The Aristotelian-Ptolemaic model of the universe ended up being wrong:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_model
Galileo helped correct as did others.
Newton wasn't wrong, but his concepts didn't include Relativity nor Quantum Mechanics nor Quantum field theory.
Jeffersonian Deism's clockwork universe with a Supreme Architect was the most reasonable one at the time, but in light of current observations such a stance can no longer be reasonably supported.
Questioning dominant paradigms is actually quite a useful activity. And questioning and sometimes lampooning sacred cows. It's essential.
Enlightenment Values are worth preserving. America is the best example of a country which exemplifies Enlightenment values.
Values not given by any god. But rather given by 13.8+ billion years of evolution by natural selection, and by our history & choices.
The religious right denies the facts of evolution, while living lives which are often in fact 'most true' to it.
The dogmatic de facto religious left claims to believe in evolution, while often living lives which are essentially traitorous to evolution.
"...Although the initial development of moral foundations theory focused on cultural differences, subsequent work with the theory has largely focused on political ideology. Various scholars have offered moral foundations theory as an explanation of differences among political progressives (liberals in the American sense), conservatives, and libertarians, and have suggested that it can explain variation in opinion on politically charged issues such as gay marriage and abortion. In particular, Haidt and fellow researchers have argued that progressives stress only two of the moral foundations (Care and Fairness) in their reasoning, and libertarians stress only two (Liberty and Fairness), while conservatives stress all six more equally."
from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory
Religion is a natural phenomenon, a fact which cuts several ways. Yes it's another reason for the mystical claims to be debunked. But it also means that fully natural evolved human moral codes of conduct are often couched within religious contexts.
Dennett on religion being natural:
https://youtu.be/56VAZNx8HBQ
...a fact also mostly fully lost on all dogmatic leftist atheists who still have a chip on their should regarding being lied to in their former conservative religions.
Being wrong can be a virtue, if we're willing to change our minds upon new evidence.
Was born an atheist.
At age 5 learned there was a sky god. Seemed strange to me, but ok.
At age 9 learned I was a sexual animal. Whodathunkit.
At age 11 learned that the sky god was more than a bit upset at my being a sexual animal. The natural man, and 11 year old kid coming of age, is an enemy to god after all, right?
Between the ages of 19 and 21 I spent 2 years making maps on 3x5 cards, taking pictures of sunsets, and avoiding a proper admission that I was a normal sexual animal.
While at BYU at the age of 23 I started questioning the shaming the sky god likes to do regarding being a normal sexual animal.
While at Weber State I learned about physics and evolution. What I learned filled a hole left by my increasing rejection of the mysticism learned in my youth.
At age 26 I fully rejected the mysticism, and I resigned from the religion of my youth (Mormonism).
Between the ages of 13 and 23 I was a socially (religiously) conservative Democrat, because my father was a somewhat rare Democrat within a sea of Republicans within his religion.
At 26 I became more socially liberal, an ultra-liberal essentially. Drafted an
exit journal.
In response to leaving an ultra-conservative religion, I switched to being an ultra-leftist socially.
Participated in a few
nudist events, until I realized they were hypocritical.
Fully bought into
Bruce Bagemihl's theory that because there's gay animals therefore gayness must be valued as a primary trail which is being selected for - which I now realize is completely & utterly wrong. Homosexuality is an outlier effect of the way sex gets set up in humans & in all animals which exhibit the treat. A side effect which is not being selected for. What's selected for is reproduction & survival, period. The machinery of biological evolution produces outliers. Doesn't meant the outliers have inherent value. Also doesn't mean they should be thrown off buildings, except for outright pedophiles and psychopaths.
Was a fat bastard living in my parent's basement. Developed cataracts. Had cataract surgery. No more thick glasses. Lost 110 pounds. Lived in Portland, Oregon for a year and a half. While in Portland visited a swingers event once. Didn't witness anything explicit & didn't participate. But I saw basically how they operate. And my assessment was that the way they organized themselves was strange & basically abusive.
After leaving Portland I married a socially conservative atheist from rural China with zero connection to the Book of Mormon, Bible, or Quran.
Took in via videos & lectures much of the work of the following people:
Christopher Hitchens
Richard Dawskins
Daniel Dennett
Steven Pinker
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Events like 9/11 happened. The Denmark Mohamed cartoons & the stupid & crazy responses.
Theo Van Gogh being killed after he released a film about how women in Islam are abused. The Charlie
Hebdo massacre.
The Garland, Texas Draw Mohamed contest which two Islamic people tried to shoot up.
I examined the response of the left, of the Democrat part of my father, of all the stations & people who liked & listened to & would have listened to. As an ex-Mormon, I examined who exactly supported drawing Mohamed. Who supports ex-Muslims? Who supports Muslims leaving Islam? It's not he left. It's not the Democrats. So, I realized I was wrong, about politics.
My socially conservative atheist wife helped me question the socially leftist paradigm I had bought into as an ex-Mormon with a chip on his shoulder about the
lies of Mormonism. Daniel Dennett's talks about religion being a natural phenomenon helped also. Plus I had years of experience of engaging in first hand observational de facto studies of what the left has to offer socially. The nhilism of narcissism of gay culture. What being 'childfree' really means: slow motion suicide. That the left is in denial regarding the roots of homosexuality. And when I told an atheist group in Salt Lake that I liked Duck Dynasty, they booted me in a worse way than I ever experienced when leaving Mormonism. A very religious way of booting.
The children of breeders will inherit the Earth. The 'childfree' will not, and neither will the non-breeding gays.
In the past I used to hate Ayn Rand. Now I'm willing to check out some of her ideas, because mostly *only* libertarians support drawing Mohamed nowadays, and a very few lonely leftists who're mostly in denial regarding how the left has left them behind.
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, really was a eugenicist. And Christopher Hitchens has rightly pointed out that the unborn do have some rights. The left is wrong about these points also.
While a member of another leftist atheist group, Salt Lake Valley Atheists (now defunct), I observed how they kicked out of their midst a pro-life atheist woman. That experiencing was eye opening for me. Prior to that I thought that atheism equaled skepticism & reason. Now I realize it doesn't, not automatically. Leftist atheism is just another f-ing religion, a cult.
So I'm in recovery from leftistism, politically & socially.
The conservatism I embrace is not that of Glenn Beck, nor of establishment Republicans. I reject religios conservatism which seeks to shame people for masturbation & oral sex & an appreciation of art which falls into the nude and erotic spheres. There is no god who gets upset when gay people meet up. But, from an evolutionary perspective, they'd probably be happier if they lived straight lives.
Heresy, heresy, heresy, for your average leftist atheist who is just so upset with the conservative religions of their youths & etc.
Not throwing out the baby of good evolved highly valuable human values with the bath water of mysticism is a very hard task. Most just assume that 'without god everything is permitted.' But it's not. Not because there's no god, but because we're highly complex evolved moral animals. Evolved moral codes act as counter weights to also evolved proclivities which can lead to destructive dead ends.
Current people on my appreciation list:
Trump - what swayed me to his side after some initial skepticism:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiA0P9iELAA
(Milo Y talking with Rubin)
Christopher Hitchens - provided initial key skepticism regarding the Clintons, and regarding some leftist doctrinal tenants.
No one left to Lie To, book info.
Daniel Dennett - a much better philosopher than Sam Harris (Harris is I realize now, a myopic hack)
Steven Pinker - debunked the 'blank slate' concepts of social constructivists. Related videos, longer
part 1,
part 2. And a
Ted talk.
Bosch Fawstin - an ex-Muslim who won the Draw Mohamed cartoon contest in Garland, Texas.
Talk to Children of Jewish Holocaust Survival.
Cartoon contest talk.
Mark Steyn - skepticism regarding the 'hockey stick' concept regarding climate change. Very honest regarding the facts & impacts of Islam.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali - an ex-Muslim truth teller. Colleague of Theo Van Gogh who got killed as noted above. She needs round the clock security, and in America only a conservative think tank would help pay for that security. Leftists consider her to be racist & bigoted - so this is a key reason also why I'm no longer a leftist.
All Enlightenment thinkers, and the Enlightenment-based founders of America.
Roger Stone - a long time truth teller who I've newly found
Dinesh D'Souza - a debate partner with Hitchens. Hitchens told the truth about the Clintons, and Dinesh has a great movie about the issue now. Dinesh may be wrong about whether a god exists, but he's right about the impacts of leftist atheism (very negative nhilistic impacts).
Rush - a valuable truth teller who for too long I discounted & hated. He was right all along. I was wrong for many years.
Sean Hannity - a guy with 20 years of real work experience who hasn't forgotten what it's like to be a regular working Joe. Truth teller.
Milo Yiannopoulos - a brash conservative gay Brit who helped me see the high utilitarian value to a Trump presidency.
Doug Mainwaring - a guy who came to his sanity and returned to be with & support his straight family, AKA his family. My uncle wasn't so lucky, and was a victim of the ultra-right and the ultra-left.
Added August 2017:
Jordan B. Peterson - great info on the problems of neomarxist postmodernism.
Gad Saad - great evolutionary behavior scientist.
---
Related posts:
Lies present in conservative religion force children into the abusive arms of the denialist myopic left.
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2016/02/lies-present-in-conservative-religion.html
Where does social conservatism come from? From human nature.
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/11/where-does-social-conservatism-come.html
Humans are not Bonobos - Response to Darrel Ray and his brand of so-called Secular Sexuality - Commentary about abusive leftist confusion regarding human nature, and the evolutionary roots and benefits of some degree of sexual shame.
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/10/humans-are-not-bonobos-response-to.html
Lives and families are destroyed by Tranny and Gay acceptance and promotion - LGBT abusive outliers are not equal
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/07/lives-and-families-are-destroyed-by.html
Homosexuality occurs in nature? So what. Can I be a "black atheist" too?
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2013/08/homosexuality-occurrs-in-nature-so-what.html
On American exceptionalism: the left's hatred of America
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/02/on-american-exceptionalism-left-hatred.html
Thank God for the Crusades - speaking as an atheist
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/02/thank-god-for-crusades-speaking-as.html
And the worst of these is Islam: Foolish bleeding hearts helped birth Islamic State
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/02/and-worst-of-these-is-islam-foolish.html
Naked women protesting: The EXACT response needed, to Islam in general, Islamic State, and censors of Charlie Hebdo cartoons.
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/02/naked-women-protesting-exact-response.html
Comments in response to the general Mormon stance on marriage
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/02/comments-in-response-to-general-mormon.html
Latest thoughts on the pressing issues of the day
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/02/latest-thoughts-on-pressing-issues-of.html
Leftist religion loves Islam and hates the West and the fruits of the Enlightenment
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/01/leftist-religion-loves-islam-and-hates.html
The Atheist Movement needs move laxative - Making room for social & political conservatives!
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-atheist-movement-needs-move.html
John Harvey Kellogg: what a fucker. Masturbation prevention is evil.
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/10/john-harvey-kellogg-what-fucker.html
response to Rory Patrick's 100 day masturbation abstinence - the pain and sorrow of having genitals
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/10/response-to-rory-patricks-100-day.html
Balkan Erotic Epic - part of the set of short films in Destricted - commentary & review
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/10/balkan-erotic-epic-part-of-set-of-short.html
Liberal anger at being human - Criticisms of California Senate Bill SB 967
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/10/liberal-anger-at-being-human-criticisms.html
whitewashing history -- sex obsessed ancestors -- nudist hypocrisy
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/09/whitewashing-history-sex-obsessed.html
Are Mormonism & Catholicism homosexual & pedophile generators?
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/05/are-mormonism-catholicism-homosexual_24.html
Questions for Mormon Missionaries - God, Sex, and honesty | 16 questions for Mormon Missionaries
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/03/questions-for-mormon-missionaries-god.html
Repackaged bullshit: Porn The New Tobacco | Jack Fischer | TEDxBinghamtonUniversity
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2015/08/repackaged-bullshit-porn-new-tobacco.html
The best part of social conservatism advocates for family & life & children & what leftists derisively call 'breeding.'
Breeders will inherit the Earth. Problems with "recovery" from religion
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2014/06/breeders-will-inherit-earth-problems.html
Really the children of breeders will inherit the Earth.
The worst part of religious-based 'conservatism' comes from religions which use fear & shame to teach children & adults to hate the evolved sexual systems in their bodies. But this 'conservatism' doesn't conserve anything. It just tends to churn out destructive ultra-right and ultra-left abusive extremists. The ultra-right religionists who stay in their religions & who continue teaching their children to hate their bodies & the fact that we're sexual animals. And the children who reflexively rebel, turning into non-reproductive outliers & 'childfree' wastrels.
Liberals have a strange alliance with ultra-right religious 'conservatives.' Leftists hate human nature just as much as the ultra-right religionists seems to. The combined human-nature-hating team consists of: Islam people, some Mormons, some Catholics, and leftists who a.) love Islam, and b.) hate the fact that human males are evolved to enjoy good looking women - and who hate 1.2 billion years of evolutionary sexual history just as much as the ultra-right religionists do. Leftists also hate the fact that humans are sexually dimorphic, and they actively ignore that we're not 'blank slates,' as Steven Pinker has commented on.
I'm for good women and men who put family & children first.
I'm proudly voting for Trump. He's my kind of Republican. Not a highly shaming human-nature-hating right-wing religionist, nor a human-nature-hating leftist.
Conserving through truth telling. Conserving through advocacy for family. Conversing through de facto advocacy that the
Western Enlightenment continue - which also means conserving and protecting America & traditional American values.
Perhaps where I'm at is a socially moderate / conservative / pragmatic libertarian. But I strongly maintain that pot does rot your brain. And I don't dogmatically follow all libertarian principles. Libertarianism can be a de facto religion too, and I don't wish to join any religions.
I probably aspire to the
conservatism Jonathan Haidt mentions, with more equal alliance to Care, Fairness, Liberty, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity. The Sanctity of life, not the Sanctity of sacred cows. Loyalty to the
Enlightenment and Enlightenment principles. The Authority of the Rule of Law. Care, but not through the Dole because the Dole helps no one mostly. Fairness, but not 'social justice.' Fairness through a fairness of opportunity - but not opportunity at the cost of group rights hierarchies nor identity politics.
