Monday, January 14, 2013

Post 2 - God is dead


Nietzsche argued that religion as we know it is dying, and after reading the text I would agree with him. It isn’t that religion is completely dead and going to vanish but the idea of the Judeo-Christian God, who has taken such a prominent role in western history is disappearing. One only has to look at countries like Sweden or Norway, countries that were once faithful nations but have become increasingly more secular over the past year with much of their populations defining themselves as atheists. The text explains Nietzsche’s proclamation that God is dead as a declaration that we are no longer children in the thrall of an anthropomorphic, magical god in the guise of our father. Our society is increasingly becoming more rational and scientific, to some fundamentalists dismay, and with the knowledge and reason provided by scientific explanations humans can begin to understand our environment, ourselves and our spirituality in a much different way than our ancestors did by using religion to understand their world.

Despite Nietzsche’s declaration that God is dead, I do not believe it is the end of religion. Religion is a powerful institution that is more than just the spiritual beliefs. Religion provides a science of belonging, community and it fulfills the strong human need for the numinous. I agree with the text that says despite our old God being dead, new ones will rise up in its place. It seems that throughout history religions have risen and fallen to meet the needs of humans and I do not see it as a process that will suddenly cease. Already, as people slowly move away from the idea of the Abrahamic god, there are new religions and spiritual movements hoping to compete for unaffiliated adherents to add to the ranks. Religion isn’t on its way out, it is simply evolving to our current cultural ideas and values. With this evolution, current established religions must either evolve or become archaic relics of our past.

Some of the worlds established religions may owe some of their previous and continued success to memes. Memes are information that is replicated and the most successful memes are the ones that be replicated the most. The idea of a virgin birth is meme that has existed long before Christianity. In my previous Intro to Philosophy class, I learned of Pythagoras, a mathematician during the ancient Greek times who ascended into a type of deification. He was purported to have been born from a virgin who had been visited by a God. Another religious meme has been the idea of a heavenly father who watches over us. This meme is seen in Greek, Norse and other myths as well as some of the established religions.

What determines the success of the memes to replicate themselves, especially when it comes to religious memes? According to the text there are there factors that determine the success of a meme which include a value related incentive, memetic simplicity and meme distribution. Some of our most successful established religions have all three of these traits, such as Christianity. Even rising new religions also use memes to perpetuate their success and swell the ranks, like Mormonism. The LDS Church uses the common value related incentives of heaven and hell to help suggest conversion, with my familiarity with the church they also use the value related incentive of eternal togetherness with family, and the church uses a simple memeplex of ideas called “The Articles of Faith” that clearly state their core beliefs to people that are new to the religion. In addition to the incentives and simple message, the LDS church relies heavily on the distribution of their religion by all followers. Not only do young men and women serve as missionaries for about two years spreading their faith, but everyday members are encouraged to share their faith with nonmembers. The church not only relies on conversion to ensure numerical success but also actively encourages members to have as many children as possible to fulfill their duty. The Church also uses charity to help distribute their message to non-believers, and because of this the church is still rapidly expanding in a time when some religions, such as Catholicism, are losing members. Because of all this, this particular religion is quite successful and the path of success can clearly be seen when using the theory of memes. 

No comments:

Post a Comment