On Jul 27, 2007, at 3:06 AM, William T Goodall wrote: > On 27 Jul 2007, at 10:44, Dave Land wrote: > >> The point being that religion -- whether you consider it the core of >> your being or a mental illness, is beneficial to humankind. > > The ends justify the means eh?
Not exactly "the ends justify the means," no, but a recognition that pure reason may not be sufficient to the task, that we may be "wired" to respond to more than mere facts. > Perhaps if it takes blatant lies to make a society function smoothly > then there is something fundamentally wrong with the society? Depends on how fscked-up the society is, perhaps. They're only "lies" to those who narrowly equate truth with factuality. But there I go again, being nuanced, damned Liberal that I am. Perhaps they are not so much "blatant lies" as feelings and unprovable -- and, of course, un-disprovable -- ideas that ennoble us. The article was very clear that it didn't matter that the subjects of the experiment actually believed the religious ideas, only that they were "primed" with them or the beneficial effects of generosity and cooperation to kick in. It's closer to the AA idea of a "higher power" (even if your higher power is a salt shaker) -- not necessarily something that you think _is_ God, but something that takes you outside yourself, helps you experience IAAMOAC. Dave _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
