The billboard at the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel reads, "You KNOW it's a Myth This Season, Celebrate REASON!" Along with the wording is a depiction of three men riding camels, a very bright star, and a nativity scene in a simple stable. The billboard is sponsored by American Atheists. So? It is a myth, isn't it? Three wise men didn't actually know where to find the baby Jesus, much less have any idea about his significance, did they? A bright star didn't actually hover above the stable (and not destroy the earth), did it? Certainly, educated Christians know that this story is a myth, an allegory attaching importance to the birth of Jesus, but not literal history.
Now we have the Catholic League outrage. Atheists believe in nothing, stand for nothing! They think man came from apes, who fell from the trees!
Albert Einstein, an atheist by Catholic standards, wrote:
"A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
" I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.
"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self.
"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity."
To my mind, Einstein's beliefs were somewhat more than "nothing".
That you are discussing Einstein's beliefs half a century after his "death" suggests some sort of spirituality surrounds him. I like these quotes and do not understand a God that punishes either; I've never been able to figure out how He punishes those he creates to be in the way that they exist.
ReplyDeleteThere are also a lot of Christians that do not get their backs up over people using their God-given brains to think, question, etc. My God would have to enjoy this kind of questioning, from minds he created. Why do you suppose there is outrage here? I just see it as politics getting messed up and running deep into some religious groups. That's how I have to read this wishful censorship.
You might want to expand this to the great questioner, the quintessential muck-racker, Jesus, no?
"muck-racker" = muck-raker
ReplyDeleteIf you are raised to believe that questioning ideas is acceptable, that it is a way by which to learn, then you are not threatened by it. You try to look at issues from different points of view.
ReplyDeleteIf you are raised in a world of dogma and authority, and threatened with punishment for questioning it, then you may be upset by anyone who does.
Where is the intelligent response by the Catholic League? Can't they defend their beliefs without denigrating and attacking others?