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ORIGINS OF RELIGION, PART 8: Indoctrination and refusal to accept new knowledge

Millions of atheist scientists and other rational freethinkers know full well, through the application of unbiased commonsense and the results of millions of complex experiments and the calculations of astute experimental and theoretical physicists, that we humans inhabit a tiny part of what is a vast godless universe of immense age; and that we have good reason to infer that gods exist nowhere but in the imaginations, stories and lies of faith-driven men.

So how can bible-believers seriously defend their ever-shrinking part of the world against the supreme logic produced by elite scientists when there is no case to answer? Why are there faith-believers at all?

A principal reason is that once the fictions of faith get into people’s heads it is difficult to be rid of them. Indoctrinated when young, they indoctrinate the young of their own and of others, and the cycle of merciless irrationality continues.

These dogmatic bigots never let go—and that is because they never listen, their minds are already made up, and they are incapable of understanding and absorbing new knowledge no matter how thoroughly well-tested and proven the latter may be.

Only freethinkers and scientists see the universe clearly and correctly for its materiality and man’s place in it as an evolutionary accident but a marvel nonetheless.

Religionists sink inside the mental quagmire and nightmare of their own making for it is philosophically incontestable, when the evidence is well presented and the listener has a high enough level of intelligence and freedom of thought, that gods exist nowhere but inside people’s heads—and that is that.
Terence Meaden. 27 August 2008. Planet Atheism/ Enlightened Observer

Tags: intelligence, religious dogmatism, science, universe

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dianne on December 4, 2008 at 4:40pm

I concur. I also think religion gets into peoples head when they are told they have no control over their problems, ie alcoholism, drug addiction, weight, marriage, etc. It is much easier to blame someone else, then to accept that the power of change is solely within ones own self. People are taught to "turn their lives over to god". I think that is horrible advice. I think people should be taught at an early age to think for themselves, to see the power within. But that is what religion teaches, how to follow, how to not think. Then the really sad part is that the top religious people are gaining status, money and power from pushing all these "weak" sheep around.

Permalink Reply by Tedster on December 22, 2008 at 9:20pm

>>>>>>>>I also think religion gets into peoples head when they are told they have no control over their problems, ie alcoholism, drug addiction, weight, marriage, etc. It is much easier to blame someone else, then to accept that the power of change is solely within ones own self.

This is why religious people tend to be inherently more conservative than atheist.

Permalink Reply by Gary A. Gabbard on December 4, 2008 at 9:19pm

It's all about fear Dr. Meaden.
Fear of death and the unknown, possibly unknowable. It's difficult sometimes to be comfortable with my own feelings about the religious because of that fact.
Can we really blame them for the fear they have? It's almost as if they are children, and I don't want them to have to let go of their dreams of Santa.
Those feelings of mine fade quickly though, as their fears push them toward a reflexive anger. They lash out at knowledge and those that are willing to accept it. In their attempts to hide from the realities that seem to be closing in on them they fight like cornered animals. They justify closing the minds of their children, and any children, as a form of protection against the fears they project on them.
Every day I feel more comfortable with the contempt that builds in me. No matter their dellusion, they stand squarely in the way of education and progress. I have the same instinctual need to protect the next generation, and the ones that follow, however, I feel I must protect them from the shackled and shuttered in religious.
To think that they intend to cut off the children from a real vision of how beautiful and wondrous this universe is. My pity for them, however great, doesn't justify allowing it to happen.
So I do what I can to stop it.
For now, it's mainly standing up and making it known. Even we few can be effective if we're strong. Having recently found so many like minds I, and we, get stronger every day.
The "New Atheist Movement" eh? We may not be as new as they think, but I have a feeling we could be stronger than they fear.

Permalink Reply by John Bunyan on December 7, 2008 at 12:24am

I concur. I think its primarily a fear of the unknown, personal extintion and maybe even an overwelming feeling of powerlessness in the face of the real immensity of the cosmos that feeds the unreasoning religious 'belief' of many people.

They need a comforting fairytale to even go about their everyday business. They are the weak ones, they are the ones who are missing so much of what is truly 'miraculous' about our existance. We are after all made from the stuff of stars.

What I dont understand is the unwillingness of many who believe in a God to just be a bit openminded about the evidence that scientific thought has given our species. I dont understand how, even in the face of absolutely unrefutable evidence as to say, the age of the earth, evolution, speciation, generally these people close their minds and claim 'God did it', as if thats all settled then. It answers nothing.

As regards personal death, where do they think they were before they came into existance? Well, wherever that was, thats where you go when you pass on. Not to an imaginary place but back into the great cosmic melting pot. The stuff you are made of is recycled, reused, re-employed to make something else. You as an individual person will cease to exist but where was that individual for the billions of years that passed before he or she came into existance?. I dont find that idea any more scary than what happens to me when I die.

Its back to fear, fear of the unknown. Its this primal fear religion feeds on. Get rid of that, through education and teaching our kids and ourselves the real wonder of existance and perhaps religous thought will just finally fizzle out, like belief in Pan, Wotan, Zeus and all the other pantheon of false gods shoved in the face of mankind by priests of one flavour or another since we first gained conscious thought.

Permalink Reply by Dr. Terence Meaden on December 7, 2008 at 5:08am

Well said, John.
And seeing that the present universe is already 13.7 billion years old, I especially like your paragraph:
"As regards personal death, where do they think they were before they came into existence? Well, wherever that was, that's where you go when you pass on. Not to an imaginary place but back into the great cosmic melting pot. The stuff you are made of is recycled, reused, re-employed to make something else. You as an individual person will cease to exist but where was that individual for the billions of years that passed before he or she came into existence."

The further question is "If you really think you are going to some sort of heaven, then what are you going to do when you get there?"
Shake hands with Jesus? Speak Hebrew or Aramaic with him? Chat with the family for ever and ever, Amen? Meet all the ancestors that you never knew because they lived thousands and thousands of years before you did, and spoke other languages? Teach them to drive automobiles? Shoot moose with Sarah Palin? At what age will your age be static, fossilised? At age 20, or 40, or 60 or just what? Have sex with your wife every day for the next billion years. I could go and on . . .

Many of these simpletons do not even know what to do when they go on holiday for a month, let alone find a way of passing time through the next 13.7 billion years.

Permalink Reply by Johan on December 7, 2008 at 6:55pm

I would like to give my thought's on the irony of 'heaven'. I spent some time thinking about this, "What is paradise/heaven?". Quite naturally I came to the conclusion that paradise would be a place where all the restrictions we put upon ourselves in our daily lives didn't exist.
So, if you spend your life absolutely lusting to kill someone, just for killings sake, then paradise would let you kill, without consequences. If you always wanted to have sex with someone of the same sex as you, you should be able to do this in heaven, if you resisted the urge in your lifetime.
I might be wrong, and I welcome any corrections, but it seems to me, that heaven would be the place to break all the laws of God, and this is something I find extremely ironic.

Permalink Reply by Moonbeam on January 31, 2009 at 10:25pm

Lol, that's great. I think I'll use that the next time a theist expresses a desire to do something that they shouldn't--"Just wait til you get to heaven! Then you can screw whoever you want, kill whoever you want, (name your vice), have a ball!" Thanks for the idea. ;-)

Permalink Reply by Iniquitous Philistine on December 22, 2008 at 1:31pm

Age restrictions do apply - see christening

Who would want to spend eternity with the pious?

Wouldn't that be hell?

Permalink Reply by William Young on December 28, 2008 at 1:47pm

How about if a person and his worst enemy are both in heaven. Now that would be Hell.

Permalink Reply by Dr. Terence Meaden on December 22, 2008 at 1:56pm

Alex Donovan's question calls to mind the farce of the Catholic church that is called "limbo".

The church invented 'limbo' in order to give a bit of eternal space to babies who die before parents and church can ensnare them as baptised 'god-got-ems'. Even recent popes thought this was stupid.

I think it was Jean-Paul II only around 15-20 years ago who did away with the crazy idea about babies 'being in limbo'. The Catholic Encyclopedia will explain more in their own mawkish language.

Permalink Reply by Enlightened Observer on December 7, 2008 at 12:51pm

Well said Terry. You expand eloquently on my own thoughts:

"Most believers are victims of indoctrination. They cannot help themselves and continue to cling to irrational ideas and behaviour they learnt when they were young.
It is pointless to try to reason with the majority of these people. They cannot change despite a complete lack of evidence for their beliefs. They are easily led and will accept the most absurd ideas promulgated by the institutions or individuals they see as higher in their religious hierarchy."

Now we understand their problem we need to agree on the best way to deal with it.

Permalink Reply by William Young on December 27, 2008 at 10:01am

Yes and most of this indoctrination occured before the child could logically reason. Then the indoctrination is continued throughout childhood and by the time the child reaches adulthood , he is throughly convinced that what he was taught was true.