A Reasoned Attitude Toward God--In Movies

There are precious few movies, reasonably well made and in English anyway, which fit the category. There are many, particularly older titles which deal with religious faith, but such faith is inevitably blind since faith is held up as its own justification.  There are only 6 titles given here.  It isn't surprising that there are so few, and one of those is musical.  As science progresses, presenting us with natural answers and evidence to questions that had previously been deemed to be the realm of religious faith, we tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater when we reject God along with religion.  We rush to judgement, so if God doesn't intervene, He/It must not exist.  But science has yet to come up with the first bit of evidence that addresses the origin of the universe, pro- or no God.  The least favorite thing for us as a species to do is to admit that we're clueless.

A model or theory that answers this conundrum has been given in previous posts here, but this is only one tiny voice squeaking in the ethereal wilderness  So if there are movies which have a wider appeal while promoting reason and reasonable questions in this area of inquiry, we may draw benefit from their messages, and we may support those messages by bringing them up in our social interactions.

Inherit the Wind (1960)--The first and in many ways the most courageous, it's thinly fictional look at the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 brought teaching religion and suppressing science in the classroom to the forefront again.  A classic with some outstanding performances.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)--Another classic, this first major rock opera (based on the 1971 Broadway production, which itself followed the music album in 1970) uses an outstanding Webber-Rice score telling the story of the Passion of Jesus, based on the gospels but without  the supernatural elements.  The lyrics of the title song at the end ask the questions we've been asking, often in hiding, ever since. 

The Devil's Advocate (1997)--It's important to remember that most of the film is a dream sequence, with the Devil being, for the protagonist (as he is for us all), a symbol for temptation.  As he declares at the end, "Vanity is definitely my favorite sin", but on introspection we realize that it's the justification for all sin.

 Doubt (2008)--The specific problems that are a consequence of the abuse of power of an authoritarian church, lead the parochial school principle/nun to question the divine source of that authority.  Those questions, given her commitment to that divine authority, lead to her soul crushing doubt.


Creation (2009)--Well made but little known independent film about the events surrounding Darwin's publication of On the Origin of the Species.  He struggles with it due to his wife, Emma, being very religious and insists that she agree to its publication (profound speculation?).  The death of their sweet, favorite daughter, due possibly to their being close cousins, points to natural selection, while there's no explanation for God's non-intervention in any case.

The Tree of Life (2011)-- The opening quote sets the stage, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Job 38:4,7".  In other words, it isn't your concern, which is the only answer any revealed religion can give to man's continual question, Why?  (See post by that title below.)

God or no God

The Truth, through reason, speaks for itself. But we are social animals and subject to the influence that individuals we respect bring to an argument—often to the exclusion of reason. I see no indication that we are moving away from such cults of celebrity, but, when in Rome…. The following are some examples of well known atheists and skeptics who do more than pay lip service to reason. The argument that God is a possible explanation for the universe is often dismissed if its presenter is an unknown without credentials. So, in keeping with the goal of promoting Truth through reason, I submit the comments from a few who possess such credentials and respect, and therefore credence.

One thing that becomes obvious is that many of those who are called atheists, even some who call themselves atheists, are often just anti-religion and those religions’ gods. Man’s invention of our many gods, argues only against their invention or “revelation”. It doesn’t carry over as evidence against the possible existence of God, or that a deist God was/is arrived at due to similar self-serving motivations. If God exists, It is not our salvation (only we can be that), rather, It would be our explanation.


Richard Dawkins (atheist) debate with John Lennox www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0UIbd0eLxw begin @ 4:30
"We could take a deist god, sort of god of the physicists. A god of somebody like Paul Davies who devised the laws of physics, god the mathematician, god who put together the cosmos in the first place and then sat back and watched everything happen and that would be…the deist god would be one…I think one would be…one could make a reasonable respectable case for that. Not a case that I would accept, but I think it’s a serious discussion that we could have."
@ 37:45
"You could possibly persuade me that there was some kind of creative force in the universe, there was some kind of physical mathematical genius who created everything…the expanding universe, devised quantum theory, relativity, and all that. You can possibly persuade me of that."

Lawrence Krauss (scientific skeptic) debate with William L. Craig youtube.com/watch?v=Fs_pgaSrxP8 begin @ 3:15…Uploaded 03/30/11
“I actually think deism, the possible existence of a divine intelligence is not an implausible postulate. And I won’t argue against it. It could be, I mean the Universe is an amazing place."....
...."So I think the possible existence of a divine intelligence is perfectly plausible and addresses some of the perplexing issues associated with the beginning of the Universe."

Victor Stenger (atheist) in Huffpost Blog. 06/30/11
“In short, the world looks just like it should look if there is no God with these attributes. True that this does not rule out other gods, such a deist god that does not act in the universe. But we can rule out the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God to a high degree of probability.”

Stephen Hawking (atheist?-skeptic) A Brief History of Time (1988)pp. 8-9
“An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job!". (note: an expanding universe was initially considered a blow to atheism since it indicated a beginning as opposed to the Steady State model. But that, ultimately, is unable to sidestep the issue of a beginning anyway.)

Carl Sagan (scientific skeptic) God and Carl Sagan: Is the Cosmos Big Enough for Both of Them? Edward Wakin (May 1981)
“To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed.”

Albert Einstein (agnostic) Einstein: The Life and Times. Clark, Ronald W. (1971) p.425
“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being."….
…."In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support of such views."

Isaac Asimov (atheist) interviewed by Paul Kurtz on “Science and the Bible”, in Free Inquiry, Spring 1982
“I believe there's enough evidence for us to think that a big bang took place. But there is no evidence whatsoever to suppose that a superhuman being said, "Let it be." However, neither is there any evidence against it.”

Charles Darwin (supposed atheist) Letter to John Fordyce, 7 May 1879
"I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. – I think that generally ... an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind."

Anthropomorphizing God

In many discussions about God, those who consider it possible that God exists are accused of anthropomorphizing nature, even if those proponents don't claim any human attributes for God except conscious will.  In fact, attributing any supernatural powers and/or the ability to create the universe would be non-anthropomorphic, and even reasonable, if those supernatural powers weren't exercised in this universe where, so far, there exists no evidence for it.  The only possible evidence is the universe.

On the other hand, when I say that God mustn't intervene without destroying our free will, many who make the first argument also argue that if God exists, how can It not help people in danger or trouble?  But wouldn't thinking that God should intervene be to anthropomorphize It?

This is not to argue for or against the existence of God, only against the supposed necessity that belief anthropomorphizes It.

I have reluctantly resorted to using the impersonal (but capitalized) pronoun, It, when referring to God.  Using a gender pronoun leaves one open to the argument of anthropomorphizing God.  And as just stated, the only human quality we can attribute to God, if It exists, is conscious will.  That says nothing pro or con about whether God cares about us.  But, since a God with supernatural powers could ostensibly create anything instantaneously, except sentient creatures with free will, that would imply divine interest and caring.

Abandoning the use of any pronouns for God altogether, becomes tedious and distracting.

Defining the supernatural:  One possibility is that the supernatural is a total lack of natural law or even a physical universe or cosmos, in which our universe could be suspended as a mere bubble.  Another possibility is that our universe is just an extrusion, if you will, of our four dimensions within a broader (infinite?) cosmos composed of many more, even an infinite number of dimensions, which could be governed by natural law as well.  The supernatural could then exist even if there were no God.

Is This a Test?

I passed these two guys recently who were stopped at a red light. They were flailing their arms to some tune I couldn't hear, obviously enjoying that particular moment in their lives. It started a chain of thought; what about the billions of people who don't have all the resources we have for enjoying life in the wealthier countries? What about those who are capable of achieving fulfillment in life wherever they are? And what about those with greater talent, intellectual ability, courage, appreciation for living or a propensity to be good or evil? If there is a God and this is It's test, we obviously aren't all given the same starting point.

Would all the rewards be equalized out to make it fair somehow? Or (I'm not suggesting rank), is there a natural recognition of those who made the greater or lesser use of their time here? Would we judge others as we would ourselves, in the light of undeniable Truth, recognizing the need for oblivion for some, and to feed on the brighter light of others?

Doesn't the greater obstacle or the greater the achievement from one's starting place deserve more respect? Would the rich child who grows up in the freedom of Singapore or the wealth of the US who saved the world, be more or less worthy than a street urchin in Zimbabwe who risked his life to save another's? Is fairness even an objective. Think of an audience enjoying the talents of the performers they see on stage or screen, only now all types of talents and accomplishments would be appreciated in the same way.

For the moral subjectivists, should this recognition be a goal in this life, is that possible, or should we go further and attempt to give equal respect to everyone no matter what they do? Should we make Hitler equal to Gandhi, for instance? If not, how do we differentiate?

As you can see, this post is more questions than answers.

Intelligence

Intelligence

“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.”—H. Jackson Browne 

Success can be defined as looking back on your life so far, and saying I did the right thing.  I'm proud of who I was (not of who I intended to be or what others believed I was).  Put another way, we could have no greater fulfillment than to say to ourselves, honestly, "Well done".

We berate people who acquire wealth (unless we are one of them), but if it was acquired and used with honor (which we tend to assume was not the case), they have a lot to be proud of in providing for their families as well as jobs and prosperity for others.  Money, fame and especially power all require great character to avoid their misuse, but they are far from being the only forms of success.  If, say, two people independently make a significant discovery, but only one achieves public acclaim and monetary rewards, is the other not also successful if the only issue was the luck of timing?   If a person in Japan had been able to warn us of the attack on Pearl Harbor, thus saving many lives but lost his own life anonymously in the process, would he not have been a success, or even a hero—even if the warning had been ignored?  Are husbands and wives not successful who raise responsible children in a supporting atmosphere?  There is only one quality required for success—character.  And if character is maintained, success is automatic.  We can't be a person who missed the acclaim and then drop out. We can't say, I'll bum my way through life then make sure I go out in a blaze of glory. We can't abrogate the responsibility for raising our children to a pill.   People with character do the right thing all the time, when no one is watching, and when everyone is watching.  The judge we all stand before on judgement day is Truth, stripped of our illusions and in its unavoidable light, we are unable to lie to anyone, including ourselves, and forced to be our own judges.

Man's superior tool for achieving success is his intellect. Much has been made of some types of intelligence, while others are downplayed.  Is society not missing out if we don’t try to develop them all?  What follows in this section are some basic types of intelligence, observed and noted by your humble author as food for thought.  They are certainly not to be considered definitive.  Call it a semi-educated shot-in-the-dark.  One thing is certain, intelligence should be a matter of more serious study without the obstacle of cultural bias.

The moron, the multitalented genius and the idiot-savant form a triad inside of which we can all be found. Studying intelligence is a matter of importance.  If we recognize and learn more about the vagaries of intelligence, instead of reducing everyone down to a basic IQ number that emphasizes some attributes and de-emphasizes others, we will enable people to more fully recognize their capabilities and level of success.   They will then become more productive members of society and more fulfilled as individuals with a better sense of their self-worth.  In the meantime, until we do learn more, we mustn’t sell ourselves short.  Many view themselves as being of lower innate intelligence, when in actuality what they may have is a deficiency in the surmountable attributes of knowledge and confidence.

We’re all familiar with those who can learn to play a musical instrument by ear, instinctively operate a computer, thread a football through a defense to a tertiary receiver, or solve a mathematical problem with ease.  They are naturals at what they do.  We may not all have such superior natural skills, but we do all have the potential to be better than most at something.

The decision to include the following list was a difficult one and there is no claim to any expertise in intelligence, but it may spark an interest in the many avenues for fulfillment that there are.  The point is that we must learn who we really are beyond our illusions and what we’re good at by looking first at what we enjoy doing which so often leads to a subject that is a combination of both.  If this section helps some to consider an unexplored aspect of themselves, that’s all that’s intended here.

What is offered below is a speculative list of possible types of intelligence that may help some recognize an ability that they had previously considered superfluous, but now worth developing if for no other reason than to develop their self-confidence.  It should be understood that this list, or an eventual more refined one, is only the first of many steps to come as we move forward from the straight-jacket of our very limited IQ measurement or other commonly recognized characteristics of intelligence.

Of the types of intelligence listed here, it should be pointed out that knowledge itself is not one of them as that is one of the things to which we apply our intelligence.  Also, it is doubtful that math, verbal or artistic ability are discrete types of intelligence, but are more likely just combinations of the other forms.

Active Memory—Amount and detail of raw knowledge retained and retrievable on demand (Rote memory).

Passive Memory—Amount and detail of raw knowledge retained and retrievable with prompting such as with multiple choice questions (forms a considerably larger amount of information storage than active memory for most people.)

Cognitive Speed—varies for each individual depending on the application such as information retrieval or motor reaction time.

Multitasking/thinking under pressure—self explanatory.

Muscular coordination—Athletic ability and physical aspects of speech.

Hand eye coordination—playing a musical instrument, working with tools/machines.  Related to muscular coordination, but less dependent on strength and endurance and more on finesse.

Social Receptivity—Ability to receive and interpret social signals. One who can read body language and between the lines.          

        Factual Receptivity—Ability to comprehend facts and ideas.

Social Projection—Ability to project social signals and impart emotions to others such as with leadership, charisma or intimidation.

Factual Projection/problem solving—Ability to communicate facts and ideas or apply them.

(The previous four are very interrelated and are the most easily subjected to suppression or distortion by the emotions, especially factual receptivity.  Gamesmanship, leadership, “followership“ and intimidation are skills resulting from the combination of these abilities.)

Symbol recognition—interpretation of words and other symbols or symbolic ideas.

Linear Logic—If a=b and b=c concluding that a=c; looking forward several steps in a chess game.

Intuitive Intelligence—The ability to make a "leap of logic", or better stated, to make an intuitive leap; e.g. decoding anagrams, finding a relationship between two or more seemingly unrelated facts.  Many times it occurs after studying a problem, the answer suddenly appears as an epiphany or in a dream.  It is the most ephemeral form of intelligence and hardest to define with probably many sub-facets; one of which would be characterized as imagination or the ability to create original ideas.

Sense of humor—ability to originate, communicate or understand something that is humorous or amusing.

Sense of irony—ability to originate, communicate or understand something that deliberately contrasts apparently opposite meanings for humorous or satirical effect.

Artistic intelligence—abilities encompassing the inception and/or interpretation of any of the arts. It is the expression/understanding of artistic, original creativity.

Spatial awareness—(e.g. Is my right front tire going to further flatten that road kill up ahead.)

Focus—the workhorse of intelligence which is important to all the other types.  It comes in the form of concentration and persistence, which is harder to measure since it may need evaluation over periods of time as long as a lifetime.  Someone low on cognitive speed but high on focus would probably be seen as smart but slow or a late bloomer.

   

The incorporation of reason into one’s understanding of the world is sometimes avoided because it appears to require an intimidating amount of effort and intelligence.  Living requires effort, but avoiding reason can be more wearing than abiding by it due to the nagging realization that we aren’t being honest with ourselves leading to the effort spent maintaining the wall of emotion and tangle of lies fending off reason.

Further, like a little exercise for the body benefits our physical as well as our mental stamina, so too the appropriate use of both reason and emotion actually becomes soothing with use instead of their being an irritant.  As for applying intelligence, the only things required is an understanding of the nature of Truth and determining one’s particular intellectual abilities which we all have in some areas—and all of which are almost certainly not possessed by anyone.

Abortion

No issue is more contentious or morally complex than abortion because it deals with the rights of two individuals and when we achieve our moral right to life, liberty and property. As with almost any issue, moral or otherwise, when trying to think through where we stand on it, the place to start is the extremes.

Aborting a healthy fetus in the process of being born can only be considered murder.  On the other hand, forcing a 13 year old girl who is 1 hour pregnant as a result of being raped by her father to carry the baby to  term, is nothing short of a moral travesty.  Yet we insist on reducing abortion down to Pro-Life and Pro-Choice labels.  The fact is we don't have the necessary information to make an informed moral choice in many cases.  We can draw an artificial limit, say the first trimester, but that won't cover all situations in determining by whose or what authority we make these decisions--God, the Law, or a family and their doctor.

Any claim to divine authority is specious given that there is nothing in the Bible about it, and all we have are those putting words in God's mouth that the human right to life starts at conception.  Some even claim that divine determination is violated by contraception.   On the face of it, for those appealing to revealed religion for their authority, abortion is being used as an instrument of power and control.

At the other end, the same could be said about statists who would use the law to give complete authority to the mother with no rights whatever for the baby until it is born, which is no less an artificial limit, or less "holy", than conception.

The fact is we already limit human rights according to age, and few would argue with it.  We limit a child's right to liberty and property until they reach some arbitrary age of majority at which point they legally acquire the rights they didn't have a few moments before.  Some would say the right to life is different, but tell that to the billions throughout history who lived under horrible oppression, and others who risked or lost their lives in an effort to achieve that liberty.  The question this raises is, why isn't there some theological, or secular, explanation for the arbitrary acquisition of our rights to liberty and property?  The Bible says that you must not commit murder and that you must not steal.  But then it also gives tacit approval to slavery and human sacrifice.

The Golden Rule is the only moral guidance we have, or need, except for the moral complexities of dealing with our children--born and unborn.

This complex issue pushes to the limit the principle that the only thing that should be legislated is morality.  It would seem, at this point, that all we can legislate would be in the realm of the previously mentioned extremes, and each of those come to a point where that legislation would be arbitrary and thus without moral authority.  We must acknowledge the complexity of this issue and come, somehow, to realize that this must be done on a case by case basis, with the mother making the decision in this area where the law cannot reach, with the advice of her family, her doctor, her society and her faith.

In this "no-man's land" or grey area (between the extremes which can be legislated), the woman must have the final authority, not because it's her body, but because it's her child.  And since it is still ultimately a moral issue, the freedom of religion is the final legal authority for her moral authority.  The current legal problem here in the US where a retail store chain (Hobby Lobby) is being forced at the cost of over a million dollars a day to provide health care funds for abortions against the religious beliefs of a private company and any number of its employees, is an egregious example of the violation of the necessary separation of church and state; not to mention the First Amendment to our Constitution.

Religion vs. Philosophy

Why is religion, and philosophy for that matter, important?

Originally, somewhere back in civilization’s deep, dark past, religion was the equivalent of science. Grog, in his cave, tried to make sense of the natural world around him; a nature that appeared to be a benefactor and source of fear at the same time. Truth and knowledge were sought. But it wasn’t long before some were able to use that fear and confusion as a source of control if it was manipulated properly.

Later still, someone developed the carrot and stick idea and added rewards from the gods in this life as well as the next, for proper behavior. The original morality consisted of a simple form of the Golden Rule, but it was necessary to include honoring and providing for the gods as part of that favored behavior; and as time passed many more extraneous rules were added to the code of behavior, which eventually ascended to greater importance than proper behavior towards each other. Then finally someone consolidated all the rules from all those gods into rules from just One God, and that mixture of mono/polytheism is where we stood at the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment and the ascendancy of science and the scientific method.

While science has been very successful at acquiring knowledge, the issues of morality (a code of conduct for how we treat each other), virtue (a code for our personal behavior), and of fulfillment and purpose in this life (and perhaps the next), appeared to be beyond the reach of the scientific method. So religion, with all its baggage, maintained its position of spiritual authority—albeit a reduced one.

Enter philosophy, the attempt to use reason to combine knowledge and the metaphysical. But the latter wasn’t subject to reason since there was no knowledge available (other than pure hearsay) with which we could deal. Thus two usually unstated assumptions were made: Human life is of ultimate value, and a laissez faire divine being created the universe. If neither of those was the case there was no possibility for good order or hope for an ultimate purpose.

Today, we stand on the verge of the realization that morality is the only thing that should be the subject of civilization’s legal code—we should never legislation personal virtue. Organized religion continues to fight this principle as if its life depends on it, which it does. It won’t submit to the ascendancy of philosophy for the same reason that governments resist submission to political and economic reason…..the ability to use power to favor an individual or an elite class structure.

Though we have made great strides in science and technology, it appears that we are no closer to conquering evil with good because we still depend far too much on emotion to make our decisions. Progress will not be made until we learn to employ our emotions as the engine to pursue our goals, with reason at the wheel.