Dennett on the longing for religion

Dan Dennett talks about why many have such a longing for religion.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Daniel
• Dennett
• religion
• atheism
• atheist
• god
• longing
• comfort

[uncljoedoc]

I agree that is your opinion. But it is absurd to think that people who yearn for God are yearning for an imaginary God. When proponents of atheism call into play science they give a false authority to their opinion. Science does not consider problems such as this.

[silverstream314]

@uncljoedoc Why is that absurd? You can't just make a statement and expect me to accept it right off the bat like that. I find it reasonable in light of the multitude of gods that have existed historically.

Regarding science, it does not show that god is imaginary, it shows that we don't need god, we can understand this phenomenon, what ever it might be, without such an assumption.

[uncljoedoc]

we long for the real God not just an imaginary God, he's explaining how one might long for an imaginary God. He is giving a truncated, unthinking view of the God one longs for.

[silverstream314]

@uncljoedoc Who thinks that they long in an imaginary god? In my opinion, all gods are imaginary, but obviously the people believing in that god claims he/she is 'the real one'... The longing is explained through psychology, and the gods that people worship/worshiped is a product of that longing.

[universemaster]

You are correct with regard to the second statement about whether we should act as if a lie is true. In "Breaking the Spell" Dennett asks whether it might be better to believe in a lie, and that research is needed.

In my opinion, I think it is always better to face the Truth. Life is wonderful enough without the need for a supernatural comforter.

[silverstream314]

Yes, I am of the opinion as you on that point. I know Dennett says that we do not know whether some people need religion because if we remove it something more harful might take its place. He discusses this in the video "Dennett on the search for someone rather than something" that I've posted.

[RhapsodyOfHammerfall]

Bunch of assholes rating this video 1 star.

5/5 man. Peace.

Daniel Dennett we love you.

[TheSamuraiGoomba]

@uncljoedoc Where did you get the idea the real god is a monotheism? Or a trinity? What religion was your father? Your mother? Your community? When did you first hear about the "real" God? How much of your belief relies on circumstance of birth?

Now read about Japanese, or Hindu religions. Read about Chinese religion. How can you understand the ocean of religion, if you look at your tide pools of Christianity and say that's the unwavering truth, and the rest of the ocean is wrong?

[cdw924]

*predator, not prey.

[cdw924]

I'm not sure that we are the only species who "know" we are going to die. Animals who try to avoid death intrepidly from the teeth of prey or the harshness of weather must have some sense of annihilation. If you want to argue that its a simple biological impulse for survival, that's fine, but that doesnt omit the possibilty that they know (in at least some sense) of their impending death

[StrummingSparrow]

fsirplay to dennett for trying but i think his response was just the beginning. he wasn't asked about death but it's not hard to see how that can come into this. i wish he dealt with what was more head on in the question. music is the healthiest form of religion as well. a lot of religious need can be fulfilled by music.

[uncljoedoc]

@silverstream314 Now although I am a higher being than a stone I notice that I admire the stone-for it is quartz (which I for some reason do admire). I admire the stone. I revere my father. Admiration--->reverence--->_?_­. Am I prepared to say there is no higher being and no higher form of reverence. Am I prepared to say there is no worship? I can't say not. Would I be a just man if I did not admire the stone, revere my father and worship God? -an example of a not unthinking religious thought.

[uncljoedoc]

@silverstream314 I assert that I need God. If it is said that 'we do not need God' that is hasty generalization. I look upon a stone unthinking and say I am a higher being. How do I know this? I know by father is a better man than I but if I revere him I can catch up. But a stone can't catch up with him. So I am a higher being than a stone in that sense. I simply wonder if there could be a higher being than all of us. I can't say not.

[uncljoedoc]

In other words if you dumb down religion you will have no trouble striking it down. OK I'll shuddup.

[uncljoedoc]

Peter Pan is imaginary and has no place in a responsible discussion of the existence of the possibility of the real God. In my humble opinion, a man grows up when he understands how Faith and Reason complement one another. But this takes work and cannot be done if one has no faith. You look on the surface of the ocean and think you understand the ocean. That's the level of the discussion which the atheist permits himself of religion.

[uncljoedoc]

This kind of discussion goes on and on. I mean in a friendly way. Man, some, discovers within himself a yearning for God. If someone says God is imaginary, then I answer that I yearn for an non-imaginary God.

Moyers has a good point. He says that if someone absconds from the belief in even the possibility of God he absconds from the dialog with those who believe because it is the possibility that enables the discussion. So he asks how the atheist admitted to the Church can engage in the dialog