Weinberg on living without God
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg writes in The New York Review of Books an essay on atheism: Without God. Dr. Weinberg identifies four tensions that put science and religion at odds:
1. Science removing the supernatural as required to understand the world;
2. Science revealing Earth and Man to have no special place in the universe;
3. Religion rejecting the establishment of natural laws as an arrogant constriction of God’s ‘infinite’ abilities, and
4. Science illuminating a paradigm that doesn’t include infallible knowledge.
An excellent read.
Science has been slowly explaining things that used to be God’s domain — lightening, pregnancy, crops, disease, the tide, the motion of the heavens. None of these have thus far turned out to be supernatural. The more sophisticated our measuring devices become, the more mysteries we’ll unravel. Sheer persistence will probably uncover the origin of life itself, and that too will turn out to be a natural process. We just don’t need the idea of God to explain the world around us any more.
We can live in a world without God.
Religion was invented before humanity was capable of adequately searching for and proving things true. It offered explanations (powerful gods) for significant phenomena (the sun rising) which led to ritualistic requests for consideration in the timing or severity of those phenomena (”please make it rain”; “please make my wife pregnant”, etc.). Embedded in our minds as the true cause behind all effects, Gods that you could ask to help you became forces to constantly be obeyed.
Religious “truth” made a great a construct to provide us with a reason to adhere to social rules (restrain your greed and urges to murder, rape, philander, steal) and work towards common social goals (marriage, families, cooperation). It served a purpose in dark ages.
Genuine knowledge—the product of science—strips away the supernatural impetus for prosocial behavior, but certainly not the need. Anyone with enough critical thinking skills to see past God can certainly agree that we benefit from living in a civil, healthy, cooperative society and can accept the social contracts necessary to make that happen.
They can live in a world without God.
The other best use of religion is as an anti-depressant; purposelessness is anathema to the human psyche and we’re highly susceptible to existential fear of there not being a bigger picture. Belief keeps your chin up when you’re not sure you’re on the right path, or whether there even is a path. Belief is also a crutch that obscures the need to assess your own priorities, and to arrive at a decision on how to live your life that’s based on personal reflection. Do we need meaning? Sure, or we go bonkers. But don’t take the easy way out. Reason out your own personal meaning, act on it, refine as your perspective widens.
You can live in a world without God.
P.S. Don’t be bummed about your new found purposelessness. Redirect your sense of wonder where it belongs. This is what science does for us all.
If you win a Nobel prize, that not qualifies you to have moral and christian values. You can be an asshole, no?
Posted by Ion on September 28th, 2008 11:55 amFor sure you can be an asshole. The adjective “Nobel Prize-winning” mainly serves to paint a picture of a highly intelligent, diligent and thinking person—the kind of person whose thoughts on philosophical matters I’m most interested in regardless of their religious bent.
Dr. Weinberg is eminently qualified to opine of the meaning of life, having spent his career examining the truths that make up our universe. He runs into that question on a professional basis, and has a considered opinion, interesting to entertain.
Posted by Reason on September 28th, 2008 1:55 pmMr. Reason, you must know that somethimes this prize is given with political substrate, or other interests.
Posted by Ion on September 29th, 2008 7:50 amSure thing, but not typically to morons
Posted by Reason on September 29th, 2008 10:21 amWeinberg is a smart guy, but he should stay out of this debates.
Posted by Ion on September 30th, 2008 6:10 amHow come? Isn’t his perspective kind of interesting, being a person who searches for truth for a living?
Posted by Reason on September 30th, 2008 7:02 amHe thinks he found the truth. But who can tell what is true or not? Everybody knows the truth, but just a personal one.
Posted by Ion on October 1st, 2008 12:34 pm