing on Kritzer's reputation as…
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Posted inPolitics Religions

When is it OK to trash-talk a religion?

The recent killing of diplomats at the American consulate in Libya raises questions about the balance between freedom of speech and religious liberty. This subject is dear to my heart, since I've been blogging on this here Church of the Churchless for eight years, attempting to do the same thing -- speak my mind about the ridiculousness of organized religiosity while respecting the personal beliefs of individuals (after all, we all believe in weird things; weird, that is, from the perspective of other people; to us, we're absolutely normal). It's unclear what set off Muslims who attacked American diplomatic outposts…
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Posted inReligions Spiritual practice/meditation

Moving on from religion is as normal as other life changes

Once in a while I hear from somebody who asks me when I'm going to write another blog post about the Indian religious organization that I belonged to for about thirty-five years. I usually reply in this fashion: "I used to write quite a bit about Radha Soami Satsang Beas, but now I don't think very much about RSSB any more. It's a lot like when I got divorced from my first wife. She often was on my mind right after we split up. Eventually, though, we each moved on to other relationships and that woman became the focus of…
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Posted inHumor Religions

Fake celebrity video shows how gurus scam devotees

Watch this You Tube video. In four and a half minutes you'll have a much better understanding of how gurus, prophets, masters, and other "spiritual" celebrities get so many people to believe in them. Fascinating, how easy it is to delude us humans. Our tendency is to follow others like sheep. (Thanks to a blog visitor for sending me a link to this video. It's got over 4 million You Tube views, but I hadn't heard of it before.)   
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Posted inGod Religions

Arguments for God aren’t convincing. So is “I feel Him.”

Resurrected! Glory be!  That's how my churchless self reacted when I opened a drawer full of forgotten books and re-discovered "Irreligion" by John Allen Paulos. I'd read this short book before, as evidenced by my highlighting, but decided to read it again after flipping through a few pages and thinking Oh, my God! So true! Paulos, a mathematics professor, demolishes the most common arguments for God. His logic is impeccable, so far as I can tell. And his writing is entertaining, often simultaneously amusing and thought-provoking. For example: To the question "What will any of my concerns matter in one…
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Posted inPolitics Religions

Linking religious faith and Romney’s tax returns

Ever since I started following the controversy over Harry Reid's claim that Mitt Romney didn't pay any taxes for ten years, I've had a feeling that deep philosophical issues relating to the validity of religious faith are involved. Here's my attempt to explain why.  It's fascinating, really. Reid and Romney are both Mormons, which is a weird variety of Christianity. Or to some, Mormonism is an independently weird religion. Regardless, Christians and Mormons believe in the Bible. The New Testament gospels were written by guys -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, John -- with no direct knowledge of Jesus. So what they said about Jesus' life…
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Posted inReality Religions

Respect reality, not religion, if you love the Ultimate

I'm no longer religious. But I still embrace the notion of Ultimate Reality. I love those words, "ultimate reality." They point toward... something. Or perhaps... someone. (I think it's much more likely that something rather than someone resides at the root of reality, but since I wrote a book called Return to the One, and continue to believe in much of Plotinus' philosophy, I'm very much open to the possibility of some sort of universal impersonal consciousness that could be called One.) Ultimate doesn't mean far off, even though religions, spiritual teachings, and mystical practices often assume that Really Real Reality is…
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