Posted: Feb 26, 2010 5:39 pm
Shaker wrote:He's using religion as a crutch, no differently than the others, only he's quieter about it.
I disagree - in fact, I think the exact opposite: by being so open and honest and up-front about his reason for belief (that it's comforting, regardless of the fact that not only is there no evidence for it, if anything all the evidence is against it), he's being very much the opposite of quiet. I think Gardner's attitude is quite widely shared; I suspect, but can't prove, that a great many people adhere to theistic belief for precisely this reason, but very few people will be so honest as to say that their only motivation for believing in God is that it's emotionally comforting even though all the logical and rational arguments are against it. He deserves credit for his candour, at least.
By quiet I mean on the other end of the scale from the fundies. I don't believe he differs in any way to all the people with their 'I don't believe in god I believe in "something"', if I had a pound for the wishy washies that have said that to me. It doesn't take much to work out that they need this 'something' for comfort, whether its for the afterlife side of things or something to pray to when your chips are down (even to help you win that game or some other banal purpose)