Dawkins again (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, April 26, 2014, 17:21 (3652 days ago) @ George Jelliss

GEORGE: As a counter to these claims to have been driven to religion by Dawkins, 
there are plenty who have gone the other way.-http://www.religionnews.com/2014/04/24/losing-religion-clergy-longer-believe-gather-onl...-The Clergy Project, supported by Dawkins and Dennett is for
people who have lost their faith and found reason.-Thank you for this article, which I found very touching. All credit to Dennett and Dawkins for trying to support these folk. I can't help feeling that, unlike love, it is better never to have had faith than to have lost it. One of my fears when discussing religious matters with religious people (the gentle, moderate kind ... I don't know any fundamentalists) is that if we probe too deep, doubts may begin to stir in them, and I would hate to undermine something that visibly brings them joy and comfort. When people lose their faith, I'm not so sure that they find anything except a gaping hole in their lives. In many cases, that is the pernicious effect of institutionalized religion ... it creates pressures of its own that have nothing to do with belief in God. Some of the people in the article were simply afraid to "come out" because of the possible reactions of those around them.-I find it sad that so many people cannot love life for its own sake. On the other hand, for those who are suffering, I can see that belief in some benign power will bring reassurance. I have my personal doubts as to whether there is any substance behind the reassurance, but I certainly wouldn't celebrate anyone's loss of it, provided their faith had not impinged on other people's enjoyment of life.