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Entry: Hitchens Unhinged Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/hitchens_unhinged_part_i#6832 Post contents: W H, ‘It’s superficial of nontheists like you to dismiss these things as “unremarkable”’ I never said that I personally think things are unremarkable. On the contrary, I am in an almost constant state of awe. Everything from my body’s complex physiology to the Milky Way leaves me in a state of wonderment. However, clearly these things are perhaps only awe-inspiring to the human mind, and then only to some human minds. An oil pipeline carving it’s way through the Alaskan tundra may be ugly to us, but it seems unlikely a bird or a fox finds it aesthetically disagreeable. We are stuck with our human minds; this is the eternal dilemma. Now the fact you personally have come to the conclusion that things are so that there must be something that approximates to a God-like consciousness is not one that I really have a problem with. You’re not claiming to know God’s mind, and, if you were, even you wouldn’t be in agreement with God if He suddenly appeared and told the world unequivocally that paedophilia is ok. I’m quite healthy and hopefully I have many years of thinking ahead of me, as I hope you have. It just so happens that up to this point in my existence my thoughts have haven’t lead me, in any way, to conclude that there has to be anything as preternaturally huge as a ‘God’. I know that I don’t know for sure one for or another, but it seems logical, from my narrow human perspective, to conclude that the more audacious claim is the more unlikely. You haven’t made any comments regarding my remarks about people who believe in ufos, ghosts and other silly things. Perhaps you consider these points intellectually weak and not worth tackling (I concede, and this is no sickly appeal to flatter you, that you are more intelligent and more erudite than me), but if you type ‘ufos’ into Google you will find thousands of pages of ‘evidence’. These people have videos and pictures to ‘verify’ their claims too. After a lot of thought I toss this nonsense into the bin too, as, I strongly suspect, you do also. Now you would surely ask of the person that asserts that a huge alien empire controls the galaxy that they provide physical evidence. These people have never come up with the goods. It’s the same with theists. Please explain to me the real difference between these two sets of ideas. Human beings are scared of dying. This is where theism springs from. It is a natural defense mechanism against the terror of existence. It comforts people. You know this. But humans take this to ridiculous lengths. The Jews believe God doesn’t want them to eat pork. Why would He be so picky? Christians believe God doesn’t want us to have sex outside of marriage. Why, of all things, would God concern Himself with our absurd sexual activities? And so it goes on. Your assertion that God, or something like, exists because your perception of the Universe leads you to conclude that there must be a prime mover is a trillion light years away from asserting that the Bible is the word of God. In Scientology we are privy to the birth of another fantastic idea, its ideas formulated by a totally unremarkable mind in Mr Hubbard. We know this empirically because it has occurred within the reaches of our immediate experience. I see nothing but parallels between this latest fad and the Holy books of old. They are all packed with strange claims and recondite rituals. ‘As it stands, you seem to prefer rhetorical fluff, sound bites, “being funny”, and ambiguity over sound argumentation. And yet you expect theists here to believe that *they’re* the irrational ones?’ I don’t expect you to believe that you are the irrational ones. I just hope you will concede that yours is the more extraordinary claim, as it clearly is. As for the ‘sound bites’ and ‘being funny’ (well, at least trying), I apologize if you feel I have lowered the tone. That is not my intention. Regards Maud Sent at: 2008 05 16