Religion Or "Religion": The Tinfoil Hats Are Just Different
Psych researcher Clay Routledge has a very interesting piece in The New York Times, "Don't Believe in God? Maybe You'll Try U.F.O.s":
People who do not frequently attend church are twice as likely to believe in ghosts as those who are regular churchgoers. The less religious people are, the more likely they are to endorse empirically unsupported ideas about U.F.O.s, intelligent aliens monitoring the lives of humans and related conspiracies about a government cover-up of these phenomena.An emerging body of research supports the thesis that these interests in nontraditional supernatural and paranormal phenomena are driven by the same cognitive processes and motives that inspire religion. For instance, my colleagues and I recently published a series of studies in the journal Motivation and Emotion demonstrating that the link between low religiosity and belief in advanced alien visitors is at least partly explained by the pursuit of meaning. The less religious participants were, we found, the less they perceived their lives as meaningful. This lack of meaning was associated with a desire to find meaning, which in turn was associated with belief in U.F.O.s and alien visitors.
When people are searching for meaning, their minds seem to gravitate toward thoughts of things like aliens that do not fall within our current scientific inventory of the world. Why? I suspect part of the answer is that such ideas imply that humans are not alone in the universe, that we might be part of a larger cosmic drama. As with traditional religious beliefs, many of these paranormal beliefs involve powerful beings watching over humans and the hope that they will rescue us from death and extinction.
A great many atheists and agnostics, of course, do not think U.F.O.s exist. I'm not suggesting that if you reject traditional religious belief, you will necessarily find yourself believing in alien visitors. But because beliefs about U.F.O.s and aliens do not explicitly invoke the supernatural and are couched in scientific and technological jargon, they may be more palatable to those who reject the metaphysics of more traditional religious systems.
It is important to note that thus far, research indicates only that the need for meaning inspires these types of paranormal beliefs, not that such beliefs actually do a good job of providing meaning. There are reasons to suspect they are poor substitutes for religion: They are not part of a well-established social and institutional support system and they lack a deeper and historically rich philosophy of meaning. Seeking meaning does not always equal finding meaning.
A way to find meaning -- through extending yourself for others -- is something I discuss at length in the final chapter of both I See Rude People and Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck:
Living meaningfully means being bigger than just yourself. It means making the world a better place because you were here.
However:
Don't mistake this as an argument for asceticism. I'm not suggesting that you give away everything you have and shuffle the streets in cardboard sandals, and I don't think you're a bad person if you want a Ferrari and a thirty-room mansion with a moat.
What should you do? I explain in my TED talk that you can simply do small daily kindnesses for strangers -- which are more powerful for both you and the person you do them for than you probably imagine. In fact, it often seems that they make both the people who do these kind acts and the people they're done for feel like they have a place in the world and their lives have meaning.
An example from "Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck":
...Some kindness that would be a minor and unremarkable gesture when done for a friend can have an enormously powerful effect when done for a stranger.An LA-dwelling friend, originally from Boulder, Colorado, was visiting there with her girlfriend, when they came upon an older woman, probably in her early seventies, on a street-side bench, fanning herself from the heat, looking very not-from-Boulder.
In a hard-core New York accent, she asked them where she could get a Diet Coke. My friend gave her detailed directions, and she and her girlfriend continued on their way. They had only gone a few steps when her girlfriend blurted out, "I'm going to go buy her one."
Dumbstruck, my friend said, "You don't have to do that."
"She's old, and she seems tired," her girlfriend said, and they walked to the nearest place with drinks--a bar--got a can of Diet Coke (which the bartender gave them, free, though they didn't reveal their mission), and brought it back.
"Here you go," her girlfriend said, handing it to the woman.
"OH, MY GOD!" the woman said, nearly screaming. "You're kidding me! Good God!"
For a second, my friend thought she was angry.
"GOD BLESS YOU! I can't believe you did that!" The woman went on and on.
My friend later told me, "I try to be a nice person, but I gave the woman just what she'd asked for, and my girlfriend thought, 'That woman looks hot, and she's old, and she clearly isn't from Boulder. How could I make her day easier?' "
"I'm honestly too shy to naturally do what she did," my friend added, "but I think I should get over that. It was such a small thing--it took literally five minutes--and I've actually never seen a woman more happy in a moment. It totally turned her world around."
"People who do not frequently attend church are twice as likely to believe in ghosts as those who are regular churchgoers. The less religious people are, the more likely they are to endorse empirically unsupported ideas about U.F.O.s, intelligent aliens monitoring the lives of humans and related conspiracies about a government cover-up of these phenomena."
Wow. Instantaneous, microwaveable bullshit!
Regular churchgoers already believe in ghosts (they call him "holy") and "endorse empirically unsupported ideas", like the "Flood™", humans living for centuries, prophecy (as opposed to speculation or prediction), a "young" Earth, an exodus from Egypt of over a million in one event...
What they object to is competition, not the idea of those things.
Radwaste at July 23, 2017 4:06 AM
"Wow. Instantaneous, microwaveable bullshit!"
I didn't realize you'd looked at his datasets.
Uh, or did you?
Amy Alkon at July 23, 2017 6:13 AM
Rad you need to work on your reading comprehension. Routledge was differentiating these between systematized bullshit and unsystematized bullshit. Also, no one was objecting. Not to competition or the idea.
"I'm not suggesting that you give away everything you have and shuffle the streets in cardboard sandals ..."
I recommend erecting a pole with a platform on top and spend your days mumbling to the heavens. Hey, it's how Christianity got started. But no pole dancing! This is pole mumbling.
Ben at July 23, 2017 6:57 AM
Don't you just love meeting someone who says, "I'm not religious, but I am a very spiritual person?" Uh, yeah. Listen sweet cheeks, tying a Kabbalah band around your wrist or doing yoga twice a week does not make you spiritual.
Conan the Grammarian at July 23, 2017 9:17 AM
One thing they neglect is when people make politics their religion. In Religion, there is forgiveness of sins (by God) and mercy. In politics-as-religion, there is never forgiveness because the individuals have taken on this role themselves and one can never appeal to all the radicals and get them to agree that you are sufficiently "woke" to not be called names anymore.
cc at July 23, 2017 1:14 PM
I started having a great deal more sympathy for the traditionally religious when I noticed how bat shit crazy the militant atheists were.
They may be right but their method of inquiry and logical processes weren't any better than the true believers.
Benevolent agnosticism with a healthy sprinkling of humility and kindness towards your fellow man, whatever their beliefs IMHO, is the only sound choice.
Isab at July 23, 2017 3:24 PM
I've noted before that Richard Dawkins criticizes those who believe in God because the is no evidence that God exists, yet he believes there is life elsewhere in the universe even though there is no evidence.
Fayd at July 23, 2017 4:17 PM
"When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything."
-G.K. Chesterton
Ben David at July 24, 2017 4:02 AM
It is tragically true that the innate nature of mankind is batshit crazy, Isab. Good religion tries to bend that batshit crazy in a positive direction. Usually with marginal results. But some improvement is better than no improvement at all.
Ben at July 24, 2017 5:40 AM
"Rad you need to work on your reading comprehension. Routledge was differentiating these between systematized bullshit and unsystematized bullshit. Also, no one was objecting. Not to competition or the idea."
Oh, really? You want to talk about his topic or his work? I have a perfectly good set of the Harry Potter series because someone's grandmother threw them out of her daughter's house because of this concept: Save your friends and possibly nation with a wand you're evil. Wave a cross, well, that's just dandy!
The rest of the argument is just dancing.
Gem from the link: "Works of fiction can never replace sacred scripture,..."
Radwaste at July 24, 2017 9:07 AM
Since you insist on more corrections Rad, the Holy Ghost isn't a ghost. Typically a ghost is classified as 'an apparition of a dead person that is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image'. The Holy Ghost on the other hand is an invisible intangible organ much more analogous to this guys hidden bits.
http://teamventure.org/vbwiki/Phantom_Limb
Which is why you never pray or really even talk to the Holy Ghost. It would be like striking up a conversation with someone's pancreas. I mean, sure you can do that. But it is weird and doesn't accomplish much. But hey, whatever floats your boat. And yes, old Christian naming sense is pretty bad. After all they called their holy writings 'the book'. Because there was obviously only one book that was ever written. Or something like that.
So you've got a friend who has a special version of crazy bullshit that objects to Harry Potter. So what? If Christians in general were opposed to Harry Potter Rowling would never have written them. She calls herself a practicing Christian after all. You probably wouldn't be able to buy them in the US. After all 70% of Americans call themselves Christian. You someone's grandmother is about as representative as those Holy Potter fans you link to.
But keep up the magic thinking Rad. It certainly is a popular choice.
Ben at July 24, 2017 12:24 PM
I do have to say that no UFO drivers or ghost priests have demanded ten percent of my weekly take-home to save me in the afterlife.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 24, 2017 4:55 PM
Hmm. Sounds like a missed business opportunity. Thanks for the tip Gog.
And are you sure ghost priests don't want the 10%. I'd find ghost pirates more believable.
How much should you tip a ghost UFO cabby? I don't want to appear cheap.
Ben at July 24, 2017 8:21 PM
Ghost pirates? Or pirate ghosts?
Conan the Grammarian at July 24, 2017 8:50 PM
HEY! I'm not a philosopher here. I'm just awful suspicious that ghost priests (or maybe priestly ghosts?) want 10% of my ectoplasm. And I don't even know how much ectoplasm I've got!
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Noah ... Noah ... Build me a ship that is 3 cubits by 4 cubits by 1 cubit.
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What's a cubit?
Ben at July 25, 2017 6:21 AM
That was a Southpark reference. The Korn episode was about ghost pirates and a Scooby Doo parody.
A cubit is about 18-20 inches. Originally, like most measurements, it was a body part. In this case, a forearm.
Conan the Grammarian at July 25, 2017 8:43 PM
I got the reference Conan. I was just extending it. And wouldn't devil priests (or even priestly devils) be a good addition the classical hell. Being forced to sit in church and get lectured at for eternity sounds like some people's definition of hell. And at the same time wouldn't it be a 'good deed' trying to save the souls of the fallen?
The Noah bit is from an old Bill Cosby act. God starts talking to Noah and Noah's first response is 'What's a cubit?'. After all when some crazy voice starts whispering in your mind to go build a random boat it can be a bit bewildering.
On a more serious topic the who Noah's flood thing with the lions and the tigers and the bears is actually non-biblical. If you read the earliest surviving versions carefully you can tell that the flood didn't cover the whole world. It just covered all of Noah's world. But magic boat man with hippos sells better than some rural due on a raft with some goats. Advertising.
Ben at July 26, 2017 7:28 AM
Here is the Cosby skit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bputeFGXEjA
Ben at July 26, 2017 7:30 AM
From "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?" on aliens vs. Christianity.
http://covertoperations.blogspot.com/2014/11/george-carlin-on-aliens.html
It includes what an unbiased yearly news reporting of Good Friday SHOULD look like.
Quote:
"Granted, the world of UFO-belief has its share of kooks, nuts and fringe people, but have you ever listened to some of these religious true-believers? Have you ever heard of any extreme, bizarre behavior and outlandish claims associated with religious zealots? Could any of them be considered kooks, nuts or dingbats? A fair person would have to say yes.
"But the marginal people in these two groups don't matter in this argument. What matters is the prejudice and superstition built into the media coverage of the two sets of beliefs..."
lenona at July 27, 2017 8:40 AM
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