Thoughts on Theism - 3/8/2011
My ego was forced to suffer a rather egregious blow earlier this afternoon when a co-worker and I were having a brief conversation. You see, at one point he said, without a hint of sarcasm, that some of the things that have been going on in my life wouldn't be if I had a better relationship with God.
Now, I take great umbrage at anyone who has the temerity to tell me HOW I should relate to God...much less at work, but it made me think about something. Out of all the atheists and agnostics I know, are they more or less satisfied with their lives than theists, and if so does this have anything to do with their system of belief? While I understand that correlation does not necessarily equal causation, I'm interested in there being a study held throughout the world of the basic level of happiness between individuals, and seeing if religious or spiritual belief has anything to do with overall quality of life.
The maxim, "Ignorance is bliss" comes to mind when I contemplate this study because if the results DO indicate that theists are basically happier than atheists, I would be inclined to believe that their ignorance is at the root of this schism.
Uneducated about world religions, human physiology, neuroscience, evolution, psychology, and other base scientific fields....the theist would lack the awareness of WHY his brain is conditioned to believe in the supernatural and so never stop to consider the validity of his mental constructs. He's been taught to believe a certain way, probably since childhood, and so he never questions the truth of his particular perspective.
Conversely, the atheist often questions his reality and is always searching for truth. He seeks empirical evidence for any theory he adopts, or if he's not scientific, he still demands data or proof before accepting something as being true.
In a way, the atheist is filled with doubt because he's humble enough to admit he DOESN'T know. He doesn't have all the answers, but he's engaged himself in the pursuit of knowledge to fill that gaping void.
God Himself fills that void for an atheist; further inquiry is unnecessary. To quote Carl Sagan, "God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it."
Of course there are millions of educated and intelligent theists, I'm not arguing the point that belief necessarily implies innate stupidity. However, what I am saying is that atheists and agnostics are more open and receptive....to new cultures, people, ideas, and experiences. They're more apt to changing their viewpoint if it proves to be erroneous or counter-productive...whereas most theists will adamantly resist all challenges to their beliefs, not because of logical inconsistencies or any weight of proof stacked against them....but because blind faith demands complete subservience to whatever Deity or doctrine they subscribe to
