For years now, Scientific Materialism (henceforth, Materialism) has received a bad rap, generally from clerics with a vested interest in promoting the myth of the supernatural, including a supernatural deity they can't even properly define. Let me begin by making it clear that the Materialism to which I refer is the paramount philosophy underpinning all of science, not the colloquial usage for a "conspicuous consumption". In that regard, I'm using the term Materialism in its original sense of a philosophy or system of thought. Indeed, it is that philosophy which excludes any teleology or "purpose" from the universe, which is instead governed by wholly impersonal laws of physics. It the paramount philosophy which also underpins Atheism.
There is no supernatural, neither god nor angels, devils, fairies, elves or any other unseen beings. In short, as a Materialist I’m entitled to dismiss any concept or proposed entity which is not inextricably bound to physical energy and mechanisms. Such non-physical concepts/entities can be regarded as the figments of someone's imagination. By extension, since all supernatural entities/concepts are baseless, there can’t be moral laws of supernatural origin or any justification whatsoever to practice "supernatural" rituals or ceremonies.
Materialism, it's important to note, embraces both large-scale cosmic interactions and atomic scale or quantum phenomena. The latter are not necessarily "material", i.e. quantum interference patterns, but they are physical. Hence Materialism as it is understood today embraces all physical fields and interactions, of both matter and energy. The laws that govern these interactions apply without exception to humans as well as inanimate particles/objects. The prediction of the future behavior of all physical interactions is not dependent on the existence of any supernatural agency. Thus, physical laws are complete in the sense of being able to account for all physical phenomena.
As a philosophy of life, Materialism has evolved from the foregoing impersonal emphasis, and the demand for verifiable evidence. Objective truth is arrived at from the available evidence - accessible to all, and not from special "Councils", KJV Bibles, dogmas or "encyclicals". With the ecclesiastic or biblical literalist supernaturalist deprived of a raison d'etre, dignity and intellectual integrity is thereby restored to Man. Value and worth is transferred from some "hereafter" to the here and now; and power from Church hierarchies and religious power mongers and zealots to Man himself.
Not surprisingly, the Materialist is much more likely than the supernaturalist to place a premium on revering the Earth and demanding the rational disposition of its resources. As a Materialist, after all, I can examine the evidence and determine that our planet is possibly the only inhabited one, at least in our galaxy - if not the cosmos. I can also ascertain that this life is most likely the only one and that I must strive to enhance it in any way possible. I should emphatically not squander what I have now, while awaiting a mythical afterlife.
As a Materialist I refrain from looking to any hypothesized deity for deliverance, or lay blame for human ills on some mythical demonic entity. On the contrary, Man alone is responsible for his actions and is the ultimate master of his fate. As a Materialist I maintain that Man need not suffer extinction as a species if he has the courage and vision to assume control of his destiny through the use of reason.
It isn’t necessary to wave a bible or the ten commandments at a Materialist, nor quote the "golden rule". The true Materialist, by definition, respects his fellow men and reveres all life, since he recognizes (through his philosophy) that they share a planet that may be unique in the cosmos. Thus, the true Materialist treasures and conserves the Earth's finite store of resources, since he comprehends that Earth also has one life to live - and there is no more after the existing resources are consumed.
With these things in mind, the true Materialist does not give his offspring any and every thing that grabs attention. He certainly does not wish to encourage the sort of wanton greed and over-consumption that has brought our world to its present sorry state. The Materialist knows well enough that the planet can ill-afford more such uncaring people.
Embodied within the above examples are a practical ethics, which have been forged out of the Materialist's reason and his priorities. This has one overriding aim: to cherish the Earth and all life upon it. Consequently, the true Materialist disdains all forms of violence, since ultimately these are inimical to the community and to species' survival. Since violent acts undermine a community's cohesion and threaten its very existence, the true Materialist must regard them as irrational. The Materialist is compelled to co-operate with his fellows and promote a common good, not out of fear for the wrath of a deity, but to held insure a thriving, harmonious community with high survival value.
As William Provine notes in his article Evolution and the Foundation of Ethics [1], young people should be encouraged to think rationally and critically concerning ethics, not out of fear of some divine force's wrath, but to protect their own long-term self-interest.
Any persistent observer of human social interaction will note that the vast majority of people are law-abiding and decent folk who naturally practice a common-sense, utilitarian ethics similar to what has been described. For proof, one need only look as far as the upstanding Atheist or agnostic who inhabits every community and who - though he disdains a deity, nevertheless treats his fellows with compassion and respect. No supernatural law or commandment ordains this behavior. Instead it is the conscious and deliberate recognition that the promotion of the welfare of others is directly linked to the one's own welfare.
Unfortunately, what the religionists have done is to take the natural code of ethics most people follow and embellish it with a blizzard of superstitious precepts and injunctions. These are superstitious since, inevitably, they are linked to the supposed dictates of a supernatural "being" who will not hesitate to "punish" those who disobey "him". This includes injunctions to participate in - or attend, primitive rituals which celebrate a de facto cannibalism.
Christians, for their part, profess a ‘God of love’, but never hesitate to invoke fear (of eternal torment) to have their ethics adhered to. Logically, this suggests that the ethics is insupportable without the additional imposition of some type of "divine" retribution. A punitive ethics, then, is at the very core of the Christian religion, as it is many others. Sir Bertrand Russell, in his book Why I Am Not A Christian, precisely identifies ‘religion’s source of terror’ to account for the hold it has on so many. He notes how fear has been ‘dignified’ by use of this source: the demented hell concept to the point people no longer think it disgraceful[2]:
The ‘source of terror’ to which Russell refers has consistently been dignified in a variety of Christian teachings, from multiple denominations. As a Materialist, I'm appalled that the theologians and their ilk cannot seem to grasp the implicit violence in these teachings. I mean, let's get our perspectives in order here. We’re talking about a god that would allow the alleged core of one's being ("soul") to be utterly and repeatedly destroyed throughout eternity!
Of course, they never process how illogical this god is, or that its own actions - many genocides recorded in the believers' own bible, disclose it has no morality or ethics worth following. It is, instead, no different from a mass serial killer.
Look at an example of biblical morality:
Deuteronomy 21: 18-21:"If a man has a stubborn or rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chastise him will not give heed to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of the city: 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice.. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones, so you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and fear".
To a Materialist and his ethics, there is NO way, zero, that this degenerate barbarism can be justified. What we have here is a standard of "divine morality" so animalistic, so bestial and mind-numbingly perverse that it boggles the mind of the rational person. One can aver it was precisely following this form of biblically endorsed immorality that led a 77 year old granny to hold her son in boiling water to "cleanse him of the Devil" - as occurred eight years ago in Colorado Springs.
The argument (by some fundies) that the punishment "was justified because if the son didn't obey parents he wouldn't obey god", is a non-sequitur.We are talking about TWO different cases, and in any case even imposing MURDER for disobedience is the act of a bloodthirsty, ultra-fascist state or person. (As we recall, part of the Reich Laws under Adolf Hitler were that anyone found guilty of "disobeying" them or the Fuhrer were to be sentenced to death. More than 900 journalists were eliminated in this way.)
So, we can conclude from the 21 Deuteronomy depiction, the OT god translates into "God as Fuhrer". Anyone even contemplating disobedience to this goose- stepping imp can expect the most extreme outcomes, not even just a little ol' woodshed trip.
Obviously then, if GOD ordered the actions,then HE condoned them! If so, this Bible god has a morality than is even less than that of the Nazis who lacked any.
The Materialist, by contrast, possesses a morality that is independent of the wanton dictates or actions of a tyrant deity and hence, more likely to be followed by sane people.
We already know, in fact, that morality is fully possible without resort to any deity.
An excellent video for those in doubt can be found here:
http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2010/02/morality-without-god-by-thinking.html
[1] MBL Science, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 25, 1988.
[2] Russel, R.: Why I Am Not A Christian, Touchstone Books, p. 54, 1957.
There is no supernatural, neither god nor angels, devils, fairies, elves or any other unseen beings. In short, as a Materialist I’m entitled to dismiss any concept or proposed entity which is not inextricably bound to physical energy and mechanisms. Such non-physical concepts/entities can be regarded as the figments of someone's imagination. By extension, since all supernatural entities/concepts are baseless, there can’t be moral laws of supernatural origin or any justification whatsoever to practice "supernatural" rituals or ceremonies.
Materialism, it's important to note, embraces both large-scale cosmic interactions and atomic scale or quantum phenomena. The latter are not necessarily "material", i.e. quantum interference patterns, but they are physical. Hence Materialism as it is understood today embraces all physical fields and interactions, of both matter and energy. The laws that govern these interactions apply without exception to humans as well as inanimate particles/objects. The prediction of the future behavior of all physical interactions is not dependent on the existence of any supernatural agency. Thus, physical laws are complete in the sense of being able to account for all physical phenomena.
As a philosophy of life, Materialism has evolved from the foregoing impersonal emphasis, and the demand for verifiable evidence. Objective truth is arrived at from the available evidence - accessible to all, and not from special "Councils", KJV Bibles, dogmas or "encyclicals". With the ecclesiastic or biblical literalist supernaturalist deprived of a raison d'etre, dignity and intellectual integrity is thereby restored to Man. Value and worth is transferred from some "hereafter" to the here and now; and power from Church hierarchies and religious power mongers and zealots to Man himself.
Not surprisingly, the Materialist is much more likely than the supernaturalist to place a premium on revering the Earth and demanding the rational disposition of its resources. As a Materialist, after all, I can examine the evidence and determine that our planet is possibly the only inhabited one, at least in our galaxy - if not the cosmos. I can also ascertain that this life is most likely the only one and that I must strive to enhance it in any way possible. I should emphatically not squander what I have now, while awaiting a mythical afterlife.
As a Materialist I refrain from looking to any hypothesized deity for deliverance, or lay blame for human ills on some mythical demonic entity. On the contrary, Man alone is responsible for his actions and is the ultimate master of his fate. As a Materialist I maintain that Man need not suffer extinction as a species if he has the courage and vision to assume control of his destiny through the use of reason.
It isn’t necessary to wave a bible or the ten commandments at a Materialist, nor quote the "golden rule". The true Materialist, by definition, respects his fellow men and reveres all life, since he recognizes (through his philosophy) that they share a planet that may be unique in the cosmos. Thus, the true Materialist treasures and conserves the Earth's finite store of resources, since he comprehends that Earth also has one life to live - and there is no more after the existing resources are consumed.
With these things in mind, the true Materialist does not give his offspring any and every thing that grabs attention. He certainly does not wish to encourage the sort of wanton greed and over-consumption that has brought our world to its present sorry state. The Materialist knows well enough that the planet can ill-afford more such uncaring people.
Embodied within the above examples are a practical ethics, which have been forged out of the Materialist's reason and his priorities. This has one overriding aim: to cherish the Earth and all life upon it. Consequently, the true Materialist disdains all forms of violence, since ultimately these are inimical to the community and to species' survival. Since violent acts undermine a community's cohesion and threaten its very existence, the true Materialist must regard them as irrational. The Materialist is compelled to co-operate with his fellows and promote a common good, not out of fear for the wrath of a deity, but to held insure a thriving, harmonious community with high survival value.
As William Provine notes in his article Evolution and the Foundation of Ethics [1], young people should be encouraged to think rationally and critically concerning ethics, not out of fear of some divine force's wrath, but to protect their own long-term self-interest.
Any persistent observer of human social interaction will note that the vast majority of people are law-abiding and decent folk who naturally practice a common-sense, utilitarian ethics similar to what has been described. For proof, one need only look as far as the upstanding Atheist or agnostic who inhabits every community and who - though he disdains a deity, nevertheless treats his fellows with compassion and respect. No supernatural law or commandment ordains this behavior. Instead it is the conscious and deliberate recognition that the promotion of the welfare of others is directly linked to the one's own welfare.
Unfortunately, what the religionists have done is to take the natural code of ethics most people follow and embellish it with a blizzard of superstitious precepts and injunctions. These are superstitious since, inevitably, they are linked to the supposed dictates of a supernatural "being" who will not hesitate to "punish" those who disobey "him". This includes injunctions to participate in - or attend, primitive rituals which celebrate a de facto cannibalism.
Christians, for their part, profess a ‘God of love’, but never hesitate to invoke fear (of eternal torment) to have their ethics adhered to. Logically, this suggests that the ethics is insupportable without the additional imposition of some type of "divine" retribution. A punitive ethics, then, is at the very core of the Christian religion, as it is many others. Sir Bertrand Russell, in his book Why I Am Not A Christian, precisely identifies ‘religion’s source of terror’ to account for the hold it has on so many. He notes how fear has been ‘dignified’ by use of this source: the demented hell concept to the point people no longer think it disgraceful[2]:
The ‘source of terror’ to which Russell refers has consistently been dignified in a variety of Christian teachings, from multiple denominations. As a Materialist, I'm appalled that the theologians and their ilk cannot seem to grasp the implicit violence in these teachings. I mean, let's get our perspectives in order here. We’re talking about a god that would allow the alleged core of one's being ("soul") to be utterly and repeatedly destroyed throughout eternity!
Of course, they never process how illogical this god is, or that its own actions - many genocides recorded in the believers' own bible, disclose it has no morality or ethics worth following. It is, instead, no different from a mass serial killer.
Look at an example of biblical morality:
Deuteronomy 21: 18-21:"If a man has a stubborn or rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chastise him will not give heed to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of the city: 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice.. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones, so you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and fear".
To a Materialist and his ethics, there is NO way, zero, that this degenerate barbarism can be justified. What we have here is a standard of "divine morality" so animalistic, so bestial and mind-numbingly perverse that it boggles the mind of the rational person. One can aver it was precisely following this form of biblically endorsed immorality that led a 77 year old granny to hold her son in boiling water to "cleanse him of the Devil" - as occurred eight years ago in Colorado Springs.
The argument (by some fundies) that the punishment "was justified because if the son didn't obey parents he wouldn't obey god", is a non-sequitur.We are talking about TWO different cases, and in any case even imposing MURDER for disobedience is the act of a bloodthirsty, ultra-fascist state or person. (As we recall, part of the Reich Laws under Adolf Hitler were that anyone found guilty of "disobeying" them or the Fuhrer were to be sentenced to death. More than 900 journalists were eliminated in this way.)
So, we can conclude from the 21 Deuteronomy depiction, the OT god translates into "God as Fuhrer". Anyone even contemplating disobedience to this goose- stepping imp can expect the most extreme outcomes, not even just a little ol' woodshed trip.
Obviously then, if GOD ordered the actions,then HE condoned them! If so, this Bible god has a morality than is even less than that of the Nazis who lacked any.
The Materialist, by contrast, possesses a morality that is independent of the wanton dictates or actions of a tyrant deity and hence, more likely to be followed by sane people.
We already know, in fact, that morality is fully possible without resort to any deity.
An excellent video for those in doubt can be found here:
http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2010/02/morality-without-god-by-thinking.html
[1] MBL Science, Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 25, 1988.
[2] Russel, R.: Why I Am Not A Christian, Touchstone Books, p. 54, 1957.
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