"As I test out the New Atheist arguments, I realize that the problem with logic is that it doesn't quicken the blood sufficiently -- even my own. But if logic by itself won't do the trick, how about the threat of apocalypse? The apocalyptic argument for atheism is the province of Sam Harris, who released a book two years ago called The End of Faith: Religion Terror, and the Future of Reason."
As Wolf reports, Harris argues that, unless we renounce faith, religious violence will soon bring civilization to an end. This autumn, Harris has a new book out, Letter to a Christian Nation. In it, he demonstrates the behavior he believes atheists should adopt when talking with Christians. "Nonbelievers like myself stand beside you," he writes, addressing his imaginary opponent, "dumbstruck by the Muslim hordes who chant death to whole nations of the living. But we stand dumbstruck by you as well -- by your denial of tangible reality, by the suffering you create in service to your religious myths, and by your attachment to an imaginary God."
Yikes! So I'm in denial of reality, suffering starts with me, and I am subject to my imagination. But you know, I'm really getting into this dialogue. Rather than being threatened I'm challenged in my beliefs and find it strangely refreshing to looking at what I believe through the eyes of someone outside of my "Christian" circle.
Wolf expresses his desire to talk with Harris - about emotion, about politics, about his conviction that the days of civilization are numbered unless we renounce irrational belief. Given the way things are going, I want to know if he is depressed. Is he preparing for the end?
He is not.
"Look at slavery," he says. We are at a beautiful restaurant in Santa Monica, near the public lots from which Americans -- nearly 80 percent of whom believe the Bible is the true word of God, if polls are correct -- walk happily down to the beach in various states of undress. "People used to think," Harris says, "that slavery was morally acceptable. The most intelligent, sophisticated people used to accept that you could kidnap whole families, force them to work for you, and sell their children. That looks ridiculous to us today. We're going to look back and be amazed that we approached this asymptote of destructive capacity while allowing ourselves to be balkanized by fantasy. What seems quixotic is quixotic -- on this side of a radical change. From the other side, you can't believe it didn't happen earlier. At some point, there is going to be enough pressure that it is just going to be too embarrassing to believe in God."Hey, how can you not like a guy who uses words like asymptote? I'm not sure, but I believe the inference is that theists at the best and Christians at the worst created and condoned slavery. It is interesting that he seems to contradict Dawkins on the intelligence issue, that it was intelligent, nay the MOST intelligent and sophisticated people who supported the practice. Now I won't deny that many horrible things have been done in the name of religion. But some good things have also been done. Regarding the references to slavery above, an appropriate example is William Wilberforce, who after his conversion to Christianity was an effective and eloquent figure against whom slavery suffered a mortal wound.
Wolf and Harris then discuss what it might look like, this world without God. "There would be a religion of reason," Harris says. "We would have realized the rational means to maximize human happiness. We may all agree that we want to have a Sabbath that we take really seriously -- a lot more seriously than most religious people take it. But it would be a rational decision, and it would not be just because it's in the Bible. We would be able to invoke the power of poetry and ritual and silent contemplation and all the variables of happiness so that we could exploit them. Call it prayer, but we would have prayer without bullshit."
Wolf does call it prayer and describes it this way: that our reason will subjugate our superstition, that our intelligence will check our illusions, that we will be able to hold at bay the evil temptation of faith.
What is prayer anyway? To me, there are two constants in prayer that I am aware of that cross religious boundaries. First, we pray to an entity - something that exists. Second, we pray to something that is greater than us - we don't pray to equals. That's why the parody of God represented by the Flying Spaghetti Monster can be proffered.
I'm enlightened by this interview, in that I now know that the religion of atheism is supported by prayer, and that the center of the atheist worldview is nothing less than happiness. Not world peace, not justice, not the elimination of poverty or starvation, but happiness.
It's frightening to realize how much of the seeds of this worldview have been planted and are now taking root. Oh, how naive I was watching the Partridge Family after school every day and singing along with the lyrics, not knowing that the roots of atheism were being planted deep into our culture:
Hello, world, here the song that we're singin',
C'mon get happy!
A whole lot of lovin' is what we'll be bringin'
We'll make you happy!
We had a dream, we'd go travelin' together,
We'd spread a little lovin' then we'd keep movin' on.
Somethin' always happens whenever we're together
We get a happy feelin' when we're singing a song.
Trav'lin' along there's a song that we're singin'
C'mon get happy!
A Whole lot of lovin' is what we'll be bringin'
We'll make you happy!
We'll make you happy!
We'll make you happy!
Please pray for me.
