Free Thinking

There is a book I’d like to get entitled “Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism,” by Susan Jacoby. The title is good, she’s a talented writer and was once nominated for the Pulitzer. From an interview, here are Jocoby’s words when asked what is a freethinker.

"Freethinker and freethought are terms that date from the end of the 17th century. Freethinker basically meant someone who did not believe in the received word of the bible or the authority of religion. Freethinkers have often been described as people who didn't believe in God, but it's more accurate to see freethought as a kind of a broad continuum, ranging from those who really didn't believe in God at all to deists who believed in a God who set the universe in motion but afterwards didn't take an active role in the affairs of men."

By the end of the 19th century, freethinkers even included liberal Protestant denominations and Unitarians. Even though they believed in God and in some form of Christianity, they did not believe in any hierarchy of religion. So there was a spectrum of people in the freethought community, but all were opposed to the religious orthodoxies of their day.

Because I am an atheist and language regarding young earth science, creationism and dogmatic Catholicism drives me up a fucking wall, I like to read about things I believe in, which is nothing. Well, I believe in nature and all that surrounds me and the sense data, the sense experiences that I, myself, experience. I believe thought and freedom to think for oneself is vastly more important than any religious dogma. Sure, if in thinking and exploring and in question I come to believe that creationism and young earth science are true and that Darwinian evolution, no matter the immense amount of proof we’ve found to validate it, is false, than so be it. I will still question my assumptions, still try to understand the world, the universe, etc. I would hate to think that a God who created us would create us in such a way that seemed antithetical to free thought.

But if there is a god, then he seems to have given us the choice to believe, to not think, or to think and not believe, or to think and believe, etc. Any combination is possible. I suppose he gave us this “free will” to be who we are. And I ought to embrace those who believe the complete opposite of what I believe. And I do. Well, I try. If I could read somewhere (and I’m sure there are sources) the science behind young earth science and creationism and see that it is empirical, that there is physical evidence for it, then I would be very much happy to embrace it, but also, like nature herself, to scrutinize the data and the results. I mean, to believe in something wholeheartedly that you would die to protect it seems foolish. Of course there are a lot of suicide bombers killing themselves and people simply for this reason. Perhaps the moment just before they press the button they think to themselves just how silly it all is. Perhaps a moment of clarity enters their fogged, brainwashed mind and for an instant they see life and somehow realize the answer to everything. But still, the button gets pressed, for what else is there to do?

Speaking of buttons and bombers, I wonder if there is a mechanism in the bomb that is strapped to the moron carrying it that allows someone to remotely detonate it. The reason I ask is simply because what would happen if the bomber got cold feet? I suppose being in a car some safe distance away keeps you distanced from the reality of the mothers and the children and the men and young women that you’re bomber is about to wipe out in an instant. Being distanced, detached, etc., would make it easier to push the plunger, don’t you think?

I downloaded and was playing the demo of Unreal Tournament 2004. It has a third person view which helps keep me from getting motion sickness. I was doing pretty good after a while. I was playing some AI characters. The action is so fast, though, that at times I didn’t know what was going on. One moment I’m being shot at, and the next one of my AI buddies gets me out of trouble by shooting the AI enemy that had me in its sights. Cool stuff. Of course you sit and play all day because once you make a kill the character killed can resurrect himself. It’s like instant gratification, over and over and over.

Sherri is bringing back subs from Subway. I get my usual BMT and she gets, I think, the cold cut trio, or something like that. Anyway, I’m hungry, but on these fucking meds, I am always hungry.