Michael Behe\'s son is an atheist (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, August 28, 2011, 15:42 (4836 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: He is going to college to become a philosopher
> 
> http://thehumanist.org/september-october-2011/the-humanist-interview-with-leo-behe/&... 
> I find this article quite moving, as it brings back memories of long ago.-I am moved in the same way
 
> Atheism, I reasoned at my tender age, therefore depends on chance origins and chance variations. It took a lot of swallowing then, and it takes a lot of swallowing now. We are not discovering WHETHER evolution happens, but HOW it happens.-Which is also why I never was atheistic
> 
> Like Leo Behe, I decided to try a different approach in my quest for truth, so I went to see the oh so wise Senior Tutor at my Cambridge college and told him I wanted to read philosophy.-Here we differ. I consulted my Rabbi (while I was in college, with only 3.6% Jews, instead of 30% in New York), to learn more about being Jewish. I developed a strong attachment to my Jewish background, without becoming very religious. 
> Anyone who has experienced the profound mysteries of consciousness, love, creativity, oneness will recognize that there is something that transcends our material selves and our material universe. What that something is we shall probably never know.-Here is where we differ. Those 'profound mysteries' beg for an explanation. Since the universe runs on and by information, there must be a UI to make the perfect laws to allow the universe to allow life, and the amazing codes that run life. Inorganic material contains a small amount of information compared to the voluminous, infinitesimal amount of information in biochemistry. May I be so bold as to suggest that your lack of background in this area of chemistry has caused you to stop on top of the picket fence. -As for your previously expressed upset over the cruelty in the world, this comes from your Jewish background: God or whatever 'something' is behind all this should be 'loving'. We can't know that. It is human wishful thinking. The UI makes information and rules, but morals are our responsibility. Here I am with the Humanists. There is no God of reward and punishment; there is only self-reliant humaness that realizes in a cruel universe and dangerous world we must rely on each other. At some point WE have to be in charge, given the opportunity, the gift of life, to make the most of that life, while we are here.-Another way to view it is the UI is the inventor. We are the product, but we are not Pinocchio. We can understand our need for the 'profound mysteries' and ensure a cooperative humaness. WE must be in charge of ourselves.