[Turing 2012] Atheist Answer #6

This is the sixth entry in the Atheism round of the 2012 Ideological Turing Test for Religion. In this round, the honest answers of atheists are mixed in with Christians’ best efforts to talk like atheists. It’s your job to see if you can spot the difference. The voting link appears at the end of the entry, and you can look at all entries in this round here.

When (if ever) have you deferred to your philosophical or theological system over your intuitions?

When my wife and I were planning our wedding, I wanted a completely secular service with no references to God and did not want a church wedding. She had always dreamed of a princess wedding in her home church, and though she was willing to have a secular service if she could have the service in the church, the minister would not agree to that. To allow her to have the wedding of her dreams, I suffered through a very religious service.

Are there people whose opinions on morality you trust more than your own? How do you recognize them? How is trusting them different than trusting someone’s opinion on physics?

I have become a disciple of Sam Harris since he came out with The End of Faith. I find his argument in The Moral Landscape, that science can tell us how to live our lives in such a way that we can maximize human well-being, compelling. If I have a quandary, I consult his works first.

Can you name any works of art (interpreted pretty broadly: books, music, plays, poetry, mathematical proofs, etc) which really capture the way you see life/fill you with a sense of awe and wonder? You can give a short explanation or just list a few pieces.

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is the epitome of art for me; what else in all of art/literature has shown the pointlessness of believing in God?

Click here to judge this entry, and, once you’ve voted, feel free to speculate and trade theories in the comments or look at other entries in this round.