The Value of Secular Atheism
By Alan D. Griffin
First let me add a disclaimer, I realized that atheism is only defined as a disbelief in a deity. That being said taking and atheistic worldview has certain by-products and what I am putting out as the Value of Secular atheism is what I see as the by-product of that worldview.
The main value of secular atheism is it is optimal for living a truly authentic life. The experiences we have and our perception of those experiences form our individual essence, you could also say our personality is an amalgamation of perceptions of experiences. Since this is the case I want a minimal amount of limitations put on which experiences are off limits to experience. We have secular laws that put limits on behavior and therefore limits on experiencing such behaviors. Some, not all of these laws are a good to protect individuals and allow them to experience life with some modicum of security. Religions of all shapes and sizes add to this list of limits on what one can or should experience. These additional limits affect one's ability to be true to oneself and shortens the list of possible experiences one can have. Religions can also demand or encourage one to incur experiences that one may not want to experience. The more damaging aspect of religion is the way in which it alters your personal perception of a particular experience. Making a wanted experience to have an heir of guilt influencing it therefore taking away the pure essence of the experience. This can also have the opposite effect,
Religions can boost an experience that would be mundane or even unpleasant by added the feeling that the experience is pleasing to god/ gods or the right thing even when deep inside you disagree. This also takes away from the pure essence of a particular experience. Secular atheism also has value when approaching secular social and civil problems.
Secular atheists do not have the dictates of religious doctrine which mostly have rules and social mores that do not translate and I don't believe were meant to translate into our modern world. Modern issues such as same- sex marrage should be determined by what is fair an equal not an ancient book or books that state homosexuality is wrong or immoral based on the social mores at the time it was written. For the secular atheist such things are not a part of the equation. Women still are paid less than men, the cultural reasons for this comes from religious ideas of the man as head of the household and the subservient position a woman should have to her husband or men in general. Although because of secular pressures many religious groups have moved away from this understanding but we must admit this is the underpinnings of the situation. To a secular theist this is a no brainer, of course a man and woman should recieve equal pay for equal work for there is no reason for them not to except for religious based reasons.
I can keep providing examples but I believe my point is clear.
I study religions from a historical approach. What my research has revealed to me is although the concept of Spirts, Gods, Goddesses, etc. Were first developed to try to explain phenomenon and events to cultures without the tools or concepts to investigate causes for these events or phenomenon this quickly evolved into a source of authority.
The development of Government stems from religious claims and doctrine. Beginning first with the villiage elder or Shaman would was given authority because he was thought to be able to speak to spirits.Then, it developed into authority given by claiming that the spirt or god granted an individual with special anointing, this inturn led to the divine rights of Kings. These Religions were developed as an explanation for granting authority to a particular person and to grant them greater status than the average person in hopes of consolidating power. Religion also acts
to provide psychological and visual boundaries for societies by creating rituals and dietary restrictions for in group - out group Identification.
The Enlightenment in the 16th century final broke away from this manipulative and Archaic government system which allowed for the development of democracies by doing away with the thought a individual person is greater than the people they govern and replaced it with the thought governments should be run by the consensus of the people for no one human is greater than any other.
This led to Nietzche's realization in the late 19th century that God is dead. Dead as in no longer the binding force of society or the source of authority. So an atheistic stance realizes people are generally equal and authority is granted by concensus and based on competence not a divine right. The value of Secular aheism in this instance is it reveals a more human and fair form of government.
I will admit that atheistic governments have done atrocious thing. But, the reason is they were still using religion as a template replacing Religion with state government. Replacing God as the ultimate authority with the state as the ultimate authority. These atheistic based governments also created cultural rituals to create an in group out group dynamic. The head of the government is given divine right by the state. So I would argue the problem is not atheism but the Religious template these governments used.
Secular atheism has value because it leave one available to change one's position as new information and ways of thinking are introduced. Most religions give at least some religious doctrines which are concrete and must be maintained even if and especially when evidence and thought conflict with these doctrines. This puts unneeded limits on human development and hinders and perturbs progress. Religions begin indoctrinating the young at very early ages which leads to cognative dissonance. It is hard to do away with an idea or realize it is incorrect when you have believed it to be true for so long.
Although we all are subject to cognitive dissonance adding a religious element seems to solidify it in a that no other basis could come close to. Since secular atheism does not entertain supernatual explainations it follows that evidence and logic which explain events and phenomenon are eagarly accepted even if it is vastly different than a previous conclusion. This stance that evidence and logic dictate and explain the natural world through natural means allows the secular atheist can comfortably accept the fact that no idea is concrete or without being subject to change which inturn eases the amount of cognative dissonance one has to new evidence or logic thoughts and ideas.
Secular atheism has value because it gives one the ability to evaluate the natural world through natural means and acceptance of new information in regards to the natural world in which we live. I believe secular atheism has value to give realistic and universal answers to equal treatment of people, protection of the environment, and a host of other issues that religion answers cannot accomplish because of the incompatibility of religions and differing priorities and outlooks on the natural world.
Religions also put a God/ gods as central and the superior focus of man. Secular atheism puts man and our environment as the central focus of man. Which to me seems more beneficial. Also prayers in religion are seen as just as valuable as actions which is not the case. I will end with this.
I do see and acknowledge the role religion has played in human development and the impact of Christianity on the development of the Western world including many scientific discoveries. I think we need to give credit where credit is due and this should remain a central issue when discussing history. But, I think the religious benefits have run there course and no place for them in our world as we move towards globalization for in the global environment they perturb development and cause additional conflicts we can not afford as we attempt to merge the cultures of the world.