The Science of the Benefits of Religion
One of the more profound statements I once heard on the problem with modern secular philosophy was this throwaway comment I read online years ago:<p>&quot;Creationism is true if it will keep my kids off oxycontin.&quot;<p>(I&#x27;m guessing the poster was from the rural Midwestern US.)<p>I&#x27;m not saying I agree with that statement, but I can see where they are coming from. I found it to be one of the more profoundly honest and deep statements I&#x27;ve ever encountered.<p>Secular philosophy has failed to produce enough value for ordinary people living ordinary lives embedded in the ordinary matrix of threats and opportunities presented by every day life. Religion has done that for thousands of years. Sometimes it does that quite well and sometimes it does it very badly, but at least it tries.<p>Yes sometimes religion is full of shit, but secular philosophy and ideology is sometimes full of shit as well. One can find examples of both religion and secular philosophy promoting irrational thinking. I think things like antivax and Qanon can be blamed as much on postmodernism as religion, and I don&#x27;t see any evidence that people who abandon religion automatically become more rational. Many just glom onto other forms of superstition or secular but totally insane ideas.<p>Go read some academic philosophy. The older stuff is deeply abstract, looking down at the world from orbit and drawing a lot of deep but distant conclusions. The newer stuff is completely impenetrable to someone who has not studied the subject in depth. Very little of it is relevant to someone working a regular job and trying to raise kids.<p>Speaking of kids... much secular philosophy barely mentions children at all, or seems indifferent to them. The fact that the central generative process of all organic life gets barely a mention in secular philosophy is to me a profound indicator of something very deeply wrong. It&#x27;s like physics avoiding the subjects of electromagnetism or gravity and trying to make sense of everything else.<p>The marketplace of ideas is like any other marketplace. If your store does not stock what people need they will shop elsewhere. If you don&#x27;t like where they are shopping, it&#x27;s your problem for not producing the right products. The customer is always right.