[ExI] Fw: Re: atheists declare religions as scams.

[Sondre Bjellås]

All I can say is that it sounds interesting :-)

Would it really make any difference if you end with the truth or end with a
question? Your goal would be to get people to think, to ignite a spark which
helps them come to their own conscious and rational conclusions about the
truth. If they are unable to do so, it doesn't matter how the story ends.
See me point?

Good luck,
Sondre

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 3:17 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

> >>> "spike" <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> >
> >>> ...  I know an inspiring story based on something that
> >>> actually happened, which I could fictionalize to protect the
> >>> identities, and it involves one who came thru a very trying time by
> >>> faith in god.  It really is a good story.  But you know and I know I
> >>> am a flaming atheist now...  Is it ethical for me to write it? spike
> >
> >> Of course you wouldn't be lying, not if you know it's a true story.
> >> As for whether you *should* write it, that's another thing.  There are
> pros and cons.  One of the cons is providing fuel for the god-squad. Ben
>
> >Why would it be unethical to admit the truth that belief in god, or at
> least some applications thereof, can make it easier to get through at least
> some types of very challenging times.  That is pretty well known.  Doesn't
> mean god is real or that religion is a more good thing than not or anything
> like that.  So how would relating such a story in any wise be wrong or a
> form of lying?  - samantha
>
> This whole question is filled with maddening paradox.
>
> >It's clearly unethical to write something you know are untrue, or tell
> someone a lie, just to give them comfort...
>
> But of course this is fiction story, a novel.
>
> >So you should consider the ramifications of your story, will it be a story
> that makes people understand the world, reality and society better?
>
> Depends on how I write it.  But is the end goal to make people understand
> better?  Need there be an end goal?
>
> > - or is it just a story that will further fuel an addiction to whatever
> fantasy a person have created in their minds? - Sondre
>
> Depends on how I write it.
>
> I can sharpen the question, but first I must define how I am using the term
> fundamentalist believer.  A fundamentalist is one who treats religious
> theory as equivalent to any other scientific theory.  This works for
> fundamentalists of any religion.  The scientist will say every hafnium atom
> has exactly 72 protons, not 71, not 73, exactly 72.  If the scientist ever
> discovered a form of hafnium with 71 or 73 protons, the entire theory is in
> deep trouble.  Likewise every form of fundamentalist religion is adjacent
> to
> atheism.  For the fundamentalist, religion is not just a folklore than
> forms
> the basis for society, or a framework on which to build ethics, rather it
> is
> equivalent to any scientific theory.  If any tenet of that religion makes
> incorrect predictions, the theory is wrong, so out it goes.  Fundamentalist
> believers and atheists have way more in common than either likes to admit.
>
> I have a secondary character who struggles for years to unify
> fundamentalist
> religion and science, specifically evolution.  The poor chap is buried in
> evidence for evolution, he's just swamped by it.  I have the choice of
> ending the story while having him still searching searching searching, a
> self-admitted lost soul, tortured by cognitive dissonance.  Or I could have
> him eventually admit these two theories will never play well together, they
> are mutually exclusive, cannot be unified.  He is forced against his will
> to
> reject his own favorite notion, and embrace that which he dreads, but can
> see is true.  The latter is what actually happened to the character upon
> which the fictional one is based.
>
> The religion crowd would hate the story if I told the last part of it.  But
> it is primarily for that crowd that the story would be written in the first
> place.  I don't see how it would be right to disappoint them if they invest
> the time in reading the story.  On the other hand, omitting the rest of the
> story feels dishonest to me.
>
> I could write it the story in two parts, with the rest of the story as a
> sequel.
>
> spike
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Sondre Bjellås
http://www.sondreb.com/
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