An Atheist joined a church the other day. The pastor makes a wicked good argument for it too. Pastor Jim Rigby says this: "Much of our most important processes are irrational, even more are unconscious altogether. Advertisers know this swampy core and sell to it. Televangelists know this swampy core and manipulate it. Politicians know this swampy core and appeal to it. If there's hope of saving the world from the clutches of propaganda it will not be because we refute it rationally." and he has a point. We can use religion as a tool, even if we know it's total baloney, to defend against malicious psychological attacks found in advertising and politics. Fight fire with fire so to speak.
Sadly this doesn't always work out right. Sayed Qutb was the first I know to try this strategy. His thought was that since the common people would not inherently revolt against the placating frivolities of welfare capitalism, they could be motivated to do so by sparking their desire for justice and non-contradiction. People want things to be good and evil, and exposing how the Western culture, though easy living, necessarily leads to obvious evil, Qutb planned to inspire the common folk to revolt and reform their society. People who don't defend against this subtle corruption, like those in the USA, end up in gilded cages: they get food, travel expenses, a nice house, a sleek car, but at the expense of their freedom, their business opportunities, their awareness, and their self fulfillment.
Of course, Sayed was the founder of Islamic Fundamentalism, so he kind of screwed up royally. The problem with using religion as a tool is it's fundamentally self contradictory. As soon as you start talking about divine influences, you run into the problem that those influences aren't really there. In the end you have to justify your ideology by itself, and are now open to the vulnerability of fanaticism: people believing such circular logic will tighten and tighten their vision of good in an attempt to escape the contradiction, until they kill women who do not wear burkhas in public, instead of admitting Allah isn't really a god, and Muhammed wasn't really a prophet.
Should an atheist join a church? It's probably a great thing for personal reasons: they can find job opportunities, counseling, and just people to hang out with. I sure am trying to find a church for those reasons, though the ones around here are all fiercely intolerant. But should an atheist use the arguments of religion to sway people who can't escape the clutches of irrational advertising and serpent tongued propaganda?
Comment
Index
Previous
(The Limits of Furry)
Next
(Finding Community)