There has been some incredulity toward my claim that Mormons are really atheists. But that is not very surprising. As I have pointed out, the professional class in most fields of discourse holds definitions of terms that differ substantially from views widely held in the general population. Ask Joe the Plumber to define “free action”, “mind” and “matter”. Now ask a philosopher or scientist to define the same terms. Do you think Joe the Plumber will find the definitions of the professionals to be counterintuitive and to diverge from commonly held opinions? Yes on both counts. (Although in today’s job market Joe the Plumber could have a PhD in philosophy in which case all bets are off.)
So the fact that I have offered definitions of “God” and “Theism” which diverges from popular usage is not surprising. What people need to do is set aside the churchiness of Mormonism — the fact that they have big temples, missionaries, sacred writings, and a world famous tabernacle choir — after all atheistic Buddhists have all these things save the choir.
Now consider the scenario of alien contact that I described briefly in my last post. If you need a concrete image, think of Elie Arroway making contact with aliens at the end of the film “Contact”. Those aliens are super-intelligent with a technology the sophistication of which we cannot fathom. Should Arroway call these aliens “God” and call herself a theist? Clearly not. They evolved within a set of natural laws just like Arroway. They are just further along in their evolutionary history than she is.
This is precisely what Mormons believe about the object of their devotion. God was once a human being and evolved to become what he is today. But then if we wouldn’t call Arroway a theist for recognizing the existence of these highly evolved aliens why would we call Mormons theists for recognizing the existence of a highly evolved “Heavenly Father”?
If Arroway joined a community of like-minded alien worshippers who had their own temples, missionaries, sacred writings, and a world famous tabernacle choir it might make it seem more plausible to call her a theist. But it would be just as wrong to do so. She may in fact be a deeply religious person in virtue of her commitment to this doxastic community, but her religion would involve pious devotion toward super-evolved alien creatures, not God. And thus, if those creatures are the highest powers she believed in, then she’d still be an atheist, no matter how well her tabernacle choir could sing.
