Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.
— Dirk Gently, in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Welcome to Effing the Ineffable: a site for the much-needed promotion of a rationalist, religion-free viewpoint. I hope to present herein a positive alternative to religion – suggestions as to how we can live without religious belief while still living good, moral lives and having a damn good time.
However, I recognise that this won’t always be possible – there are some (well, many) religious excesses that simply can’t go unremarked, and the more remarked they are, the better people will know why we need to stop them. So forgive me if I sometimes marvel at the misguidedness (and malice) with which some poor, benighted souls regard the world.
Anyway, whatever your worldview, welcome to Effing The Ineffable, and I hope you find it a useful contribution to the rationalist blogosphere.
- Peter Magellan
Hi Peter, I would like to speak to you about a story I’m working on. I’d be grateful if you could please contact me on ddoran (at)gmail (dotcom). Thanks
Morals? You who appeal to reason and logic, how can you possibly build a foundation to stand on that holds up morality without appealing to yourself? So you’re the standard for morals, then? Or is society? Whose society? Ours? What about cannibalistic tribes in Africa? Why not their’s instead of ours? Who are you to judge them?
I could go on with the ridiculous questions that logically flow from the worldview you appeal to, but please, answer those and let’s see where you get. Hey, maybe you’re the one to answer the questions Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Russo, Einstein, Hawkings, et al. couldn’t quite put a finger on…
If you want to hold this worldview, certainly you are entitled to doing so. But please, don’t use terms that are completely incompatible with it. Good? Come on. Atheism can’t touch good! Sure, atheists can live very commendable, philanthropic lives, but you do so completely detached from the reality that good is either objective in the realm of morality or does not exist at all. There’s no middle ground!
Good is not vanilla or chocolate. You, my friend, are a victim of using your language poorly. Separate “good” in a debate regarding morality from how you feel after eating a nice dinner. The two are vastly different.
Last point before I vacate the soapbox…you say this is a rationalist blog. In what way? Are my comments to be met with name-calling and dismissal because they disagree with your own or do you understand that rationalism demands opposing viewpoints to function as a true dialectic?
Aha! I bet you delete this without a second thought…
Still, as a Christian, I pray for you that the God who you so despise would continue – yes, continue – to pour out His grace and mercy on you each and every day. Please, read Isaiah 1:18-20 and sit and reason with Your Creator who loves you even as you hate Him (Romans 5:8), who died for your sins that you might live with hope and peace!
Yeah, we Christians are crazy. But check out Norm Geisler’s “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” if you can handle a worldview that isn’t in lock-step with your own.
God Bless,
Josh