Summary+of+thoughts+about+religion+and+purpose+of+life

There are a large number of different religions throughout the world which cannot all be true. While some of their teachings overlap, many of the teachings do not overlap and many even contradict one another. A large number of the members of these different religions all have very strong emotional beliefs in their religion and know for sure that their religion is true. It is not a logical possibility for them all to be correct. Given this simple fact, I think this is great reason to cause anyone to pause and reassess the validity of their own beliefs, and ask themselves what their beliefs are truly based on. Once one has decided what one's beliefs are truly based on, they should decide if this is a valid thing to base a belief on. Karl Popper was a philosopher who introduced the concept of "falsifiability". I could tell you that a savior died for your sins, that you will be reincarnated and live as another animal after you die, or that killing an albino person will bring you good luck (there is a group in Africa that truly believes this). However, none of these statements are falsifiable. In other words, nobody can perform an experiment which would prove the statement true or false (actually the albino statement is starting to approach a falsifiable claim).

The traditional organized religions are not necessary in order for one to have purpose or meaning in life. I think there are many extremely great minds that have continually built upon the knowledge of their predecessors to define a possible purpose of life if the teachings of religions are not true. The authors of Candide (Voltaire), The Singularity is Near (Ray Kurzweil), and Moral Landscapes (Sam Harris) as well as others have introduced the concept that basically "the purpose of life is to maintain and create more life". Civilization will continually learn more about how to accomplish this goal in the best way as we progress.

If I want to truly pursue truth, I do not think any religion is the place for me to find it. As I mentioned before, the purpose of life is to create more life, which is also a concept related to order, chaos, and the laws of thermodynamics. Life is ordered and is a rare and beautiful thing in a universe in which chaos (entropy) continually increases (2nd law of thermodynamics). The more ordered life becomes, the greater range of happiness and misery it can experience. For example, a mouse has a greater range of possible experiences than an amoeba, and we have a greater range of possible experiences than a mouse. Therefore we have a greater capacity to experience more misery and more joy. As lifeforms continue to evolve, some of our descendants (the ones that become even more ordered than ourselves) will have a greater range of possible experiences than ourselves. Our purpose is to contribute to this progression of order and continually make more life. One can "make life" in an almost infinite number of ways. One could raise a family, build a bridge, cure a disease, be kind to a neighbor, etc. On the other hand murdering a family, or intentionally causing destruction, chaos, and misery, would not contribute to the progression of order and life. I think our universe is a truly amazing and interesting place, and I plan to try to be an agent of order to create beautiful new things in the pursuit of truth, order, and life.

I would like to add that almost all religions actually do many good things. They provide service to their communities, and they also provide an excellent social structure in which an individual can mingle and help people from all occupations and from all ages within their community. They also provide their worshippers with a place to go every week in order to focus on how to become a better person, which is something that many atheists and agnostics are missing in their lives. Nevertheless, since both Hindu religions and Christian religions do this (or pick any other pair of religions) I see no reason to join one or the other since they cannot both be true.

Obviously I don't know everything, and there are many details of many religions which I am not aware of. For example, a witch doctor could teach me all kinds of details about his/her beliefs which would be new to me. However, unless the information from a religion is based upon falsifiable claims, I have a hard time imagining I will lend much credence to these beliefs.