In continuare, un interviu cu Bertrand Russel, matematician, filosof, istoric, una din cele mai luminate minti ale secolului XX:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aPOMUTr1qwReporter: Why are you not a Christian?
De ce nu va considerati crestin?Russell: Because I see no evidence whatever for any of the Christian dogmas. I’ve examined all the stock arguments in favour of the existence of God, and none of them seem to me to be logically valid.
Pentru ca nu vad niciun fel de dovezi care sa sustina dogmele crestine. Am examinat toate ideile care sprijina existenta lui Dumnezeu si niciuna nu nu pare valida din punct de vedere logic Reporter: Do you think there’s a practical reason for having a religious belief, for many people?
Credeti ca oamenii au un motiv practic pentru a avea credinta?Russell: Well, there can’t be a practical reason for believing what isn’t true. That’s quite... at least, I rule it out as impossible. Either the thing is true, or it isn’t. If it is true, you should believe it, and if it isn’t, you shouldn’t. And if you can’t find out whether it’s true or whether it isn’t, you should suspend judgment. But you can’t... it seems to me a fundamental dishonesty and a fundamental treachery to intellectual integrity to hold a belief because you think it’s useful, and not because you think it’s true.
Ei bine, nu poate exista un motiv practic pentru a crede ceea ce nu este adevarat. Asa ceva e chiar... eu cel putin consider asta imposibil. Ceva este ori adevarat ori nu. Daca este adevarat ar trebui sa crezi iar daca nu, nu. Si daca nu poti afla daca e adevarat sau nu ar trebui sa nu il declari in vreun fel. Dar nu poti... pentru mine pare o necinste si o tradare fundamentala a integritatii intelectuale sa sustii o credinta considerand ca e utila si nu pentru ca e adevarata.Reporter: I was thinking of those people who find that some kind of religious code helps them to live their lives. It gives them a very strict set of rules, the rights and the wrongs.
Ma gandeam la oamenii care gasesc un fel de model in religie dupa care sa-si traiasca vietile. Le da un set de reguli, despre ce e rau si ce e bine.Russell: Yes, but those rules are generally quite mistaken. A great many of them do more harm than good. And they would probably be able to find a rational morality that they could live by if they dropped this irrational traditional taboo morality that comes down from savage ages.
Da, dar aceste reguli sunt in general destul de gresite. O mare parte din ele fac mai mult rau decat bine. Si ei (oamenii) ar putea probabil sa gaseasca o moralitate rationala pe care sa o urmeze daca ar renunta la aceasta moralitate taboo irationala si traditionala care vine din epoci primitiveReporter: But are we, perhaps the ordinary person perhaps isn’t strong enough to find this own personal ethic. They have to have something imposed upon them from outside.
Dar suntem noi, poate persoanele obisnuite nu sunt suficient de puternice sa gaseasca o etica personala. Le trebuie impus ceva din afara.Russell: Oh, I don’t think that’s true, and what is imposed on you from outside is of no value whatever. It doesn’t count.
O, nu cred ca este asa, si oricum ce ti se impune din afara nu are nicio valoare. Nu conteaza.Reporter: Well, you were brought up, of course, as a Christian. When did you first decide that you did not want to remain a believer in the Christian ethic?
Ati fost crescut, bineinteles, crestin. Cand ati decis ca nu mai ramaneti credincios in etica crestina?Russell: I never decided that I didn’t want to remain a believer. I decided... between the ages of 15 and 18, I spent almost all my spare time thinking about Christian dogmas, and trying to find out whether there was any reason to believe them. And by the time I was 18, I’d discarded the last of them.
N-am decis niciodata ca nu vreau sa raman un credincios. Am decis... intre 15 si 18 ani imi petreceam aproape tot timpul liber gandindu-ma la dogmele crestine si incercam sa gasesc orice motiv pentru a crede in ele. Si cam pe la varsta se 18 ani m-am debarasat de ultimele din ele.Reporter: Do you think that that gave you an extra strength in your life?
Credeti ca v-a acordat mai multa putere in viata dumneavoastra?Russell: Oh, I don’t... no, I should’t have said so, neither extra strength nor the opposite. I mean, I was just engaged in the pursuit of knowledge.
O, nu stiu... nu, nu cred c-as putea spune asta, nici mai multa putere, nici opusul. Adica, eram doar implicat in dobandirea cunoasteriiReporter: As you approach the end of life, do you have any fear of some kind of afterlife, or do you feel that that is just...
Pe masura ce va apropiati de sfarsitul vietii, va este frica de vreun fel de viata de apoi, sau credeti ca este doar un fel de...Russell: Oh, no, I think that’s nonsense.
O, nu, cred ca e o prostie.Reporter: There is no afterlife?
Nu exista viata de apoi?Russell: None whatever.
Nu, in niciun fel.Reporter: Do you have any fear of something that is common amongst atheists and agnostics, who have been atheists or agnostics all their lives, who are converted just before they die, to a form of religion?
Nu va ingrijoreaza ceva care este comun printre atei si agnostici, care au fost atei si agnostici toata viata lor si care se convertesc chiar inainte sa moara, unei religii?Russell: Well, you know, it doesn’t happen nearly as often as religious people think it does. Because religious people, most of them, think that it’s a virtuous act to tell lies about the death beds of agnostics and such. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t happen very often.
Ei bine, lucrul acesta nu se intampla nici pe departe atat de des pe cat oamenii religiosi cred ca se intampla. Pentru ca oamenii religiosi, cei mai multi dintre ei, cred ca este un gest virtuos sa minta despre paturile de moarte ale agnosticilor si ale altora ca ei. Defapt, nu prea se intampla deloc.