X-Message-Number: 20575 From: "Stephen Bogner" <> Subject: =?US-ASCII?Q?Re:_Crowding_out_Islam_in_Children's_Brains?= Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2002 11:59:49 -0700 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0072_01C29F7A.7A61A000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Crowding out Islam in Children's Brains In the following extracts (which I hope are still in context, notwithstanding my chopping them up) Steve Harris writes, with his usual eloquence and insight: "Humans are susceptible to the "magic lie" naturally, and if you don't believe it, look at any primitive culture." ".the point of fundamentalist Islam, and indeed fundamentalist religions of all kinds, which is a feeling of controlling magic and power against your rivals and enemies, because you're special, and special to god, because you have the correct beliefs." ".if you can't promise a lot of power for a little work, you're going to lose out to meme-complexes that do. Religious leaders ARE specialists in this. They know what works. They've been evolving ideas for many millennia, and what we have now is what HAS worked on the human psyche." "The alternative, after all, is hard work with no guarantees, having to admit you're nobody very special (life's a bitch), and then (finally after all that) you die and your conscious ends. Religions, which promise and end to this state, are computer viruses for the mind . And no vaccine known for the average mind, except prior infection with something nearly as bad." ... Usually, I have observed that community ridicule generally acts to restrain the more egregious excesses of beliefs at obvious (or even apparent) odds with "reality" - nothing destroys someone's status faster than being considered to be a fool or an idiot by his peers. However, religions have even managed to turn this fundamental meme on its head, to their great advantage: It appears to be almost a universal that religions consider ridicule of their beliefs by non-believers as a form of persecution, and the endurance of persecution for the sake of those beliefs to be exceedingly meritorious and status enhancing within the religious group - often the most meritorious thing that a member of the religion can do. (This is hardly surprising upon reflection, given the memetic nature of religious belief in the first place.) In fact, the extreme persistence in holding beliefs advocated by the religion, but especially if those beliefs are demonstrably false by all objective evidence, is viewed by "faith-based" religion as a key litmus test of religious piety. In effect, such individuals have been essentially inoculated against reason - and hence against the critical examination of their beliefs. And their religions recognize and value them accordingly. The rest of us generally view them as brainwashed idiots. After years of observation, I have concluded that for many people the social community within the religion is the draw for their participation, and they often do receive a legitimate psychological and social benefit by being part of that community. I have seen many individuals who have been able to reconcile themselves to tragedy and desperate lives by accepting religious messages. Indeed, one of my old (and wise) philosophy professors once noted (and I relate this without intentional irony, given this forum) the directly measurable correlation between the desperation of one's circumstances and the willingness to accept any ideas, however unlikely, purporting to ease those circumstances. The alternative to holding religious beliefs is to face the abyss - and sometimes the darkness can be very dark indeed. Not everyone has the psychological strength required. As I have mellowed over the years, I have decided that for the majority of religious - living their desperate little lives, and just trying to get through it all with a little dignity - it is probably more important to be happy than to be right. So long as they keep their irrationality out of the schools and out of politics I am willing to live and let live. Steve. ------=_NextPart_000_0072_01C29F7A.7A61A000 Content-Type: text/html; [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20575