Key points on Religion

Here I hope to outline some basic arguments against the existence of an all powerful God, in particular, the mono-theistic Abrahamic religions. However, some arguments can be generalised

• Simplicity: we don't NEED a sentient uncreated creator. Currently we have no mechanism to explain how the universe started, however, that only means we need to invent the axiom "The universe was started by something". That doesn't mean we need the something, to take a sentient form, that merely poses more questions.
• Multiplicity: The number of religions means that one cannot simply be picked based on faith. They need to be tested and the decision needs to be based on evidence, just like everything else. Furthermore people who never get to hear about religion x because of religion y are at a disadvantage in religion x and at an unfair advantage in religion y.
• Justice: Infinite punishment for finite sin seems fundamentally unfair. God loves everyone, cares for his creation and it can be argued punishment can be for the purpose of discipline. Then why punish people for eternity, it serves no purpose.
• Inconsistently: most religious books contain inconsistencies in various different forms
• Evidence: many scholars would agree that many important bible characters and events did not exist or happen.
• Morality: religious books give moral guidance which is at odds with modern thinking (homosexuality, slavery, womens rights etc) If God is timeless and ultimately just, why didn't he for example tell the Jew's not to persecute homosexuals? We know and agree that the are right now, surely God would know that too. Furthermore, it is not just that he didn't tell them about these morals, he directly made statements opposed to them. To use an example: we would never contemplate stoning people for homosexuality in the civilised world, and you would be hard pressed without going back a few hundred years to find someone who would agree. Also, why allow homosexuals to be born? I understand the idea of a fallen creation, but to allow people to be born who's most powerful drive is fundamentally "evil" is nothing short of malevolent.
• The structures of religion appear not elegant and simple as would be expected from a being with ultimate creativity and computation, but overly complex and man made.
• God controls the rules, so why doom us by knowingly making them stringent? He could simply have not made those rules and saved everyone.
• Res ipsa loquitur: is an idea that irrespective of any evidence, someone can be guilty of negligence if he has a duty of care and failed. In this case and all powerful God has a duty of care toward us, and therefore guilty of not stopping sin and suffering. This contradicts either his perfection or power/existence.
• Divine hiddeness: why does god hide himself, it seems malevolent to do so. By providing evidence of himself it would allow people to properly decide whether or not to follow him. 
• There is nothing inherently righteous or moral about blind faith, in fact quite to the contrary.
• Our reason for creation seems narcissistic and proud

If you have any interesting additions/rebuttals, I encourage you to comment.

A few good quotes

 "This is an interesting world I find myself in—an interesting hole I find myself in—fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!"

 "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
Douglas Adams

Where do I begin?

The question of who the burden of truth rests on is an important question. Humans often reach a conclusion then fill in the evidence, giving slant to the evidence so as to to align it with the conclusion. Religion actively encourages this behaviour, promoting faith and trust before evidence is received. This is a fundamentally flawed concept.

So where do I begin? As a Christian? As an atheist? As a Muslim? How about a Buddhist? Each have an equal right to claim me, and have my journey start there. However, as does any belief system you can conjure up, a Russell's teapot argument if you will. Furthermore, the potentially contradictory belief systems imply I can't satisfy all at once. So it cannot be a startpoint of belief then, it must be disbelief, disbelief in everything. It is 0: the null vector in the many dimensional space that is religion and belief. From here I can properly explore the space of belief, with evidence and logic.

Religion and Fiction

I regularly find myself engrossed in a novel, where strange worlds and exciting lives keep me entertained. Time goes at massively accelerated speeds and there's always an overarching feeling that either things are going to end happily ever after or I'll walk away from the book having had an adventure myself. The world of a novel is written by humans, for humans, to entertain and at the same time convey part of the belief system of the writer in a sort of proof by example. Communication coupled with the ability to convey a fictional story is a powerful and ancient tool, and is truly one of the most beautiful aspects of humanity. However much we would like to live many lives, we can't, but in our heads we can experience as much and as fanciful worlds as we or someone else can imagine.

And what a striking parallel we can draw with religion. All evidence would suggest we are unremarkable, but complex and beautiful pieces of machinery rotating an unremarkable sun in a normal galaxy. However, religion postulates that we are important and central. That there is something special about humans and something more out there, if not true it is certainly fanciful. Furthermore, the afterlife offers a kind of novel type experience, where our true selves will live on in happiness forever. The kind of doublethink which, if correctly applied can give us the same feeling that we are simply reading a novel. It appears to form the same structure as human written fiction. A good friend used to joke that eventually people might believe Harry Potter to be a factual account of reality, and I don't think he is far wrong.

Perhaps then religion is a more remarkable invention, a fiction so rich and fanciful that is can be believed, shielding us from the harsh realities of this cold nothingness.  

John Cleese on Creativity

It's Alive!

An unassuming packet arrived at my door this morning, I had been waiting for it, not knowing what it was. It was a mystery present apparently, from my family back home. Opening it up, my suspicions were correct, it was the best flavour Pi comes in. Who knew that the love-child of a mathematical constant and a rather tasty berry would get me so excited? Anyway, this low powered, credit card sized and unassuming board will hopefully propel me to Maurice Moss level 9001. My lofty goal aside, the Raspberry Pi is a cool but almost useless piece of equipment. It's value is not in its ability to chomp through numbers or rearrange files but in its ability to polarise a group of people and inspire them to do something. If Steve Jobs taught us anything its that selling a piece of fruit is easier than selling a FG8950HD-lt. Get the mix right and you have a grass-roots project that snowballs into a great success. The purpose of the raspberry pi is not to be objectively good (although it is for its price), it's to be something that is interesting for anyone, stimulates curiosity and in some circles at least, be cool.

I digress, the Raspberry Pi did get me excited like a small child, as I hunted around for the right keyboard and hdmi lead. The reality is that its a slow computer with a tiny SD card, in my head though, its a Pandora's box of nerdy things to do. Here's a few:

• Turn it into a web server
• Run Quake 3
• Run Quake 3 in a LAN with other similarly nerdy friends
• Turn it into a sensor station
• Turn it into a sensor station with an ability to interact with things (like turn on my radiator remotely)
• Turn it into a sensor station with a full artificial intelligence then put it outside to get struck by lightning and become self aware, calling itself Jonny 5 and going on many adventures with its socially inept master/friend. 

Sorry got a little carried away there... (although I think that's the point)

The Reluctant Atheist

What do you think of when I say Christian? If you're from America you will probably imagine a bigoted and hypocritical person from the bible belt. If you're from the UK you'll probably imagine an old, stuffy and irrelevant vicar, a dying breed because only our grannies go to church now. But that's not the whole picture. I come from a Christian family, active Christians, the ones that are a bit funny: always talking about being born again and how they have a personal relationship with Jesus. You'd be quick to mock, but that would be unwise because they have it good. My personal experience of Christianity is good, while I believed, it was great. I felt truly complete, content and often euphoric. I felt security, it was truly comforting. Here I wish to outline the reasons why it is so great and why I wish I had never doubted.

Key to Christianity is doublethink, not quite as Orwell described it but as with most religions Christianity is vastly complex. It is filled with grey areas and vague answers. This sounds like it should be detrimental but it is most certainly not. There's an answer for every question and situation, that although may not stand up to complete logical scrutiny, does allow people a large degree of freedom. Contradictory statements and ideas tend only to help this, as several opinions about an issue can be held simultaneously. The amount of content in the bible means it is difficult to use all of it as material at the same time to extract ideas which work completely and conclusively. Understanding the entire standard model is easier than creating a belief system from such a large and vague book. The standard model is essentially quite simple, a few particles interacting in elegant ways, can explain even complex phenomenom by having lots of the such simple particles intereacting. Religious books (ie the bible) have many ideas with unclear logic linking them. For example there is no universal law of morality starting at a few axioms, its a list of many special cases drawn from situations. Pair this with metaphorical language and you have a flexible uncertain ideology that is always correct. I will explore a few.

Humans like safety, and Christianity has a solution. A big all powerful God, who can be seen as both a father and a friend provides all the security you need. If you truly believed that there was a giant robot behind you at all times you would be fearless. Likewise a strong belief in an all powerful friendly deity who is interested in you gives you an ability to be not only unafraid but empowered. At the same time the fact that an all powerful deity thinks you are special does amazing things for self-worth and I don't think I need to explain the importance of that. Almost conversely it can be argued that the father figure God likes to test and discipline you, while still looking out for your best interests. This also gives a sense of security and happiness even at the worst of times. Without the second idea, doubt would creep in when the all powerful deity fails to protect. With it though when times are bad you can feel confident and optimistic, which will in turn give you the best chance out of the problem. But this is still not complete enough, when something really horrible happens it is hard to see it as just a test. However, comfort can be drawn from the idea that God has a large overarching plan which is beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. It is therefore impossible to say whether an action is good or bad, as it was God's plan, and could lead to a greater good. With enough of the all important faith in God one can still be happy, to quote a hymn:

"Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul."

The God of the old testament is a vengeful and angry God, demanding purity and utmost holiness. God has not changed and therefore the Christian faith is still built on these principles. Striving for these good works whether in fear or love for God releases endorphins, an effect which is recognised by psychologists and philanthropists alike. In general, socially positive actions (being patient, kind etc) also provides people with happier and more stable relationships and therefore lives. However, the high level of purity required is impossible as we all make mistakes. Therefore the grace and mercy of Jesus allows us to discount these actions. although not without a price; the idea of adding sin to Jesus' burden provides an adequate punishment to deter future bad actions. Also the idea that the holy God is watching you and judges you provides a semi-tangible punishment by amplifying guilt.

As I have mentioned general altruism is rewarded in our mind (evolution favoured the socially able groups), however Christianity goes further, cementing the idea in peoples minds "do to others what you would have them do to you". This stops people thinking about how to be a minimum level of "niceness" or how to appear nice to people that matter. As I have stated before in "fallacy of your own way", often it is better for ourselves to do the will of others. However, it doesn't always feel that way, so doublethink rears again it's surprisingly helpful head. In the beatitudes Jesus extols those who are persecuted in Jesus name, along with several other verses, this allows people not to become bitter about wrong done to themselves, even when they themselves see it as unfair. It can even allow people to feel encouraged when someone wrongs them, after all those who are persecuted will be rewarded.

In addition to this, the absolute Christian morality is, although to unbelievers is seen as restrictive and no fun, actually provide a positive framework. One such example is the idea of not judging. Matthew 7:1 says do not judge (pass sentence) on others. I'm sure many people can identify with me that judgement is one of the main causes of human conflict. In some circle of friends I see gossiping and backbiting as routine, which causes conflict on a regular basis and is in general just a negative view. It goes on to say do not tear down or diminish, instead to build up and encourage. Although this does not always work, it is a route to happiness. People in general like kind people. Even the coldest and harshest people can find it hard to be consciously unkind to those who would just repay it with good.

One really important aspect of happiness is purpose, to feel like we achieve important things is a powerful idea. Admittedly I find myself lacking purpose, early on in secondary school I discovered that much of my depression was due to lack of purpose. Christianity provides it with the idea of another aspect of reality where things are eternal. Our actions will be forever remembered and actions that would otherwise be seen as pointless are given weight. For example, I find myself frequently questioning why I do anything, I will rearrange atoms and then one day lose consciousness. Leading to the inevitable depression. Not so with Christianity, our internal thoughts and by extension all our actions have meaning, humans and their feelings are sacred and therefore our interactions are important and worthwhile. This is a powerful idea which brings with it a content happiness.

“Immortality: A toy which people cry for, And on their knees apply for, Dispute, contend and lie for, And if allowed Would be right proud Eternally to die for.” ― Ambrose Bierce

The glue to Christianity is unsurprisingly faith. Faith is a funny thing, and the ability to trust someone that you do not see, hear or touch is truly powerful. Faith in God is routinely compared with believing in the wind, you see what it does but you never see the wind itself. This not only allows for double-think but for whatever-you-want-think, blind faith in a person means that they always get the benefit of the doubt. Once you start believing you can start to apply the Texan sharpshooter fallacy. "Moving the goalposts" or using post-hoc hypotheses to fit their data (or life experiences). Confirmation bias ensures that information is cherry picked, especially when events are ambiguous and vague. If the person has "stepped out in faith" then their faith is rewarded, further growing it. This is an example of a highly stable ideology.

As I have previously discussed, ideas or philosophies which require lower order will survive. Religions which reward people or require little effort will survive better as people will have no reason to leave and also be drawn to it. Therefore it seems easy to understand that in the freer parts of the world, a very nice religion would have survived well. Religion is not something we will evolve or grow out of, it IS our final stage of evolution. It's not even as if its something to complain about, with true Christianity you get highly functional groups of people who are happy and content. Real Christianity has the power to change nations for the better if the people really believe it. You can tell people all day every day to pay their taxes to help the poor and marginalised but how much more will you get from those who are not only reluctant givers but cheerful ones. You know it's a shame I can't evolve, I'd sure as hell rather be happy than correct.

PS. I'm not entirely sure of why I write this, partially it is to rationalise why I for so long believed it, because I wanted to. It is by no means to demean or to portray Christianity as a method of control, because its not. If anything Christianity can cause dissent when sacred morals are broken and can be a valuable safeguard. Furthermore religion tends to internalise, so even by manipulating Christian leadership, Christians would tend to stay as freethinkers. Certainly not any more susceptible to control than your average person.

Breaking Linearity

Recently I have begun playing the large social black hole known as world of warcraft. So far the reasons for its popularity have alluded me. As far as I can tell the three elements of traditional RPGs are story, combat and leveling. Together RPGs are both addictive and fun. Furthermore due to the amount of content, the experience is never over, as a result MMORPG players are some of the most hardcore you will ever meet. One such player I know has played wow for over 8,000 hours, that's an unreal amount of time. Likewise I was shocked to find out I'd spent about 2000 hours on Runescape. They are second lives, a lot of your waking hours are spent playing and when your not, your thinking about it.

In real life we can derive pleasure from achieving things. For example my current long term goal is go to uni and be an accomplished academic. In a game, an objective is invented and we strive to achieve it. Thinking about it, it sounds really stupid but while you're playing its tangible, the buzz from achieving aims is the same as real life. You might be quick to call it sad, but actually how arbitrary are my academic goals. Will they bring me happiness? Most definitely not intrinsically but the achievement itself will; how arbitrary is that? This isn't the only device however, adventure is a very strong aspect of RPGs in general. There's a similarly tangible buzz and excitement from discovering a new place or thing. Again, you may be quick to call it sad but how different is that to travelling the world. It's just innate human curiosity, which in a world where you have already invested so much, feels real.

It is however the aims of the game which are important, and their interestingness determines how easily you are drawn in. Think about a game where you press a button and a number goes up. It's not very exciting but you do have an aim, to get a high score, it's far too arbitrary and uninteresting. And this is why I struggle to see the allure of wow, ask any high level player: leveling and questing are merely devices to get to max level, where you will spent your time either PvPing or raiding for better gear. Despite all things just being pushing a button, the easier it is to see this, the harder it is to do the task with joy. Furthermore, there should also be tangible goals, for example, in the button pressing game, there could be something telling you that at 1000 presses, you can have a treat of an achievement (again arbitrary). Likewise the goal in wow is to have the best gear. However once achieved, the goal appears somewhat pointless. Which is how I come to the main point of this, what makes a good RPG? In my opinion its one where there is so much exploring, discovering, questing, leveling and gearing to do that you forget how arbitrary it all is and just play, enjoying yourself in a perfectly arbitrary way.