If you're serious, I'd say Mr. Campos starts from the viewpoint that I (as an enlightened atheist) expect everything my smart friends believe to be entirely rational. I don't--I can accept that they are sentimentally driven or that there are beliefs they have which they don't want to examine too closely.
For example, I think my daughter is the most wonderful girl in the world. I'm sure that a coldly rational friend of mine could sit down with me and seek to persuade me of the absurdity of that belief. But it wouldn't be a fun or productive conversation.
I just assume that there's some personal experience on the part of my intelligent friends who are religious which has led them to believe in God. Good for them--it's a comforting meme to buy into. I would love to believe in an afterlife if I could.
But Mr. Campos needs to get off his race-losing horse. "Lots of smart people feel this way so other people should accept that it's a legitimate way to feel" isn't all that persuasive as a scientific argument. What would Mr. Campos have said to Copernicus?
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2008-12-31 03:04 pm (UTC)For example, I think my daughter is the most wonderful girl in the world. I'm sure that a coldly rational friend of mine could sit down with me and seek to persuade me of the absurdity of that belief. But it wouldn't be a fun or productive conversation.
I just assume that there's some personal experience on the part of my intelligent friends who are religious which has led them to believe in God. Good for them--it's a comforting meme to buy into. I would love to believe in an afterlife if I could.
But Mr. Campos needs to get off his race-losing horse. "Lots of smart people feel this way so other people should accept that it's a legitimate way to feel" isn't all that persuasive as a scientific argument. What would Mr. Campos have said to Copernicus?