Once Again from the Top, But now for the first time.
I was off the other weekend enjoying a polemic between two very differing ideas. It was a discussion that I had already followed several times over online but had never gotten the chance to experience first hand. After all the time I had spent watching Christians, Atheists and Muslims go about on the issue of the origins of life, intelligent design and evolution on YouTube I finally got the chance to catch a real discussion (with real people) on the issue. Although the conversation eventually turned out exactly how I had recalled it from the umpteenth video, with both sides pulling the same punches and going through the same motions I do admit that after the dust had settled I did gain some valuable insight that could help to further the freethinker cause and communicate science more effectively.
The title of this post is a nod off to one of my favourite study-casts (That thing you listen to while you study so that you don't die from abject boredom) known as The Thinking Atheist. The host of which is a hero of mine named Seth Andrews who once said that debates with religious people usually run down to the same old premises one way or another. He likened this to a repetitive holiday jingle that everyone knows the words to and can't help sing along with once the rhythm sets in. That repetitive nature of the discussion is what I refer to when I say "Once again from the top." comparing it to the stanza of a timeless song. Whether it is irreducible complexity, cause for a designer or a fine tuned universe the exchange is always limited to the same cycle of contentions and counter contentions. The only difference this time was that I was there to witness it in person.
I am not going to invest in telling the whole story of how the debate hosted by the APOSL's (The Advocates for the Propagation of Scientific Literacy) went down. There are plenty of good YouTube videos available for you to get educated with over a lazy afternoon for that but I will take a look at the more defining moments well as the implications of those moments.
But if you are interested here is the video.
What really struck me during the debate was the age difference between the two contending sides. Representing "Intelligent Design" on one side was an ageing and wizened university geology/biology (oh the irony) professor and an ever charismatic Christian apologist. On the other side were two youths born of the information age, one of whom was a girl just fresh out of high-school. The contrasting age composition between the two sides clearly reflects the real world demographic shift of the younger generation gravitating towards the the freethinker movement.
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| The young, the headstrong, the bold. |
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| The wizened, the seasoned, the old. |
Another important moment in the debate was when the professor out of all people used the fine tuning argument and said that if Earth were only a little bit closer to the Sun then it would become incinerated and if it were a little farther away then it would freeze over. Immediately a hand shot out from among the audience as someone interjected the professor and corrected him by saying that the habitable zone afforded by the Sun can extend all the way out to near the orbit of Mars. This brazen attitude to challenge authoritative figures in defence of the truth revealed the true colours of my fellow Malaysian sceptics. These were my kind of people, ballsy, unafraid and unapologetic.
They knew their stuff too, they didn't even have to stop to Google it.
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| Young hearts and minds continue to fight for the future of Reason, Scepticism and Logic. |
So what's your point ?
After looking back at the whole event I think that it is time for the freethinker movement to adapt beyond the tact of pure "mythbusting". It is suffice to say that the real evidence is already on our side but more than knowledge we need compassion. It sometimes seemed as if we were the kind of people that think too much but feel too little. What we need is is to make a move towards putting the "human" back in "human"ism.
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| It is the people that will make this movement shine and these are among some of my favourite people on the planet. Wherever the reasonable path may take me, I know I do not walk alone. |
In order for this movement to succeed it has to move beyond the arena of mere confrontational polemics both online and off. It's great when the giants secularism like The Four Hoursemen (Three now. Rest in peace Hitch) get involved in grand debates but when it comes to making a difference in the trenches of ordinary life we have to consider a more subtle approach. We need to hold the moral and social high ground. We need to be every bit as open and accommodating as religious people.
Beyond the clashes that occur in cyberspace there needs to be a common movement that can precede the actual wave of change. Social groups like the APOSLs are a great way of building strong foundational links between both the freethinker community and the "normies" (every day people). By uniting everyone in a shared appreciation for science we can show the public that we are a much more progressive cause than people usually brand us to be. It also helps to show the public that we are just about as normal as everyone else and that we don't eat babies.
Future Prospects
There is cause for a lot of concern when we look at the challenges that mark the path ahead. Organised religion still holds substantial influence in the lives of many humans across the globe. Despite the turmoil, I believe that there is a wider world ready to be awakened to a new dawn of reason and through the weekend I was shown what kind of people will be leading the charge against the anarchy that seeks to consume us all.
The debates may persist, more questions will still be asked. There is still a lot to do.
There will be a day when we are no longer needed. That will be the day when organised religion is no longer a part of our world. The humans that will populate that world will be much different from us having dealt with all the challenges that come with growing up from the adolescence of our civilization, but they will remember the freethinkers and sceptics that made the stand at the beginning of the 21st century and their perilous struggle for a better tomorrow.
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| Yours Truly, in attendance. |
Sincerely,
SonOfTerra92
Cyberjaya
4/9/2013
