On god

The ontological argument for the existence of god is weak because it is a bare assertions fallacy. The argument is that you can make an a priori conclusion that god exists just by using intuition and reason alone. Saying that god exists because people throughout history have thought so is also an ad populum fallacy. A good alternative explanation to why people throughout history have believed in god is this: it was humanity's first attempt at science because the human mind needs explanations for why anything happens in the world. Science has successfully thwarted religion's supernatural explanations for natural disasters, and today religion can only appeal to the god of the gaps (as well as comfort, I will grant).

A debate

The other day, I watched a debate between William Lane Craig and Shelly Kagan about whether God is necessary for morality. I thought Kagan won the debate. His argument was simple: just because I have no cosmic significance does not mean I have no significance at all. He also struck down Craig's moral relativism attack by arguing about the “veil of ignorance” approach to creating a social contract.

The reasonable religious

I value rationality and reasonableness over sentimentality and reactionary communication. Most people that I have found to be reasonable and rational have been non-religious or people with a christian background. But I fear falling into the trap of thinking that all Muslims are unreasonable by virtue of being Muslim. I fear that Muslims may view me as disloyal for favoring the western religion over Islam.

However, I must argue that it is true that you can be a highly reasonable Christian, because Christianity goes back deeper into antiquity than Islam, and therefore allows for flexible interpretation. There have been millenia of Christian scholars who have tried to reconcile Christianity with the secular philosophical tradition, thus allowing for radical changes in how individuals relate to god and the bible. This hasn't happened in the Quran, and it cannot happen in the Quran because by definition, a Muslim believes that it is the direct word of God. A rational Christian on the other hand, does not believe that the bible is the direct word of god. There are few who do, but they realize full well that there are multiple authors who were inspired to write the various books in the bible crossing a vast expanse of time. The Muslim on the other hand has to believe that the Quran was revealed word for word in Muhammad's lifetime. This makes Islam much more rigid, and leaves little room for flexible interpretation of its origins, content, and intent.

Laziness and Socialism

One of the most common arguments against providing food and shelter free for everyone in society is that people will slack off. The belief is that everyone of us secretly wishes not to strive. Without food and shelter as incentives, the argument goes, people will turn into lazy sloths.

Let's grant that the argument is valid. What is so wrong about laziness? There are worse crimes in the world, and laziness in fact indicates a tendency towards calm repose. Slackers are too lazy to rob banks, rape, or murder. In a socialist society, violence and crime will likely decrease.

In reality however, even lazy people like to accomplish something from time to time, as it is boring to be lazy all day long. A lazy person who spends a few hours doing nothing, may feel stirred up to create or do something useful in small bursts. This breeds efficiency because the new action is full of motivation and energy. Believe me, I speak from experience.

We all know someone who finds ways to slack off sneakily to avoid being caught by the boss. Most of us are guilty of that at some period of our lives, because the hours we spend at stifling workplaces breeds inefficiency and laziness. We try to escape the tedium at work by amusing ourselves with either video games or gossip, and it is very possible that the average white collar employee only works 4 hours in a typical 8 hour shift. This is not so different from our hypothetical slacker's acheivements mentioned above.

It is not fair to argue that if people didn't work, we wouldn't have enough food to distribute to everyone. Food is the biggest motivator for work, and there is more than enough of it to feed the entire human population for generations to come.