Why the God Delusion Won't Go Away

From Pew Research Org an article entitled, "What Brain Science Tells us About Religious Belief" their researcher writes, "What one might argue in that context is, "Your brain shuts down so you can allow the Holy Spirit to speak through you; this is how it works." On the other hand, if you don't believe speaking in tongues is really a spiritual event, then you might say, "Perhaps there's some other part of the brain that is taking over, that is causing this thing to happen. It's not the normal parts of the brain doing it, but it's some other part of the brain."

It looks like nobody can win but good debate is still fun.

Imagine if it was forbidde, on WAPO (onfaith/onreligion & postglobal) to use the words

"DEE{P}AK" "CHO}P{R{A}" Or

"SA{LLY}" "QU{i}NN" or "DA{VID" "WA{}TERS" or " "FA{R}EED" "ZAK{A}R}IA}" or "DAV-ID" "I{}G{}NATiUS" or the word "Washing{ton}" or "PO{ST" , MOSES, JESUS etc..???

For a test of "Ingoodfaith" Please remove curly brackets in WAPO's Editor & hit "Submit" button. For the Word:

""SH{i}L{O}H" [PEACE BRINGER]. So
WHY would Washington Post or George Town University et al; be soo so afraid of a (biblical) word meaning, "PEACE", Freidan, PAZ, Mir, SHALOM or "SH{}{A}{L}{O}{M}", Salaam, Ahimsah, Zhingyu"?.....?.. Testing testing:

"HUE{-}MATES"
"JO{}K}{T}AN" [The UNITED Anscestors]
{WE [i] Cometh from This Father/Mother EBERu line} hence [i] WE; US? are innately evolved as "HUEMATES" not as HUMAN anymore. As Prophecy: WE [i] Removeth the "Scepter & the Rod.. from Both hand & between King DAVID's realm who are "P{E}{L}E{G"ians [The DIVIDED Ancestors]. WE Reverseth the DRUNKIN NOAH [racist] CURSETH/SINETH preposterous Story of Moses & his Jealoused Co., And So
INSTEAD of god, replaced "ITSELF" w/the knowledge of "IT" via the Holyi Cosmic "MELCHIZEDEK PEACE-BLESSING" & more "Good TiDINGS"!

Testing Testing:

"P{E}{L}E{G"
[Means the "DIVIDED" Eber/ABRAHAMICs branch/splinter, Isaac, Ishamael, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Esau, Jesus, includes Muhammad Folks, Mormons too etc.., as their Lineage/Anscestor (NOT OUR's, Never! or unlike US HUEMATE-arians of that Holyi Cosmic NEBULA awared "IT"s (G-D) Naturally Selected , aka, Chosen, "JO{}K}{T}AN"ian) EBERu race!

WOW! WHY WAPO???????????? WHO {Sect?, Cult?, Preacher, Editor, Moderator(s) , Mormon, Evangelousical? , rick Warren? Chuck Colson? Deepak Chopra? etc..} is Behind This Blatant 1st Amendment Violation & Jealous Anti Public-Internet DEVILISH/EVIL Censorings???

Wow! Please WAPO & Co., stop Jealously Blocking OUR, not your, Intellectual works about the "IT" [G-D doing work & becoming what one is becoming] And then Borrow for Ye gains or Withholding such whiteboarding hard work from its genuine Authors!?

a mother's love and any gods' love differ significantly. This is just a ploy believers use to redefine the word faith, to give their faith in their god a greater veneer of reality.

A mother's love can be tested, it can be predicted, it can be falsified. We can describe the behavior indicative of a mother's love, and we can test it.
We've all certainly seen it before.

When we try to do the same with any of the gods people believe in, we end up with excuses, such as "god ... mysterious ways ... we're too small and wormlike ..." when the direct proof is required.

Here comes a hurricane, prove your god loves us by making it go away. Oh, he's got bigger things to do, he's testing our faith, blah blah blah.

Just like the intelligent design mockery, comparing human love and god love is an attempt to go around reality in order to support the ridiculous premise at the basis of it.

"Children believe that their mothers love them. The proof they have is the same as the proof of God - a subjective feeling."

I think the problem here is, actually, that, in almost all circumstances, even some really-messed-up ones, mothers *do* love their children.

The problem's usually when someone claiming to be or represent a 'Father' conditions someone into bad things as how to express that.

Often backwards.

Usually about power. Cults that twist that into abuse are no better than those religions which claim to know better, and do it anyway.

It's all well and good to have god abstractions, but it's not all about arguing logic and pseudo-logic.

People do insane things to *others* in the guise of 'protecting their children,' just as they, perhaps less rarely-documented, do things to their *own,* because someone told them it was 'saving' their children.

The tale in this case is of an utter profanation of motherhood.

But let's not pretend she didn't do it for the exact same reasons kids are put through horrors *all the time.*

Cause some dude with a book said it would 'save' those kids.

Some say quite loudly, even here, that it's better someone 'suffer' and come to their God than be treated as we all know now people should be.

They don't intend for anyone to take it quite so 'literally' even if someone says it in those very words every night to get someone elected. Then wonder when someone gets unhinged by the situation and acts it out.

All the same thing.

The tragedy in these things isn't a lack of 'love.' The tragedy is someone *actually* thinks it's 'saving' these kids from something portrayed as *infinitely worse.*

We here it said right here with a straight face.

This is what they have wrought themselves. And we are all the lesser for it.

Even if it's acceptable, if less direct or deniable.

All are punished. To be inappropriately Shakespearian.

I've always wondered, though. One day, will *something* awaken compassion in those that teach these things.

Teach that making someone suffer, even killing them, is 'saving' them from something so horrible that no atrocity they do could be worse.

Is this that day?

Goddess gentle and strong, is this that day?

Or what?

Volkmare,

Your description doesn't quite make the grade as an "unorganized" religion simply because clergy are uncompensated. If there are clergy, and if there is a president, then there is organization.

I recognize full well the difficulty of spreading and supporting the best of charitable or religious or civic groups without some sort of central organization. Yet we must hedge them around with mechanisms that limit them...build limits into their procedures and bylaws. It sounds crass and unspiritual, but history shows the wisdom of doing so.

"Beauty, truth, love, morality, ethics, and every other aspect of our inner life cannot be verified by science, either."

Did you just say that truth cannot be verified by science? What do you want to verify truth with then?

"It doesn't make beauty, truth, morality, and the rest false"

It doesn't make truth false? I would hope that nothing can make truth false...

Mr. Chopra,

An excellent article. You wrote, "It may be past time to radically reform organized religion or even dispense with it altogether (as I tend to believe). But the reason won't be to cleanse the world of delusion. The reason will be that a better, more fulfilled spirituality wants to be born."

You are a student of Vedanta and many of your ideas come from Vedanta. Vedanta is the philosophy that defines the complex and purposefully disorganized "religion" called Hinduism. The philosophy of Nonduality or Unity that comes from Vedanta provide the basis for a more fulfilling spirituality. No need to reinvent the wheel.

"There has been no historic organized religion that has escaped the curse of power."
Posted by: edbyronadams | April 1, 2009 12:27 PM

Would you consider it an exception if you found a religion in which none of its clergy are paid or compensated in any way and all members are considered equals, all the way to the president of the faith?

Mark
Always seek the truth.

"There has been no historic organized religion that has escaped the curse of power."

There is no organization, secular or spiritual, that can exist without a hierarchy. That's power and it corrupts. Trying to maintain organization keeping a central message that empowers individuals is a difficult task, one that my own religion/philosophy struggles with today.

"There's not much debate on the spiritual side when either one breaks the law. Pedophile priests in the Catholic Church are prosecuted. . "

Sadly, even now, this is rarely the case. Roughly 2% of all credibly accused predator priests are prosecuted.

Worse, Catholic officials continue to fight hard in legislatures (in New York and elsewhere) against reforming archaic, predator-friendly laws that would enable victims to use the open, time-tested justice system to expose molesters, warn parents and protect kids.

David Clohessy
National Director, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
7234 Arsenal Street
St. Louis MO 63143
314 566 9790
SNAPclohessy@aol.com

"...a better, more fulfilled spirituality wants to be born". Indeed such a birth is always waiting to happen, and if it shows the least signs of success, the seekers of power co-opt it. They organize it. They use it to control the behavior of others, manage communication in its favor, dole out the benefits to those who sign on, and limit the options of "unbelievers". There has been no historic organized religion that has escaped the curse of power. The only way to keep spirituality spiritual is to limits its power to doing good, enhancing life, and using gentle persuasion as its tool. I'm open to a better idea if there is one.