First, I have no rabbinical background. I am a non-believer. I think the bible is an interesting chronology of people's thinking about their origins and their justifications as human being.
The bible is also self-contradictory. So much so that only the blind would believe that every word ought to be taken literally (note for example the two mutually exclusive accounts of the creation in Genesis). It also recounts as historical fact scientifically impossible situations. That is why I am fascinated that anybody with any intelligence would hold to the notion that the Bible ought to be taken literally, For if I can show just one instance of patent falsehood, the inescapable conclusion must be that the bible cannot be the product of an incontrovertibly correct deity. It must be the result of somebody far more fallible. And that is why I questioned Sidney's belief that morality ought to be Bible based.
The issue of lineage came up because in reading the Bible (which I do often -- I tutor litearacy to a woman whose preferred reading material is the Bible) I came across a section in which the lineages seemed mixed up, and it offended my orderly mind.
My beliefs are simply stated: the earth is some 4.5-5 billion years old. Some evidence suggests that life began perhaps 3 billion years ago. Depending on where you wish to make the cut-off, human ancestors began some 9 million years ago.
There is overwhelming evidence supporting the notion of organic evolution. There is no need to invoke the supernatural to explain what we see.
I see fundamentalism (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.) as dangerous, mind-stifling anachronisms. I view other religious beliefs in a much warmer light, because they have learned to adapt their sense of morality to a changing world. Whether they require God or not as a focus is beside the point. They are thinking of the human condition and how to better it, and that is the issue. They are concerned with hunger, man's inhumanity to man, preservation of the planet, intolerance, etc. These are the things that all people of goodwill rally around, so if I pick on the basis of reason for their beliefs it is really of little import. Perhaps a concept of God is required by many people to drop their immediate concerns and think of the world in larger, more flexible and less selfish terms. The means are unimportant, but the ends are everything.
CTC |
