The comfort of myth

Quinn O'Neill discusses the value of instilling a scientific world view in children, as opposed to one based on religion. He cites books like Richard Dawkins' newly-released The Magic of Reality (see video above) as examples of ways in which to do it. More importantly, however, he confronts the widely-debated issue of the comfort often derived from a belief in the divine:

Introducing children to current scientific thinking about human origins and other natural phenomena may seem like a no-brainer for many parents, but for others the idea may not hold much appeal. Jeremy Paxman interviewed Dawkins on the subject of myth and reality and raised what I think is an interesting question: are myths more comforting than reality? Or perhaps we should ask instead, "are delusions more comforting than reality?" since myths generally aren’t comforting unless one believes that they’re true. I think the answer is both yes and no.

On a psychological level reality isn’t comforting at all. We are, as Paxman points out, insubstantial specks in the cosmos. A scientific worldview would tell us that we have no divine purpose, we weren’t created by a kind and loving god and there’s no guardian angel watching over us prepared to step in to prevent traumatic events. We or our loved ones could be mangled in a freak accident or develop a horrible illness at any time. We live in an unpredictable and uncontrollable world full of suffering and injustice, where bad things happen to good people for no reason at all.