Martyn Stanley's Blog - Posts Tagged "anti-theism"
Brael Truthseeker is the Richard Dawkins of Fantasy Fiction.
'Brael Truthseeker is the Richard Dawkins of Fantasy Fiction.'
This thought occurred to me yesterday. Richard Dawkins is very much a Brael Truthseeker of House Krazic. An odd thought you might think, and it wasn't intentional - but I think there are real parallels between the author and biologist and the fictional character.
Let me explain; I was introduced to Richard Dawkins through his book The God Delusion. I bought in at Manchester or Birmingham air port on a whim, whilst waiting in the departure lounge. I read it and really enjoyed it, I'd been questioning my vague beliefs and leaning towards atheism for a while. Reading the book felt like a pat on the back with a reassuring 'You're right' whispered in the ear by professor Dawkins. Well, maybe a shout in the ear - the book has some definite hatred and criticism of religions. It's filled with angst and vitriol for theism in general. The tone of the book really left me thinking, 'Wow! Dawkins really hates religion! I wonder where all that angst came from!?'
I think was an atheist before I read The God Delusion but it confirmed me I think. Science of the Discworld and other science books helped of course - the difference with The God Delusion was that it said, 'It's okay to be an atheist.' and it said, 'Don't give special privileges to religious beliefs. If they are ridiculous, treat them so - even if they are labeled 'religious'.
Having gained an interest in science and having confirmed my atheism. I decided to look into Dawkins earlier work. I was actually bought as a gift 'The Selfish Gene' one Christmas and read it cover to cover in a very short time. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but it was not what I was expecting.
In The Selfish Gene there was literally no mention of atheism or anti-theism at all. Certainly not with any intent. It was more a succinct and carefully crafted argument that evolution and natural selection were being examined from the wrong perspective, and that we should treat genes as the entities vying for survival using creatures, or organism's as survival machines. I can see why it raised eyebrows upon it's release. I think it was a new way of thinking. Dawkin's examples of evolutionary stable states within a population were fascinating and they made a compelling argument for how morality could come about in the absence of religion. The examples of altruistic behavior in non-human species reinforced this.
The actual part of the book which I think caused offense was probably the section on the 'god meme'. It's a tiny part of the book, but one which theists might find offensive. I don't recall any intense hatred of religion written in it, but more a matter-of-fact discussion on how the 'god meme' evolved and propagated.
I actually think if theists has ignored The Selfish Gene and just not mentioned it, Dawkin's wouldn't have become the figurehead for atheism which he became. When you read The God Delusion it's filled by a large chunk with rebuttals for theists attacks on his earlier work. If they'd ignored The Selfish Gene then he wouldn't have had the ammunition to write The God Delusion! I don't know about The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design I haven't read it yet - it's on my to read list, but I suspect it only exists because theists threw their arms up at The Selfish Gene
I love that we can make fun of religion. It feels liberating to think that religious beliefs can be ridiculed. This is my favorite song mocking religion:-
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendly...
So Dawkins, was an accidental anti-theist in my view. I may be wrong, but I don't see a lot of anti-religion vitriol in The Selfish Gene.
The same is true of Brael Truthseeker. In The Last Dragon Slayer he's been left cursed unable to talk about 'The Truth'. He's really portrayed as a character who society turned on because he discovered something society didn't like.
In The Verkreath Horror his curse is partially removed, allowing him to explain why he was cursed. In the story, Brael was able to do something which in reality we can't really do - disprove the existence of god. In a world where people took the existence of a god and an afterlife for granted, this has massive ramifications and none of the characters truly want to accept it. Their attitudes to death, morality and sense of purpose change through this revelation. It's a dangerous truth.
In The Blood Queen Brael makes his way to civilization. The church obviously knows about his 'Truth' and the effects it had on gravian society - hence the desire to shut him up. They stand to lose a lot, if Brael can disprove the existence of god - their livelihood, their status, and more. There is a real fear, rallying soldiers to battle is easy when telling them a glorious death in battle guarantees them a place in paradise.
The effects of 'The Truth' are potentially huge. What would happen in our world - if we could prove without a shadow of any doubt, that there was no god, no allah, no vishnu, no zeus, no odin...
I think the world would go through a difficult time. In the 1980's you might have thought the influence of religion was diminishing, but as in Torea, when religion and faith is under attack - it fights back, so does religion in out world. As science answers more and more questions, leaving less room for god - religion fights back.
I think it's fighting for it's very existence at the moment, the scary thing is, it appears to be winning. Western, rational muslims being radicalized and heading to join Isis in creating an Islamic State or Caliphate - how can this happen? Living in a society with checks and balances, justice and equality, with a welfare state and a policy of tolerance and inclusion - to live in a state where medieval rules apply and people are governed by barbarism and violence? How can people want this? It makes no sense to me, I don't see any mention of Isis supporters of the female gender. That isn't surprising, it would be more surprising if you did - it would infer women would want to exist as second class citizens, volunteer to undergo FGM and accept living their lives under a shroud.
Religion is fighting back and fighting back hard. I fear for the world, that's partly why I wrote 'The Deathsworn Arc' it's a way of expressing my fear and appealing for a more secular, rational and reasonable world, where people are able to live their lives, free from the shackles of religious oppression.
We should be thankful to the Brael Truthseekers and Richard Dawkins of this world, people are willing to fight for a better, secular world - based on reason and logic, rather than fear and superstition.
This thought occurred to me yesterday. Richard Dawkins is very much a Brael Truthseeker of House Krazic. An odd thought you might think, and it wasn't intentional - but I think there are real parallels between the author and biologist and the fictional character.
Let me explain; I was introduced to Richard Dawkins through his book The God Delusion. I bought in at Manchester or Birmingham air port on a whim, whilst waiting in the departure lounge. I read it and really enjoyed it, I'd been questioning my vague beliefs and leaning towards atheism for a while. Reading the book felt like a pat on the back with a reassuring 'You're right' whispered in the ear by professor Dawkins. Well, maybe a shout in the ear - the book has some definite hatred and criticism of religions. It's filled with angst and vitriol for theism in general. The tone of the book really left me thinking, 'Wow! Dawkins really hates religion! I wonder where all that angst came from!?'
I think was an atheist before I read The God Delusion but it confirmed me I think. Science of the Discworld and other science books helped of course - the difference with The God Delusion was that it said, 'It's okay to be an atheist.' and it said, 'Don't give special privileges to religious beliefs. If they are ridiculous, treat them so - even if they are labeled 'religious'.
Having gained an interest in science and having confirmed my atheism. I decided to look into Dawkins earlier work. I was actually bought as a gift 'The Selfish Gene' one Christmas and read it cover to cover in a very short time. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but it was not what I was expecting.
In The Selfish Gene there was literally no mention of atheism or anti-theism at all. Certainly not with any intent. It was more a succinct and carefully crafted argument that evolution and natural selection were being examined from the wrong perspective, and that we should treat genes as the entities vying for survival using creatures, or organism's as survival machines. I can see why it raised eyebrows upon it's release. I think it was a new way of thinking. Dawkin's examples of evolutionary stable states within a population were fascinating and they made a compelling argument for how morality could come about in the absence of religion. The examples of altruistic behavior in non-human species reinforced this.
The actual part of the book which I think caused offense was probably the section on the 'god meme'. It's a tiny part of the book, but one which theists might find offensive. I don't recall any intense hatred of religion written in it, but more a matter-of-fact discussion on how the 'god meme' evolved and propagated.
I actually think if theists has ignored The Selfish Gene and just not mentioned it, Dawkin's wouldn't have become the figurehead for atheism which he became. When you read The God Delusion it's filled by a large chunk with rebuttals for theists attacks on his earlier work. If they'd ignored The Selfish Gene then he wouldn't have had the ammunition to write The God Delusion! I don't know about The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design I haven't read it yet - it's on my to read list, but I suspect it only exists because theists threw their arms up at The Selfish Gene
I love that we can make fun of religion. It feels liberating to think that religious beliefs can be ridiculed. This is my favorite song mocking religion:-
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendly...
So Dawkins, was an accidental anti-theist in my view. I may be wrong, but I don't see a lot of anti-religion vitriol in The Selfish Gene.
The same is true of Brael Truthseeker. In The Last Dragon Slayer he's been left cursed unable to talk about 'The Truth'. He's really portrayed as a character who society turned on because he discovered something society didn't like.
In The Verkreath Horror his curse is partially removed, allowing him to explain why he was cursed. In the story, Brael was able to do something which in reality we can't really do - disprove the existence of god. In a world where people took the existence of a god and an afterlife for granted, this has massive ramifications and none of the characters truly want to accept it. Their attitudes to death, morality and sense of purpose change through this revelation. It's a dangerous truth.
In The Blood Queen Brael makes his way to civilization. The church obviously knows about his 'Truth' and the effects it had on gravian society - hence the desire to shut him up. They stand to lose a lot, if Brael can disprove the existence of god - their livelihood, their status, and more. There is a real fear, rallying soldiers to battle is easy when telling them a glorious death in battle guarantees them a place in paradise.
The effects of 'The Truth' are potentially huge. What would happen in our world - if we could prove without a shadow of any doubt, that there was no god, no allah, no vishnu, no zeus, no odin...
I think the world would go through a difficult time. In the 1980's you might have thought the influence of religion was diminishing, but as in Torea, when religion and faith is under attack - it fights back, so does religion in out world. As science answers more and more questions, leaving less room for god - religion fights back.
I think it's fighting for it's very existence at the moment, the scary thing is, it appears to be winning. Western, rational muslims being radicalized and heading to join Isis in creating an Islamic State or Caliphate - how can this happen? Living in a society with checks and balances, justice and equality, with a welfare state and a policy of tolerance and inclusion - to live in a state where medieval rules apply and people are governed by barbarism and violence? How can people want this? It makes no sense to me, I don't see any mention of Isis supporters of the female gender. That isn't surprising, it would be more surprising if you did - it would infer women would want to exist as second class citizens, volunteer to undergo FGM and accept living their lives under a shroud.
Religion is fighting back and fighting back hard. I fear for the world, that's partly why I wrote 'The Deathsworn Arc' it's a way of expressing my fear and appealing for a more secular, rational and reasonable world, where people are able to live their lives, free from the shackles of religious oppression.
We should be thankful to the Brael Truthseekers and Richard Dawkins of this world, people are willing to fight for a better, secular world - based on reason and logic, rather than fear and superstition.
