[Turing 2012] Atheist Answer #13

Last updated on: January 10, 2013 at 3:49 pm by Leah Libresco

[Turing 2012] Atheist Answer #13 2013-01-10T15:49:34-05:00 Leah Libresco

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is the thirteenth and final entry in the Atheism round of the 2012 Ideological Turing Test for Religion. In this round, the honest answers of atheists are mixed in with Christians’ best efforts to talk like atheists. It’s your job to see if you can spot the difference. The voting link appears at the end of the entry, and you can look at all entries in this round here.

When (if ever) have you deferred to your philosophical or theological system over your intuitions?

Unlike some other atheists I have spoken to, my intuitions did not initially run toward disbelief, and I spent a number of years as a believer. It was by evaluating my theological beliefs through the lens of rational skepticism over a period of time that my faith began to erode. Eventually I had to admit to myself that my intuition toward belief in supernatural was incorrect. Being habitual about skeptical thinking has effectively altered my natural intuition since then, however, I still struggle at times when I catch myself accepting things without critically thinking about them, mostly because I’m too lazy to follow through or because I find the initial evaluation agreeable to my outlook. It’s incredibly easy to skim through a twitter feed and read an article headline that fits my expectations—that a homeopathic remedy doesn’t work, a GOP pundit is accused of something awful, that George Lucas is trying to ruin Star Wars even worse—and retweet it without reading the full article let alone checking it for accuracy. When I’m aware of this tendency, I try to keep myself more consistent with the skepticism I value, even if it flies in the face of my natural intuition.

Are there people whose opinions on morality you trust more than your own? How do you recognize them? How is trusting them different than trusting someone’s opinion on physics?

I trust no one’s sense of morality more than my own. I do not believe anyone is above moral questioning. However, there are people I admire whose opinions and moral outlook I use as a benchmark for my own. Some of these I grew up with—parents, siblings, cousins—and others are those I’ve befriended over time. I recognize these people by noting shared values, such as kindness, cooperation, and generosity, and by how consistently they exemplify these values to those around them. If someone behaves morally only in a certain context or toward certain types of individuals, they are not truly moral. If one of these morally admired persons were to question the morality of my actions or express a view I question, I would most likely review my own position for consistency, shifting it or reaffirming it as appropriate. Unlike various academic disciplines, such as the humanities or natural sciences, where I can accept an expert’s opinion and trust that the academic body of their specialty has at least somewhat guaranteed that they know what they’re talking about, I don’t believe that someone can be an ‘expert’ on morality, which is why I rank my own moral evaluations as paramount.

Can you name any works of art (interpreted pretty broadly: books, music, plays, poetry, mathematical proofs, etc) which really capture the way you see life/fill you with a sense of awe and wonder? You can give a short explanation or just list a few pieces.

There are many pieces of art and literature from which I’ve found meaning and a sense of awe. Philosophical and moral perspectives are, in my opinion, best presented through the lens of fiction and artistic expression. Art and literature can resonate with a person in a meaningful way by inspiring an emotion (even a negative one), by introducing an unfamiliar concept or view, or by ‘capturing’ or expressing something the viewer could not have themselves articulated. The overall quality and general regard of a piece of art need not determine its value for this either. A person can find meaning in an issue of Spider-man as easily as in Hamlet. I would not exclude religiously inspired works from this, nor religious texts themselves. I’ve spent summers delving into Dante’s Divine Comedy; I’ve stood in awe of Dali’s Christian-themed ‘Galacidalacidesoxyribonucleicacid’; there are verses of the bible I’ve found meaningful, and I need not have faith now to appreciate them still. Art is incredibly valuable because provides people with a common touchstone. By sharing the author’s vision, all viewers can, in discussion of a piece of art, be brought closer together to each other.

Click here to judge this entry, and, once you’ve voted, feel free to speculate and trade theories in the comments or look at other entries in this round.

Ideological Turing Test

Atheist Turing answers 2012

Turing answers 2012

Previous Post

May 29, 2012

[Turing 2012] Atheist Answer #11

Next Post

May 31, 2012 All the Atheist Round Posts are Up!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What British monarch is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The King/Queen of England Pope Prime Minister Archbishop of Canterbury