Toaph's Manifesto

Life Philosophy; Views on Politics and Religion

I'm not sure that this is exactly a "manifesto." I don't even really know what a manifesto is. All I really know is that crazy people with a beef against society tend to write them. I've never read one. This essay is basically just a brain dump of a lot of my thoughts and beliefs, organized and categorized around the way I tend to think about things.

I am, by nature, a scientist and a skeptic. I look at the world logically, employing the scientific method to observe facts and draw conclusions. If something isn't supported by the facts, then I'm probably not going to believe it.

Having said that, there is much in this world that is of a philosophical nature. Not everything comes down to bits and bytes. Furthermore, there are things that defy explanation. I am a skeptic, but I'm not close-minded. I want to leave the door open for things that lie somewhere outside of science. This essay delves into some of that.

Religion

Let's take it from the top. The go-to question that people tend to ask is, "Do you believe in God?" My short answer is no. I see no concrete, scientific evidence of the existence of God. Because of this I label myself as an atheist. However if you push me I will admit that I'm closer to an agnostic. There is no way to prove that God doesn't exist. I have no reason to believe that there is a God, but I make room for the possibility that maybe there is something out there.

I certainly don't believe in the "Heavenly Father" image of God. I don't believe that there is a bearded grandfather figure up in the clouds looking over us. I don't believe in an omnipotent, omniscient supreme being that created the universe and determines our destiny. That's just not something that I can buy into on any level.

But for those who do, I have something to say about the question as to why God allows pain and suffering, and refuses to free the world of evil. My answer is that God is not a kind and loving entity. I honestly don't know where people got that. Any being that would wipe out the entire population of earth except for Noah and his family is not a kind and loving being. My explanation is that God is true neutral. God is good and evil both.

There is pain and suffering in this life because it's all part of the human condition. Without it, joy and comfort would have no meaning. If people went through life where pleasure and delight were all they ever knew, then to them it would simply be an ordinary state. Distress and anguish provide a contrast to that. Those who have survived great hardship or terrible loss come to know happiness and contentment on a level they otherwise would not be able to experience. That may be cold comfort to those who have lost loved ones in terrible tragedies, but it's life.

While we're on the topic of the Bible, I have more to say about it. I do not believe that it is the word of God. I believe that it was authored by human beings who put oral traditions into writing. These include a combination of mythologies that were developed organically over generations to explain forces of nature that were beyond their understanding, and tales that had an origin in actual events but were distorted and exaggerated upon successive retellings.

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