Atheism
"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty." Albert Einstein
" I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of religion. "
Albert Einstein
The existence of God is unknowable. It is beyond human understanding and likely will always be such. If we assume an anthropomorphic God as most world religions do, even with this assumption, then the God must not be knowable. In fact God’s unknowableness is an axiom of his existence. If he became knowable then whatever purpose he had for being unknowable would cease to exist. We would not need religion once the truth were unveiled.
Even if you do not buy my premise even true believers of religion take their religion on faith knowing that the signs they rely on for their belief are in some manner spiritual and cultural in nature. As Kierkegaard indicated "contingent truths of history can never become the demonstrations of necessary truths".
Philosophers and others throughout history who have had a desire to peel the onion beyond the dogma of organized religion or society often begin to see a pattern in religions desire to present a path to knowledge that is beyond their capacity. The lack of external truths causes the deep thinker to internalize and try to reason for him or herself the value of human existence without the need for a narrative of organized religion. Once a person reaches this point they will often question the very existence of an all knowing present deity. Einstein was a believer and non-believer at the same time as he indicates in the quote above.
Jewish people come to this place due to their unique history. The very nature of Judaism promotes critical thinking and internal reflection. So it has a built in bias towards doubt. In addition, if you take the Old Testament at face value, God has not spoken directly to the Jews for several thousand years. I believe the last time he spoke in the first person was to Job and that was a particularly cruel exercise in testing Job’s belief in God. The Old Testament was filled with stories of an immature God teaching an immature man the importance of their relationship with God and his willingness to take care of his “chosen” people. Jews had to by the very nature of the religion develop a faith in God and at the same time develop a set of morals and values that would guide their ethics on earth. The Talmud and Jewish philosophy is a study of understanding God’s lessons and creating a moral and ethical code that would guide them with the understanding that the payoff is in the journey of this ethical existence and not any reward in the afterlife. Jews believe generally in heaven and an afterlife but it is not relevant to a Jews existence and purpose.
So Jews are encouraged to question authority, they by their nature believe that morality is how they live their daily lives and that God has not been present for a long time. All of these factors bring many Jews to the precipice of atheism. Einstein said “The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.” We believe that God may exist and he may not exist. Even still we can act morally by reasoning what a God would want to see in an intelligent moral being. Many religious skeptics believe it is harder to be moral when you are not expecting a reward but in many respects it is easier to discern the truth for the same reason. True morality is more pure when it is not tainted by the benefits that may accrue in the afterlife. So atheism is a constant theme that hangs over the heads of the people who choose to question the dogma of organized religion. I like to say I am an atheist, an agnostic and a deist depending on my current thoughts and in many ways if there is a God this may be just the way he intended it.
" I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of religion. "
Albert Einstein
The existence of God is unknowable. It is beyond human understanding and likely will always be such. If we assume an anthropomorphic God as most world religions do, even with this assumption, then the God must not be knowable. In fact God’s unknowableness is an axiom of his existence. If he became knowable then whatever purpose he had for being unknowable would cease to exist. We would not need religion once the truth were unveiled.
Even if you do not buy my premise even true believers of religion take their religion on faith knowing that the signs they rely on for their belief are in some manner spiritual and cultural in nature. As Kierkegaard indicated "contingent truths of history can never become the demonstrations of necessary truths".
Philosophers and others throughout history who have had a desire to peel the onion beyond the dogma of organized religion or society often begin to see a pattern in religions desire to present a path to knowledge that is beyond their capacity. The lack of external truths causes the deep thinker to internalize and try to reason for him or herself the value of human existence without the need for a narrative of organized religion. Once a person reaches this point they will often question the very existence of an all knowing present deity. Einstein was a believer and non-believer at the same time as he indicates in the quote above.
Jewish people come to this place due to their unique history. The very nature of Judaism promotes critical thinking and internal reflection. So it has a built in bias towards doubt. In addition, if you take the Old Testament at face value, God has not spoken directly to the Jews for several thousand years. I believe the last time he spoke in the first person was to Job and that was a particularly cruel exercise in testing Job’s belief in God. The Old Testament was filled with stories of an immature God teaching an immature man the importance of their relationship with God and his willingness to take care of his “chosen” people. Jews had to by the very nature of the religion develop a faith in God and at the same time develop a set of morals and values that would guide their ethics on earth. The Talmud and Jewish philosophy is a study of understanding God’s lessons and creating a moral and ethical code that would guide them with the understanding that the payoff is in the journey of this ethical existence and not any reward in the afterlife. Jews believe generally in heaven and an afterlife but it is not relevant to a Jews existence and purpose.
So Jews are encouraged to question authority, they by their nature believe that morality is how they live their daily lives and that God has not been present for a long time. All of these factors bring many Jews to the precipice of atheism. Einstein said “The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.” We believe that God may exist and he may not exist. Even still we can act morally by reasoning what a God would want to see in an intelligent moral being. Many religious skeptics believe it is harder to be moral when you are not expecting a reward but in many respects it is easier to discern the truth for the same reason. True morality is more pure when it is not tainted by the benefits that may accrue in the afterlife. So atheism is a constant theme that hangs over the heads of the people who choose to question the dogma of organized religion. I like to say I am an atheist, an agnostic and a deist depending on my current thoughts and in many ways if there is a God this may be just the way he intended it.
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