I am not quite sure of my fellow columnist Vincent Guida’s point in his column, “People should consider what or whom they think of as God” (CT, Oct. 21). He continually makes errors and underhanded remarks about groups of people the author seems to have an issue with. I would like to address and add my own comments to his beliefs on religion.
Mr. Guida claims that people are making poor choices about whom they worship — treating humans, ideas, institutions and other “material” things (perhaps excluding ideas) as “supernatural beings” or a “golden calf” based on his observations. Examples are given such as great science thinkers (Einstein, Newton and Darwin), President Obama (obviously upset about the Nobel Prize win) and the technological Web that we enjoy today, while stressing that we should “give serious thought before choosing (a god).”
I am unfamiliar with how a Nobel Peace Prize winner is chosen, but I am certain that they looked at things done since his premature nomination. Coincidentally, there was an article about this very topic by Gabi Seltzer about the reasons for the peace prize win, so I would ask for Mr. Guida to perhaps read that column for arguments for his win and to look at past Peace Prize winners and their accomplishments that resulted in an award.
According to NobelPrize.org, a recipient of the award is one who “during the preceding year ... shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” The award is not without its controversy, specifically in recognition of Yasser Arafat, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter and Henry Kissinger from names that I recognize. Surely he has done at least as much as one of these men in line with the criterion. I too am not convinced he is the best candidate, but it definitely does not deserve the passive aggressive remark, especially usage of “messiah” to belittle the person.
On his remark about worshipping great scientific minds, I would better understand him if he had given a definition for what he considered worship. I haven’t seen any altars, rituals or silly practices done hoping to offer praise to these people. They deserve praise and applause for their achievements, and we are indebted to their hard work, but is anyone really worshipping them?
Maybe I am taking Mr. Guida’s position too seriously, and he is urging us to not put so much trust and hope into scientific accomplishments instead of a true deity, like Zeus. The scientific method has only given us longer life spans since the invention of modern medicine and the ability to make this small world smaller through simple international communication that has allowed humanity to break the struggle for survival. This, in turn, opened up time to expand on the arts and gave us the only reliable method for understanding the universe — hardly a thing to put trust in.
I would also like to address the complete and utter inaccuracy of his claim that Darwin believed “white European men (to be) the superior species.” This is most likely because of a misunderstanding of the full title of his famous book, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” or the “Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life,” later shortened to “The Origin of Species.” The mentioning of “favored races” does not mean the superiority of one race of man over another, but the characteristics of natural selection favoring animal species in certain environments and the adaptations that occur from natural selection.
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Since you are both columnists at VT, why don't you ask Vincent what he meant? There's nothing wrong with asking him. You could even talk in person rather than some CT article dialog.
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I'm just posting here because I realize I replied to Vincent Guida's post without reading this already published response and wow, I felt exactly the same way. The idea that we worship technology, science, and people seems to come straight from religious groups trying to prove how they're fighting a religious war against other people's idol worship. I really do feel like it's a smear campaign against those of us who don't believe in a higher power.
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