I'm currently reading God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. This is the latest in some recent popluar books by atheist authors including The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and The End of Faith by Sam Harris. As an atheist myself, I'm happy to see that these books and authors have been on the bestseller list. It suggests to me that many Americans have a desire to think about their beliefs. It's possible they just want to read these books to solidify their religious faith by finding objectionable arguments in the writings. The reason they are reading doesn't matter all that much to me but I'm happy that they are.
Since I've re-starting my blogging efforts, I haven't really commented on atheism. It's a topic I enjoy talking about but I did a lot of that with my old Assault on Reason blog (yes, Al Gore stole that title from me!). Reading the Hitchens' book, however, has rekindled one of my issues with the popular atheist writers. I've read all the books listed above and I've seen Dawkins and Harris speak in person. I've seen all three authors speak on television or internet interviews. They are all engaging speakers and brilliant minds. Still, sometimes I wonder how many people have finished their books. I'd like to think I'm a reasonably intelligent guy. I've taken a lot of science and religion courses in college. For pleasure, I read mostly non-fiction including a lot of theoretical physics and history. Despite this, I sometimes have trouble getting through the books by these authors. It's not that I don't understand them, it's just that I question whether they really grab the readers attention.
These books are well-written and scholarly. And to me, that's part of the problem. A lot of popular faith-based books are personal. They try to connect with people's hearts and emotions. I'd argue that this is the great success of religion. It plays well off of people's emotions, especially fear. Still, the faith-based authors have a point. While Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris may have history, science, and reason on their side, their books probably don't make people feel as good. The titles are catchy and because these authors are controversial and have some degree of celebrity, the books sell well. Still, Steven Hawking's Brief History of Time was a bestseller too but most people I know never finished it. They know Hawking is brilliant and he's an interesting character so they want to understand what a guy like him thinks about. The reality is that even though he tried to simplify it, it was still pretty hard to understand and, while interesting, it wasn't fun.
As an atheist, I'd like to see more people really try to understand where we're coming from. They may not change their beliefs but it would be nice if we weren't reviled or if we could at least openly talk about what we believe like everyone else can. I don't want people to think we all want a "War on Easter" or that we're just amoral nihilists. The problem is that most of these popular atheist books are too stuffy to really engage people. If we want people to really think about the issues we care about, I think we need to present them in a straightforward, engaging manner that people will truly enjoy reading.
Over the last couple of years, I've jotted down a few thoughts about atheism. Just things that I've thought of that made sense to me. I think it's time that I tried to do something a little better. I have a little more time available to me and if you want something done, you've got to do it yourself. I have a history of not following through on much. I tend to dabble but not commit. I need to challenge this tendency if I really want to try to make a difference. Still, I'm at a point of dissatisfaction in my life and that has always proved motivational for me. So, my objective is to try to write something worthy of publication and hopefully worthy of people's consideration. It's not going to be easy for me because, while I have a lot of ideas, I also have plenty of self-doubt. I've talked about writing something before and it has not happened because this self-doubt, plus a fair amount of laziness, has led to nothing much happening. Still, dissatisfaction is a motivator and as much as I love Harris, Hitchens, and Dawkins, with each book I read, I'm a bit more dissatisfied.
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7 comments:
A fair amount of laziness...not just something you suffer from, my friend. I've got a touch of it too.
Hey KC - I think most of us have it. I envy those who either don't or at least seem to be able to combat it. How was your visit to our largest state?
I'm so glad to hear you say this. Get the hell out of the way, Dr. Phil -- the world is ready for Dr. Don! While I think Dawkins and Harris bring plenty of passion to their work, atheists are for the most part a heady lot and maybe they do tend to lose a few people in the rhetoric.
While I love Dawkins especially and found him fairly engaging, I also started the Sam Harris book and the Harry Potter Book 5 at the same time...and am ashamed to say which one I finished first.
Back about five years ago I totally immersed myself in a reading journey, devouring all kinds of works on a quest to answer questions about my life, questions I didn't even know how to frame. The books that mattered most to me at the time were things like Pema Chodron's work (she's a buddhist nun and its impossible not to love her work), Thomas Moore (The Soul Of...books), and Robert Johnson (Jungian champion of Shadow). I doubt that in the throes of my life-altering journey I would have found much encouragement from Dawkins or Harris, but now I embrace them because those works have given me a completely new and additional way to see the world. Somehow I think slogging through the spiritual post-Catholic stuff first helped me prepare for the ultimate endorsement of reason, which Harris and Dawkins and others bring in abundance.
I hope you'll share some of this journey with us. Call me if you need a drink of courage!
Cheers,
MM
Mando - Thanks for the encouragement and for sharing, as always. I think that the problem with most of the popular atheist writers is that they don't give the ordinary person something that speaks to their emotions. That's why religion always wins. In the end, people are scared and insecure and if you don't recognize and offer something to palliate this, you'll never quite reach them. We'll see what I can do!
Don, you must be joking. What's so scary and unpalatable about never seeing your loved ones again, no big Best Friend in the sky to give your problems to, and being fully and completely responsible for your own life?
;-)
Anyway, I think you're right. I'm a very deeply emotional person and have to say, I feel more open minded when I feel I've gotten "permission" from some of these writers to be that way. When I first read Unweaving the Rainbow I had the damndest time getting past the way I felt Dawkins was ripping on poets. But even I got over it, which means there is hope! I can be your test monkey.
I've thought about this very topic for a few years now. I have the same feelings on Dawkins, Hitchens and the rest. While they are dead-on in their writing, they are bo-ring.
This is a tough issue to confront. Why? Well, because to discuss why you are an atheist, you must get into some of the logic of that decision. As soon as you do, you begin to head into the same waters as those other writers.
Sure, you can try to do it differently, but "logic" is truthfully the only thing that separates the religious/spiritual from atheists. To be an atheist, and really understand why you are one, you need to be a pretty logical sort of person.
Now, how do you make logic fun and entertaining? It's possible. However, I'm not sure that you will ever "convince" anybody by just making it less heady.
True, you may not wanna convince people, but it still sorta turns into that, doesn't it?
Like I said, I've been going over this one for a while - actually since you and I listened to some of the bores at the Humanist conference - and I've come to one conclusion. To do anything "different" than these guys and truly have a beneficial effect on people's understanding of atheism, you have to address the underlying concepts that lead to that decision.
Help people to understand that 70 years is not a long time. Help them to conceptualize 1 billion years. It isn't easy, but when you start to get that, your thoughts on just how much you "know" start to shift. You start to realize that humans are very limited little creatures.
Same with space. The average person doesn't understand how truly vast the Universe is. They say they do - most of the people reading this comment will think they do - but they do not. When you study astronomy enough and contemplate space enough, one day it hits you hard. Only then do you "get" the depth of space. And only then do you begin to truly get how small and stupid humans are. Until you give people an appreciation for this, they will always think that they just might have a true understanding of this Universe.
People have to learn what Evolution actually is. Every fucking person I know doesn't understand the "survival of the fittest." They use this to mean that a bigger animal kills a smaller animal. They also think that evolution means one animal becomes another, becomes another, etc. They have no idea that the tree of life is just that, with branches shooting out and dying or succeeding all the time. And if I hear one more dolt tell me, "I've never seen a monkey pop into a human being suddenly" I'm gonna have a stroke. People don't get what Evolution actually is and how it works. Until they do, they cannot grasp how small and insignificant - yet truly wondrous - they are.
There are more basic concepts, but these are the things that get a person swaying toward atheism and away from the moronic and useless world of religion.
Anyway, I've been thinking this stuff for a while and feeling that it is time for a good education of the public. I'd like to do a documentary on just these topics. Until the public gets this stuff - and it can be in an entertaining manner - they will absolutely never understand atheism.
If you wanna work on this with somebody else, I'd be happy to work with you on it. We're both just as fed up as possible with the religious and the atheist bores.
Who wants pie?!
LOL!! You line-stealer.
Mmmmm. Pie. Hm. Or, a martini.
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