Maddenation
Breaking the Spell
I listened to a “Charlie Rose” interview of Daniel Dennett the other day, with Bill Moyers sitting in for Charlie (who had heart surgery in Paris last week). Dennett is the philosopher who wrote the book “Consciousness Explained” that I read years ago. It was so many years ago that I can’t remember much of it. I do remember, however, that he didn’t explain consciousness to me, or to Martin Gardiner (who reviewed the book), or others who have nicknamed his book, “Consciousness Ignored,” or “Consciousness Explained Away.” Dennett now has a new book out called “Breaking the Spell,” which is about religion. Dennett is an atheist who believes religion should be studied as a natural phenomenon. Moyers is, as far as I know, a religious man, who believes religion cannot be fully apprehended through natural means. I found the interview quite interesting.
Dennett is a Santa-Clausy fellow with a compelling demeanor. His take on religion is similar to many other scientists who don’t believe what can’t be tested. He does believe the universe is a wondrous place, however, and even said that making our world a better place was something we all should aspire to. In response to critics who believe he is against religion, or wants to undermine it, Dennett said he is in fact in favor of religion, but wants to get rid of its “toxic” content. By this he means the kind of belief that calls for beheading infidels.
He even went so far as to say that religion should be taught in all our schools. The catch is, he wants all religions to be taught. Even home-schooled children could be taught everything about their own religion as long as the rest of the world’s beliefs were also taught. This he thought would invite more thorough discussion about religion and might tend to reduce the intolerance we currently experience. He went on to say that religious belief is a force for much good in the world.
His belief is that religion has evolved, much as nature has evolved. This is true, at least to some extent, even for those of us who adhere to Judeo-Christian beliefs. The ancient world was characterized by many gods, the Jews brought us monotheism, and Christians (here I include the LDS church) the paschal mystery (and the Trinity). Islam also embraces Abraham, Moses, and Jesus as prophets. I don’t know much about Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucionism, or other religions, but I’m assuming they evolved as well. Yet all of these religions tend to believe in their own truth and sometimes even infallibility. Dennett, who doesn’t believe in any of the Gods these religions represent, wants to study them as a part of Darwinian evolution. Along the way, he says he’s willing to listen to arguments in favor of any of these religions in the spirit of scientific inquiry. Or something like that.
At one point, Dennett said something else that I agree with. He said that, at the end of the day, it’s how we decide to behave that matters. He sounded like a pretty moral man; one who is interested in causing no harm, relieving suffering, and advancing knowledge. Whatever he might call it, he seemed to have a conscience, a heart if you like, upon which some of the most important laws of God had been written. Dennett would probably say it all evolved through random mutation and natural selection. I’m not so sure.
Dad • Ideas • 04/10/06 • 1 comments
Comments
David • 04/11/06 • 1:51 PM:I just ran across this ReligionFacts website while using Stumbleupon.
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