What do people this of this guys perspective on Religion -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28i3lWxW5xs
I'm someone who has never believed in god for 31 years, found it just as absurd as everyone else for probably very similar reasons. However listening to this guy I can see the validity of religion now, why it exists, how it fits in with life, what it is good for and how it is meant to be used. Might even say I'm becoming a bit religious after listening to him speak about it.
His youtube channel is here -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL_...xp8TtlOkHwMV9Q
Basically he says scientific truth can tell you "what is" about the world but it can't tell you how to act in the world, that's where religion fits in, it tells you "how to be" or "how to act" in the world. For example it is a perfectly valid scientific pursuit to want to learn how to build dangerous weapons whether they be nuclear or chemical or other, the morality of it however is somewhat questionable.
A good example is the story of sacrifice in religion. Commonly it goes something like "spill the blood of your finest cattle on the soil and your crops will grow plentiful in the harvest" or some other such nonsense. Obviously the degree to which you kill your cattle has little to no bearing on how well your crops grow. But what is the message here? It is the message of human sacrifice. Not human sacrifice as in killing people but as in sacrificing / working hard in the present to get something valuable in the future. For example giving up junk food and video games in exchange for a good diet and exercise will reap rewards for you not today, probably not even tomorrow but 1,2,5 or 10 years from now.
Now given that humans are basically evolved chimps at some point we had to figure this out, the idea that you can do something in the present that affects things in a time and place that doesn't yet exist (the future). Try communicating with a monkey that if it gives you the banana it has right now you will give in 2 bananas tomorrow, impossible.
Anyone heard this guy speak and have any thoughts? Or care to comment on the thought that scientific truth can tell you "what is" about the world but it can't tell you how to act in the world, that's where religion fits in, it tells you "how to be" or "how to act" in the world.