Prof Matt McCormick Department of Philosophy California State University Sacramento mccormickcsusedu wwwcsuseduindivmmccormickm wwwatheismblogblogspotcom You Cant Be Moral Without God ID: 259908
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Slide1
Is Believing In God Immoral?
Prof. Matt McCormick
Department of Philosophy
California State University, Sacramento
mccormick@csus.edu
www.csus.edu/indiv/m/mccormickm
www.atheismblog.blogspot.comSlide2
You Can’t Be Moral Without God
!?!?
Can You?Slide3
Believing in God is
Itself Frequently Immoral
I propose to turn that argument around completely. Not only is it possible to be a moral person without a belief in God, there are some very good reasons for thinking that in many cases believing in God is itself actually immoral. Slide4
The God Urge
Step 1: Admit you have a problem.
Step 2: Identify the Problem
Slide5
We
Want
To BelieveSlide6
Everybody’s Got the Urge
It should be noted, of course, that it’s not just religious beliefs that have the problem where wishing something is true interferes with our ability to think clearly about whether or not it actually is true. We have this problem for all sorts of beliefs--
even atheists have it
. Slide7
In general, isn’t it a bad thing to believe
claims
that :
you know are false,
contribute to the confusion or false beliefs of others,
encourage supernatural, spooky, non-critical, fuzzy-headed thinking,
foster fear and anxiety.Slide8
In general, isn’t it a bad thing to believe
claims
that :
encourage complacency
about social
problems
and the future of humanity on this planet.
Rapture Index
The prophetic speedometer of end-time activity
Today’s Rapture Index is 159
Net change: +1Slide9
We’re OUTTA HERE!!!Slide10
We Indulge
the Self Deception by Feeding It Detailed
Fictional Stories Slide11
In general, isn’t it a bad thing to believe
claims
that :
stall
our progress in dealing with new, complicated and important moral
issues
. Slide12
In general, isn’t it a bad thing to believe
claims
that :
encourage
cultural and ethnic strife.Slide13
In general, isn’t it a bad thing to believe claims that :
Foster social injustice, hatred, cruelty, and intolerance. Slide14
In general, isn’t it a bad thing to believe
claims
that :
undermine
the advancement of science
.
encourage
a historically outdated, over-simplified
worldview
.
contribute
to the stagnation of human progress
.
have
no
compelling evidence
in
their favor.
give
people false hopes
.
are self-deluding.
foster
fear, confusion, and fuzzy, magical thinking in children
.
foster
false beliefs in children.
impede
children’s acquisition of our most important, modern advancements in knowledge.
Slide15
It’s Not Satan that’s Corrupting You, It’s Religion
Wouldn’t it be ironic if you have more to fear from the corruption of
religion
on your reason
than
what many religions would have you think: Satan seeks to
corrupt your religious faith. Slide16
“
No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God.
” George Bush, senior. Slide17
Akrasia
:
The ancient
Greek’s had a concept
of
akrasia
which is acting
against one’s better judgment or having a weakness of will. Slide18
Belief in God?
Isn’t it true that your belief in God fits many, most, or all of
the conditions we considered before?
We’ve elevated the abdication of reason in matters of religion to a noble virtue instead rejecting it for the dangerous and demeaning practice that it is. Slide19
Hoping Turns to Believing
So they permit themselves to "
believe” in the God idea in the "hope" sense of "believe." ("I believe that my husband will make it home safely from Iraq.")
Then we find ourselves surrounded by
like-
minded people who feel the need to believe(hope).
We rationalize, we blur, and we feel more and more strongly that this thing that we want to believe really isn't just a hope, it's correct,
it's the truth
. Slide20
Religion Is Like a
Drug.
It exploits weakness of the will because we
want
the God idea to
be true.
We find a way to get what we want and
to satisfy our reason
: we believe
at first because
we hope it is true, and we enslave our reason to
making
it seem like
the hope has
a legitimate claim to the truth. Slide21
To Summarize:
The Problem:
1. We have a powerful God urge.2. Many of us indulge that urge by believing even when we know better. 3. That ill-gotten belief can lead to many awful actions and effects.4.
Akratic
beliefs are bad.
The Solution:
1. Recognize the urge for what it is.
2. Take steps in our minds and lives to contain it. Slide22
Solving the Problem
What we need is a twelve step program for God beliefs and religiousness.
"Hi, I'm Matt and I've been clean since 1982."