20 April 2009

On Theism and Atheism

The theism vs. atheism debate continues to be a popular one on many internet fora that I visit. Still, I have encountered very few people who really understand the issue well enough to make a coherent argument for either side. Here is analysis of the debate itself:

The Western world today is as theologically illiterate today as it was mathematically illiterate two thousand years ago. On one side, you have people reading books of religious instruction like they're history texts. To use the mathematical analogy, this is like adding 2 + 2 and getting 22. They've got a vague idea that something called "addition" is going on, but they really don't understand the nature or intent operation they're attempting. On the other side, you've got people who say, "I know how much two is, and I know how much twenty-two is. It makes no sense that 2 + 2 could equal 22; therefore, the entire idea of arithmetic should be abandoned."
Meanwhile, neither side has even a clue that something like algebra could be possible, never mind geometry or calculus.