On the matters of faiths, beliefs, sciences and worldviews.

I learned something new today. Apparently, because I have a hard time accepting proposition without evidence as truth, I am to be considered “mentally ill”. That’s right, according to user bwinwright on AllVoices.com, all those attention seeking atheists out there are clinically insane, and deliberately trolling and taunting them is, I quote:

[...] like throwing holy water on Satan. It’s fun!

Apparently, this isn’t even really about God per se, but rather the fact that “intelligent direction” is absolutely evident and mandatory at all times, in all cases. The atheists refusal to agree with this is, naturally, enough to declare us “mentally ill”.

Now, admittedly I’m not a psychiatrist, but then again I’m pretty sure bwinwright isn’t one either, so we’re pretty much on equal grounds here. I think he has just as much credential to diagnose anyone as I do, that is none whatsoever. Remembering this, it’s very hard to take him seriously.

Further, according to him, “the one thing I do know is that ORDER REQUIRES INTELLIGENT DIRECTION. It is really nothing more than common sense” (his emphasis). So then I suppose it is totally acceptable to scrap all the scheduled space flights, cancel all the regular flights and put all the boats on dry land. You know, because common sense dictates that only birds can fly, nothing can live in space and heavy boats made out of metal should sink like stones. This is the kind of common sense that he wants us to live by. Unquestioning, wilfully ignorant common sense.

Unlike bwinwright, I like to question things, even that which is considered common sense. If people hadn’t questioned that, we wouldn’t have planes, boats and space rockets today. We would be stuck in our caves or mud huts, amazed at the gathering storm but utterly convinced by common sense that nothing could make fire except lightning striking the earth. In reality, even bwinwright questions a lot of things that are common sense. Just not the one thing that we have tons and tons of evidence against. He’s convinced that this one thing, this intelligent director, simply has to exist no matter what. It won’t matter to him how much evidence we give for purely natural phenomena, it won’t matter how many things we are able to explain in detail. He is utterly attached to, and dependent on, the idea of a “higher power” in the form of a theistic deity that directs and produces everything in existence. Despite all common sense, he believes this being actually exists.

I’m left to wonder which one of us fits the description of “mentally ill” best. Certainly, believing that something exists that you’ve never seen, heard, touched or smelled, that no instrument could ever measure or probe, that no other natural element is ever effected by and that is not even strictly necessary to explain anything anymore could be considered delusional, something which is very much a sign of actual mental illness. But then again, I’m not a psychiatrist, so that diagnosis isn’t mine to make.