Reciprocity Nexus

“Apostates” — is my own personal worldview, a celebration of post-religious agnosticism, set against a soulful, brass-driven groove. It posits a further set of arguments against the existence of (an Abrahamic, largely Christian God) First, how do we reconcile the idea of free-will (to choose for away from evil and towards God) with God’s alleged omnipotence and omniscience? Secondly, it points out the essential anthropomorphism at the centre of religion: God why would God love humankind more than any other creatures – either on earth now or other eras (cf. the aforementioned dinosaurs) or on other planets?

The middle eight features quote from American author John Updike:

“...Cosmology is the new truth. It’s terrors are less but comforts few…”.

The lines “…Still, I’d rather live empirically. Than with the dogma of belief…” are again an affirmation of the Enlightenment principle towards reason.

The coda – “the deities come; the deities go…” is important. Although not explicitly stated, this also implies that the scientific endeavour does NOT perish: deities may come and go, but the principles underlying scientific discourse persist. Should life be wiped out in some cataclysmic event akin to the extinction of dinosaurs; post-apocalyptic God myths will likely return, but be as wildly different from each other as the historical God myths have been over the ages; but eventually, the principles of physics will once again be (re)-discovered…they remain immutable. In this song the protagonist declares their agnosticism and suggests that the rive behind religion is the quest for certainty. In contrast, the key to agnosticism: “the logic to being agnostic is tolerance of ambiguity”. The challenge to post-religious humanity is to bear the weight of not knowing.

Ultimately, for me, it is almost irrelevant whether God exists or not. Until we have an absolute revelation (complete with consequence) it is better to just act as if he or she doesn’t. Make decisions pertinent to this life and this life only.