Bertrand Russell wrote a nice little book explaining in some detail why he wasn’t a Christian. Well, we do have something in common. I am not a Christian either. I am Jewish. But I have a lot more in common with modern Christians than atheists. Funny. I was having fun researching “oxymorons” and the one that didn’t work for me was “devout atheist”. Why you might ask? Because my entire premise is that atheists are indeed “devout”. They have a belief system. They firmly believe there is no God or no “Higher Power” than themselves. Thus, I would never say that the term “devout atheist” is an oxymoron. It is simply, what they are – true believers in nothing or themselves – thus, this is not an “oxymoron”.
I was raised Conservative. Yes, there are at least three denominations of the Jewish faith – Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Of course, Reform is so “woke” and “evolved” I am not quite sure how different it is from atheism. And now as I get older, I am finding more and more things I have in common with my Christian brothers, and I think the same has occurred with many Christian sects – especially, those vilified “Evangelicals” and other “Deplorables” who instead of moving to the Marxist Globalist left – have become more in synch with their Jewish and Christian heritage. Conservative Jews and Christians have formed a strong bond that only a few decades ago was filled with distrust and anti-Semitism. Today, it is safe to say the unholy alliance of Islam, Marxist left and Globalists have gathered together to undermine the Judeo-Christian principles of our founding. While they push the false narrative of “white supremacy” and advocate for Jews hating Muslims, in response Christians and Jews – have become closer in world view.
The principles of Classic Liberalism – the protestants who founded America gave us a nation with a Declaration of Independence – Jefferson by way of Locke – “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. I prefer Locke’s original, Life, Liberty and Property. You see, these founders also gave us a merchant class – divorced from the class system and the Royal notion that Kings were deities. In fact, it is that very notion of humans playing or believing themselves to be “gods” which has in my humble opinion (and also backed up by the carnage of the 20th Century and beyond) that reeked such havoc on mankind.
Russell makes the case that many wars and much carnage were caused by religious zealots, and there is some truth to that. Russell was a pacifist who correctly saw the idiocy and foolishness of WWI. Unlike today’s faux pacifists, he went to jail for some time for his beliefs. But Russell wasn’t a blind pacifist. He saw the real evil of Hitler and the necessity to fight that war to rid the world of this genocidal maniac. And yes, Hitler was a genocidal maniac. Russell argued that WWI was started by “religious” leaders – Christians. Yes, but I do not believe it was their religious belief that pushed them into the insanity of WWI. I believe the war was started by Kings who considered themselves demigods and they didn’t act in the name of Christ. So his argument for Christians starting WWI rings hollow to me. I suspect that if Russell would have experienced Mao, Pol Pot and the other Marxist tyrant demigods, he might have agreed with me, that much if not most of the carnage of the 20th Century was a direct result of Power mad Dictators who saw themselves as Gods – yes, even the ones who proclaimed to be Christians.
It has been reported that Jefferson was not a practicing Christian but rather a “deist”. Not sure if a deist is more like an “agnostic”, but my sense is that like many non practicing people who have faith, he did believe in a higher power, but was not comfortable with the organized religions offered to him. But I do believe that Jefferson, from his study of Locke, understood the damage caused by “Kings” who saw themselves as deities. Rights come from God or a “higher power” – not from man. Jefferson also told us that these are “Unalienable” rights. And no King, no Tyrant, no Tech Tyrant, no Media Tyrant or Oligarch can take those rights from you in America under our Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights – rights given to the people – NOT the state. But like all Republics before, it appears that the end of days for this Republic is close at hand. A scamdemic. Fear. Generations indoctrinated in State schools. A media and now a social media in lock step to Marxists and Globalists, have put this great Republic on the brink of Civil War or dissolution. Whether this war will result in carnage or simply transform the Republic into a Marxist Utopian shit-hole not with a bang but with a whimper is yet to be seen.
The reason religion and a belief in a higher power is important to me and why I am not an atheist is a direct result of recent 20th Century history and has little to do with whether or not there is a God. Smug biologists like Richard Dawkins and physicists like Lawrence Krauss are convinced that their “science” of evolution and modern Quantum Mechanics proves how much smarter they are then those poor religious “scholars” who are no more evolved than a Neanderthal. In a little talk they gave in Australia recorded on YouTube, they were very sure of their “belief” and superiority of intellect. I wasn’t convinced. Why, Krauss, the genius wrote a book explaining “Something from Nothing”. See, there’s stuff in nothing, and well, our “common sense” is no use in trying to understand Quantum Mechanics. So, these poor religious fools are not only not as smart as we are, but they look so foolish trying to explain away Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. We did not evolve from the Chimpanzee, we evolved from bacteria in the primordial ooze. We are merely cousins of the Neanderthal who like many branches of plants, animals through millions of years became extinct. Why if Richard Feynman the great physicist admitted he couldn’t understand Quantum Physics, how could those Neanderthals in black robes and white collars have a clue?
My first response is that Evolution is still just a “theory”. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a really good theory, and yes, the evidence is very strong that all life forms on earth evolved from the primordial ooze. However, there is also a theory, that perhaps aliens from another planet far, far away, may have had something to do with why we as humans seem more “intelligent” than other species, have become by far the dominant species on planet earth, and gave us our unique ability for self-awareness and the ability to actually build instruments that now are reaching for the stars. And there is a simple explanation that God or a higher power is the force behind how inanimate molecules miraculously came together in the “ooze” to form the first life forms. All theories. All plausible.
Religion is a faith. There is no proof. Most likely mankind will never have proof. If there is rebirth or an afterlife, only that moment when we die and leave this life will we find out. Logically, atheists have worldly evidence on their side. However, they don’t have the answer either. To me, it takes faith to believe in God. But it also takes faith to believe there is no God. The operative word is “believe”. Yes, atheism itself (like Marxism can be viewed as a religion because to be a member of the “club” you must “believe” in it). They have their smugness and lots of power mad people agree with them. The elite and Ruling Class like the idea of getting rid of religion so they or their group can become demigods and rule without push back from the little people, the deplorables, the believers.
I have come to the conclusion that the opposite of Religion or religious belief is not atheism. That is, both religion and atheism are belief systems. The opposite of Religion and belief is doubt, skepticism – what some would call being an “agnostic”. And skepticism is in fact, a foundational principal of science. Science rejects dogma – whether it comes from a religious person or a secular scientist. It is quite healthy to be skeptical. Even the most popular and fundamentally sound theories often are proved false or incomplete. For example, Newtonian physics prior to Einstein made a great deal of sense. Sense on this tiny blue marble called Earth. But writ large in the Universe, we have seen that Relativity supplants Newton’s laws and in the microscopic Universe the crazy world of Quantum physics has changed all our notions of a fixed Universe. I certainly can see why Professor Krauss is smug in his dismissal of the ignorant Christians who believe in things like the literal meaning of the ancient bible or their inability to grasp the complex Universe of Quantum Mechanics and space-time Relativity. But the simple fact remains. Militant atheists like Professor Krauss and Professor Dawkins, despite their smug groupthink, are really no more sure that there is no God than any believer in God that God exists. They are both “believers” in systems they cannot prove. Only the agnostic skeptic has any real scientific credibility.
In the 20th Century we have had Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and many others under the banner of atheism that controlled the masses. At least a hundred million people were slaughtered or starved to death under their watch. Millions more suffered. In the 21st Century, America is on the path to a godless Marxist Globalist Hell in part driven by smug intellectuals like Hawkins and Krauss. So brilliant. So deadly. So beware. You don’t need to believe in God to see the harm these godless atheists have brought us. Just understand, that you have a much higher probability of living a productive life on this earth when we have leaders with enough humility to understand they are not God and that we all have the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I’ll take our Founders religion over atheists that gave us Communism, Nazism and mass slaughter anytime.