Hardwired brains is not what people thing it is. Take a gander at Richard Nisbett’s research at Univ. of Michigan. If you need a link let me know. He also has a book called “The Geography of Thought.” He does cross cultural cognitive studies between Easterners and Westerners. The influence of culture has a far greater impact than many think it does.

A bit more on topic is Karen Armstrong’s “The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions.” This book is very good at not only understanding religious history, but the cultural legacy that results from the historical.

As for extremists, how much of that is due to current trends in America today and how much is due to cultural legacy is open for debate. The extremism isn’t related to religion per se whether theistic or atheistic. It is related to the way people process information. They can process it well or poorly, but they do it nonetheless. Nisbett’s studies would offer some insight on this.

In short, Americans are notoriously opinionated and arrogant and tend to operate ideologically rather than realistically. It should be no wonder then that you would find rabid atheists as much as you would find rabid anti-tax folks or rabid profiteers or rabid tree-huggers. There is a virus in this country and it is quite virulent. Unless we find a cure and vaccine, this country is toast.

Hey, NL! Good to see you again. Thanks for a very insightful comments.

But, welcome back. I look forward to more posts of poetry, debates, cat pics, or about going off on vacation.

Hope you’re having a good one. I have 2 big brothers myself… and, we don’t get to spend enough time together. I hope you and your sister have a good visit.

`smj

Thank you! It was a good vacation!

What is curious about those at the extremes of the God debate is how little either is learning.

Great post. If the above well reasoned post is any indication of your erudition, then bravo - please keep writing.

Poetman

Thank you for those kind words!

It’s good to have you back in the land of posting (on your own site.)

After hearing about the debate, I tried to follow it. And you make a very good point about it remaining mostly civil. That is a somewhat rare thing among the land of Blog. People in a blogging debate have no inter-connection with each other because of the lack of a substantial relationship. As a result it usually gets petty and rude and even childish. But that thread seemed to stay above water; for the most part.

As always, I appreciate your brain and your wisdom. Whether I always agree or always disagree or find myself somewhere in the middle, your knowledge and understanding bridge any gaps. Thank you for remaining you.

-Sam

thank you! I try.

Oh, I know, and you’re right, it was a good story. But now, for better or worse, that picture has become my enduring mental image of you. In any event, he’s certainly a lot less scary looking than your avatar!

I’ll have to put up a better about section with an actual picture at some point instead.

I’ll look forward to that. BTW, if you’re wondering what I look like, click HERE.

Ah, my dear Bad, fret about nothing! On this blog, I AM God, and, faster than you can say “Deus ex machina”, through my divine intervention all has been made right.

In any case, I share the shock at realizing that I’ve greatly and foolishly neglected blogging for commenting. Somewhere, someone is trying to sell someone perfume “based on” their DNA, and no one is there to stop them!

Sounds like a job for a certain crotchety guy in a Spider Man costume!

For some reason the link in your comment doesn’t show up because of the way my template is formatted. Good post by the way!

It makes me wonder what may have happened in her life to drive her to such a degree of rage at the very idea of God.

Ah, but see, that there is evidence that Dawkins is perhaps not all wet when he talks about how religious ideas and upbringings can sometimes be damaging psychological forms of child abuse.

Yes, and no. There has certainly been a lot of bad stuff that’s been done in the name of religion. And yet in the case of the woman in question–I believe you know who I mean–I would guess it’s something deeper and more traumatic. Just as the former 3 pack a day smoker becomes an anti-smoking zealot, I sometimes wonder if those who oppose religion the most vehemently were once those who believed the most deeply. It might make an interesting study.

Amongst us atheists, it’s sort of interesting to look at those who are vehemently anti-religious, those who merely are unconvinced by religious claims ourselves, or think that religious advocates push some very silly ideas that we cheer to see debunked (but it’s really the ideas and the claims that get us worked up, not so much the fact that people are religious in general).

Religious zealots can certainly be a vexing lot. But when one sees someone getting all worked up over a concept as innocuous as Deism, one has to wonder.

Very often, the former group are those who were raised either in fundamentalist homes or went to Catholic school and got swatted around by nuns with rulers. I don’t go in for their anger, but that annoying chip on their shoulder is rarely there unprovoked, and it’s important to understand where that anger comes from

Agreed. cf. above

(in many cases, they were taught that anger as a religious person: anger at non-believers… and then when they lost their belief, the anger remained, and got turned back upon religion) as part of understanding how to ease or get rid of it.

Again, agreed, as I stated above. As I said, it would make an interesting study.

The latter group, of which I count myself a part, generally either never believed at all and so is just not as conflicted to begin with, or like myself, once believed, had no real problems or abuses, and in fact mostly happy times and memories, but just stopped believing at some point, like someone growing out of an old hobby.

I would be interested to learn how you got to this point. Email me, if you prefer.

Then of course there are those non-believers who simply could not care less about the subject… but no one ever hears from them, almost by definition.

It never occurred to me that one could disbelieve in something passionately, and yet this is very much the case.

Well, perhaps in fairer moods you could grant that it is not anyone’s lack of belief that arouses passion, but the belief of others which, for better or worse, for wrong or for right, some atheists believe is socially or intellectually harmful (of course, many theists feel the same way about the beliefs of other theists, which THEY passionately “disbelieve” as well).

I don’t believe I was being unfair, merely stating an observation. I’ve already stipulated that religious zealots are annoying, even dangerous at times, so there’s nothing for us to debate, or even disagree about, there. I was simply a little surprised at how even suggesting that a “God” of some sort another may exist seemed to get some people in a lather.

-sps

Say it again, sister!

It certainly would seem that way. Along the way, I met some folks who could indeed keep it civil and intelligent, but it often seemed like they were in the minority.

Glad your back.

Glad to be back.