Blog
Did Jesus really exist?
(27 February 10)by Scott McKenzie
I was a bit surprised to hear during one of Peter Kennedy’s interviews this week he said in reference to Jesus “if he ever really existed”. I’ve heard Peter say that some years ago but was nevertheless surprised that he continues to do so. So when I came upon a piece that outlines the argument against the existence of Jesus I thought it might be appropriate to bring it again to our attention. This is an article of some age and which has been superseded by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy’s The Laughing Jesus of 2005 (which I learned about from Peter Kennedy), but remains a fundamental resource about this matter.
Of course in many ways it doesn't matter a hoot whether Jesus actually existed.
On PK (the threat to Rome)
(24 February 10)by Greg Spearritt
A couple of worthy media items on Peter Kennedy, leader of the St Mary’s-in-Exile community:
- Phillip Adams recent LNL interview.
- Andrew Hamilton of the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne (and consulting editor for Eureka Street) offers a thoughtful review of Peter Kennedy: The Man Who Threatened Rome
Wotnews also has a Peter Kennedy page.
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'If God Exists, He Wouldn't Want This'
(19 February 10)by Scott McKenzie
The community of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel is half a million strong and growing. They live in a parallel universe cut off from the modern world in tight-knit communities where everything revolves around religion. Only a few dare to abandon this life -- and the price for doing so is high.
This piece from Spiegel Online International tells the stories of two who defected.
Ethics and euthanasia
(18 February 10)by Greg Spearritt
The Age tells us that “prominent ethicist” Nicholas Tonti-Filippini of the Pope John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family is calling for voluntary euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke to be prosecuted over deaths caused by the use of Nembutal. Ethicist Leslie Cannold disagrees: for her, Nitschke, like the back-yard abortionist, is meeting a need that will be met in one way or another, regardless of what the law says.
Somehow (for colour perhaps?) Jim Wallace of the Australian Christian Lobby also snuck into the Age article. He’s not a noted ethicist, though undoubtedly the former brigadier’s military career presented him with the odd ethical dilemma. Without the least hint of irony, he’s reported as saying: “Nitschke and his ilk are fundamentalists of the worst type”.
Ethics informed by religion seem usually to be anti-voluntary euthanasia. It’s worth noting, however, that a sample of SoFiA members in a recent poll, 88% of whom were raised in a Christian church, was 66% in favour of VE.
I wonder how those attending next month’s Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne would vote on the issue.
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Religion and evolution - a God gene?
(12 February 10)by Scott McKenzie
The New York Times published "The Evolution of the God Gene" by Nicholas Wade in which we are told that, "religion has the hallmarks of an evolved behavior, meaning it exists because it was favored by natural selection." We are further informed that religion is "universal because it was wired into our neural circuitry before the ancestral human population dispersed from its African homeland." There is a certain plausibility to Wade's arguments that religion is hard-wired into our brain via natural selection, making it almost 'natural'.
Jeff Schweitzer, a neurobiologist, takes issue with Wade's interpretation in a Huffington Post piece. This is entitled "The Fallacy of the God Gene".
Not a world-shaking argument, but one worth our consideration
New articles & reviews
(07 February 10)by Greg Spearritt
A new set of articles and reviews has been added to the SoFiA collection:
Malcolm Brown reflects on the meaning of islam and debunks some of our preconceptions.
John Wessel describes what contemporary prayer might mean.
Chantal Babin reviews a 2009 collection of essays.
Peter Hooton argues the case for belief in God.
Why is There Not Just Nothing?
Laurel Sommerfeld tackles one of the big questions.
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Human rights and justice, Christian-style
(04 February 10)by Greg Spearritt
The Pope (along with Anglican bishops in the UK) apparently has a problem with new legislation reform concerning human rights and equality in Britain. Churches and schools under these reforms would no longer be able to use arguments based on religious freedom to justify their refusal to employ gay people.
The Sydney Morning Herald tells us:
The Pope urged Catholics in Britain to fight back against the legislation with ''missionary zeal'' in a speech delivered on Monday during a visit to Rome of the 35 Catholic bishops of England and Wales.
The article goes on to quote from Pope Benedict’s oration:
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“Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.”
It’s true, of course. This legislation would impose such limitations, in the same way that the ability of white supremacists to “act in accordance with their beliefs” by not employing people of colour is limited. An “unjust” limitation, though? Surely not.
It’s yet another example of Don Cupitt’s point from his 2008 book, The Meaning of the West (SCM, p.34):
The Church clings to its old inefficiencies, discriminations and injustices, and repeatedly demands for itself opt-outs from legislation that would require it to get its treatment of its own employees, women, gays and other groups up to decent contemporary secular standards. (34)
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I believe... in evolution
(30 January 10)by Greg Spearritt
We have a Prime Minister and Opposition Leader who both believe in evolution despite being Christians.
The only real (sad) question is why this fact is in the least bit newsworthy.
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Events
(24 January 10)by Greg Spearritt
An updated list of non-SoF public lectures, seminars or conferences that might interest SoFiA members is now online.
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Confirmation bias – a BIG problem
(12 January 10)by Scott McKenzie
How do we respond when confronted with information that agrees with what we already believe – think about that – how do you? If you’re like me you take it in quickly and smile inwardly. "I’ve been confirmed in my thinking".
What about when the information is against what you already believe – recall this happening – how did you respond? If you’re like me you reject it or forget it or say it’s wrong, and feel a bit dark about it. "That’s not what I wanted to read".
The climate change debate is one area in which this phenomenon is almost epidemic. Most of us have a point of view but two types of argument – for and against – appear regularly before us.
Kevin Dunbar has been studying how scientists REALLY behave in the laboratory and his research has revealed some interesting things about a part of our brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that has evolved to suppress, yes suppress, incoming information that we don’t want to hear. Wired magazine has an excellent article, quite readable, about Dunbar’s research.
Confirmation bias is a BIG problem for us.
Atheist attitudes to religion
(10 January 10)by Greg Spearritt
Albert Camus, via David Burchell, gives some thoughtful advice about the approach atheists might usefully take to religious folk:
Speaking to a group of Dominican friars in 1948, Camus suggested three cardinal principles for unbelieving philosophers such as himself. First, it wasn't his business to reproach Christians for failing to keep higher moral standards than his own. Second, "I should never start from the supposition that Christian truth is illusory, but merely from the fact I cannot accept it."
And third, "I shall not try to change anything that I think or anything that you think: the only possible dialogue is between people who remain what they are and speak their minds."
It all sounds good to me, except for that last point: if we think we’re not trying to convert others to our own point of view, at least on issues that mean something significant to us, we’re kidding ourselves.
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Is atheism a religion?
(08 January 10)by Greg Spearritt
David Burchell, writing in The Australian, has an interesting observation about the nature of atheism:
At a talk in Canberra a couple of years back, the Italian bishop Bruno Forte suggested unbelief ought properly to be seen as another kind of religious journey: "It is a passion for truth that pays a personal price for the bitter courage of not believing."
To be sure, equating atheism with religion is far too simplistic a move, as the popular atheist retort illustrates: ‘Atheism is a religion in the same way that not collecting stamps is a hobby.’ (Anyone know the original source for this saying?)
As the front page of the Atheist Foundation of Australia website shows, however, some atheists will go to great lengths to avoid using the word ‘belief’ of their own beliefs (their position is an “acceptance”, not a “belief”).
Surely, though, the kind of crusading atheism we are now seeing develop (on display, for example, at the upcoming Rise of Atheism conference) has a good deal in common with the evangelical fervour of some religions.
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Mission possible
(08 January 10)by Greg Spearritt
On the face of it, at least, the story of Evergreen in China sounds like a very positive example of contemporary Christian missionary activity, the more so for the acknowledgement by Evergreen head Finn Torjesen that
Westerners... often embrace a black-and-white, systematic position on what the Bible says, "like book-keeping". But Chinese people tend to take a more multidimensional approach to their faith.
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Who on Earth was Jesus? - audio
(01 January 10)by Greg Spearritt
David Boulton’s talk for the 2009 Queensland SoFiA Conference, ‘Who on earth was Jesus?: The Scholarship and Research’, is now available as an audio download.
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Another Catholic disgrace
(01 January 10)by Scott McKenzie
In another expose of the disgraceful behaviour of the Catholic Church in protecting pedophiles and sadists in their schools in Ireland, Paula Kirby has contributed a sad piece in the Washington Times (28 December) that considers the Ryan Report and the Murphy Report, both released in Ireland in 2009.
There are also some interesting posts from readers especially an early one from a lay person who chaired a committee reviewing the Church’s investigations of sexual abuse in San Francisco. Jim Jenkins resigned from this position after considering the less than satisfactory investigations that were conducted.
This sexual abuse and sadistic behaviour is a disgrace, but covering up is perhaps even worse.
SoFiA Religion Poll results
(01 January 10)by Greg Spearritt
The survey of attitudes on various religious and other matters from the 2009 Toowoomba SoFiA Conference is now available in full online.
Climate Heresy 2
(27 December 09)by Scott McKenzie
On 27 November Greg Spearritt posted an item entitled “Climate Heresy” to which I made some comments and he replied. What might well appear in the annals of science as the greatest hoax or blunder or mistake since the Piltdown Man of 1905 seemed destined to pass us by almost un-noticed.
For a couple of months now I’ve been chasing down websites around the world for more and more reliable information about AGW (anthropogenic global warming) i.e. the proposition that it is the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that give rise to global warming and its alleged consequences.
It has to be the internet as the source since most media (for a variety of reasons) seem to avoid publishing anything that remotely challenges the received wisdom of the climate change proponents.
And I’ve found some good ones:
http://www.middlebury.net/op-ed/global-warming-01.html
This one is the easiest to read and most comprehensive and fair-minded that I came across.
http://www.climatechangefraud.com/contact-us
Click on “Temperate Facts” to find a primer of information about climate change and AGW etc. The daily newsletter provides a daily glimpse of anti-climate change activities and publications globally.
So does this site.
There are many others, most accessible via the three mentioned above.
I don’t know for sure that AGW is nonsense. However:
- the physics, quite simple physics in fact, as explained in the first site above, makes it clear that carbon dioxide is quite unable to absorb enough heat to cause the temperature rises that are claimed
- solar cycles are more likely to explain the heating of the atmosphere
- the unscientific behaviour of the ‘climate scientists’ who worked with the UN IPCC is quite astounding, and the ideology-driven behaviour of many UN bureaucrats and national politicians is deplorable.
However it’s up to you to decide for yourself.
What are they saying about Christmas?
(23 December 09)by Greg Spearritt
From the smorgasbord of Christmas views (News Ltd and Fairfax offerings)…
The obligatory conservative apologetics (the Bible really is true, you know):
Despite the sceptics, there is real truth in the story of Christmas
And more:
The obligatory withering atheist satire:
On looking beyond the incredible ‘facts’ of the Christmas story:
The Christmas call to fulfilment
An Aussie Muslim reflects:
Christmas, curry and many faiths
An atheist philosopher on celebrating at Christmas:
An enriching, illuminating, bonding, godless Christmas
Amateur project naively accepts birth narratives as history:
Stop the presses: the day Jesus appeared in the Birth Notices
Consumption and the Reason for the Season:
Did Jesus make us fat and greedy?
The ways we secular Aussies all ‘believe’ at Christmas:
The relevance of Christmas (chiefly editorials):
Christmas story still resonates in a troubled world
The Christmas message of hope is as powerful as ever
A time to slow down and enjoy each other
Goodwill is so common in adversity
From the clergy:
That simple birth in a stable was God's great gift to the world
Leaders urge faith, hope and charity in times of struggle
Human life must be our top priority
Now is the time to forgive, say church leaders
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God Talk
(21 December 09)by Scott McKenzie
One of my hot buttons is the use of the word ‘God’. I’m a non-theist, perhaps even an atheist. I have great difficulty understanding what religious people think they are doing when they pray to, or worship, God. Yet deep within me there is a sense that without some feeling for the sacred we live less than full lives.
I have found Don Cupitt’s writing helpful if a bit theoretical. So my search continues.
Now comes this morning from The Centre for Progressive Christianity in the US, a newsletter featuring two very interesting pieces about ‘God Talk'.
Fred Plumer, president of TCPC, has written a very interesting piece ‘God Talk’,
and Michael Morwood, another interesting piece ‘Progressive Christians and God Talk’.
These are well worth reading and thinking about. I’ll be doing that and, perhaps, coming to some conclusions about the sacred for me.
Scott
The LOLcat Bible
(21 December 09)by Greg Spearritt
If you’re into cats, you’re probably familiar by now with the Icanhascheezburger site. And, therefore, with kittyspeak.
But now we have… the LOLcat Bible translation project.
(Mor on thiz viytl projek at Lingua Franca.)
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Miraculous Mary
(21 December 09)by Greg Spearritt
All power to the celebration of Mary MacKillop as a fighter for social justice who was willing to stand up to those wielding power in the Catholic Church. (An attitude Archbishop Pell says we should emulate, though he didn’t seem to appreciate that approach from the St Mary’s South Brisbane mob.)
However, to credit Mary Mac with the posthumous miracle of curing cancer raises the question of why she won’t do it for every cancer sufferer. How many faithful Catholics (and others – presumably a saint-in-waiting isn’t picky) have prayed to her for a cure? And what’s her strike rate? Since it took this long to get her to the canonisation starting gate, one assumes it’s not been overly high.
Interestingly, even the Arch himself acknowledges prayer-induced cancer cures are “a long shot”. Does that mean Mother Mary is in fact picky as to who she’ll reprieve? Doesn’t sound very saintly, does it?
I’m with Dick “Godless” Gross on this one.
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What Aussies believe
(19 December 09)by Greg Spearritt
A new Neilsen Poll (Faith in Australia 2009) adds to polls over many decades showing a gradual decline of belief in traditional Christian doctrine. That’s not to say there’s a gradual decline in belief in general, though. God, miracles, angels, ESP, astrology: you name it, we Aussies seem to believe in it.
There are some items of particular interest, including significant differences between men and women (e.g. men were twice as likely as women to say they did not believe in God).
The variety of ways the data is reported is also interesting. For mine, the David Marr piece says it well. Your options include:
- APN papers: Australians believe in God: poll
- The Age: God is still tops but angels rate well
- Sydney Morning Herald (David Marr): Our faith today
- Herald Sun: We believe in God, UFOs and astrology
Also see, from WAToday.com.au: Faith sometimes divides us, but that's OK (“Australia's secular status is not threatened by the resilience of religious traditions.”)
Perhaps, since we’re apparently so confused about what we believe, Tony Abbott is on the right track: compulsory school classes on Christian belief and the Bible might be the go!
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Is religion healthy for society?
(13 December 09)by Greg Spearritt
From Sue Blackmore (writing in the UK Guardian) we learn that recent sociological research seems to suggest that, at least in the ‘developed’ world, the healthiest nations are also the least religious. The question of cause and effect, however, is a complicated one.
(Thanks to Jim Norman for alerting us to this item.)
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Catering for youth
(12 December 09)by Greg Spearritt
It’s often lamented that the under 40s demographic in Australia seems to have little interest in religious participation. Increasing secularisation plus factors such as family breakdown mean that membership of religious groups, and especially of the mainstream Christian churches, is inexorably aging.
Gens X, Y and Z have often had only a cursory contact with religion. To boot, this has largely been through the naïve Sunday-school lens of conservative-evangelical religious instruction at school or cuddly-Jesus Christmas Carol theology in the park. No wonder they’re just not that interested.
It’s not only Australian Christianity that’s affected: Buddhist monks in Japan are apparently resorting to manga images and rap music to be heard amidst the ‘buzz’ of life.
So what’s happening? ‘Cult’ groups like Hillsong may be filling the gap to a small extent, but what other organised social options do our young people have to be engaged in wrestling with the great issues and building character?
Involvement in that great Aussie obsession, sport, may be one answer, but failing a resurgence of religion in mainstream Australian life where else are young folk to go? Melbourne will host the Global Atheist Convention in 2010, but where in Oz are the secular/humanist successors to the churches?
Must we face the fact that communal activity will die with organised religion?
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Climate heresy
(27 November 09)by Greg Spearritt
There are plenty of people now arguing that that global warming is not happening, or that it’s not caused by humans: Clive James, Andrew Bolt, Ian Plimer, the whole of the National Party and most of the Libs among them. Is this a heresy? And does it matter?
It is, and it does.
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Religion and violence
(24 November 09)by Greg Spearritt
Is religious violence inherently to do with the nature of religion?
Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and confreres would have us believe so. Barney Zwartz, columnist with the Melbourne Age, disagrees:
My argument amounts to this: religion is practised by people. It is therefore as ambiguous, messy, prone to both moral heights and depths, as people themselves are. It has been used for good and for harm. My own view is that the scales are weighted firmly on the side of good by making people morally aware of the “other”, but I know many disagree. I think Richard Neibuhr put it particularly well: “Religion makes good people better and bad people worse.”
(Zwartz gives the topic a longer treatment here.)
I have some sympathy with Zwartz’s view. However, on balance I’d want to disagree.
Historically, religion has been primarily tribal, and that remains largely true today. It’s about identity, about distinguishing one ethnic or belief group from others, and usually about privileging that group.
It’s an obvious point, surely. If you are Shiite you are emphatically not Sunni; Mahayana Buddhism has traditionally called Theravada the “lesser vehicle” and itself the “greater”; Protestant and Catholic were hard at the exclusion game as little as a few decades ago in Australia.
Even today the Christian denominations represent varying degrees of exclusivity, from Exclusive Brethren through Catholic to the tolerant old non-Sydney Anglicans. (But even the Anglicans are proud of their identity; their tolerance sets them apart.)
The earthly Jesus attempted to turn the urge to tribalism and exclusivity on its head, supping with sinners and smiling on Samaritans. But the Church wasted little time in righting the ship again.
In this light, it’s not surprising to see so much violence in the name of religion: religion has always been a powerful tool for asserting identity. It may not meet with approval from enlightened religious folk in these enlightened times, but us-them religion remains a prominent feature of twenty-first century life. Ask the Taliban. Or the folk from St Mary’s-in-Exile.
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Evolution of religion
(24 November 09)by Scott McKenzie
There were two pieces in the New York Times in mid-November that addressed the question of the origin and evolution of religion, and how pervasive religion is among ancient (and not so ancient) cultures. Both emanated from consideration of Nicholas Wade’s new book “The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures”. The first was the author’s own summary of the book and the second was by a colleague John Tierney who wrote a review.
These pieces suggest that religion evolves i.e. that a religion changes to better meet the needs and expectations of the people it serves. Some of us find this hard to believe when we look at Christianity today but change has already occurred and more is on the way according to our progressives. But that’s another story.
Magical realism
(21 November 09)by Greg Spearritt
Whether it’s vampires, sorcery or talking animals, you’ve probably had your shot (and perhaps your fill?) of magical realism through popular culture in recent times.
Some might be inclined to dismiss it as fantasy, but Melbourne playwright Ricci-Jane Adams urges us to look again at what magical realism has to offer. She calls it “the portal between the mundane and the extraordinary.”
In art and literature – and, I’d argue, religion – magical realism is a way of allowing us to see afresh the mundane: to find new value, new meaning and new possibilities in the everyday.
CS Lewis used it. Phillip Pullman uses it in spades.
Magical realism in religion can boost our esteem for everyday life and for other people; it can give us a glimpse of an alternative reality that could enhance life on our planet. Provided, that is, that we can distinguish the fantasy from the real.
If you go to church you’ve probably been imbibing magical-realist stories of a dying-rising, divine-human god. Or in the local mosque (and in many Sydney Anglican churches) you may celebrate a perfect text that dropped from the sky.
When these imaginative tales are transformed into Truth, the power of magical realism is commandeered by the urge to control and dictate. That’s the beauty of art and literature: it’s immeasurably enriching, but we know it’s fiction.
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Festival of peaceful slaughter
(18 November 09)by Greg Spearritt
1200-odd police, many of them armed, will descend on the village of Bariyapur in Nepal next week for the Hindu festival of Gadhimai. The festival involves the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of buffaloes, goats, chickens, and other animals.
Why are the police necessary? It seems they’re to enforce an alcohol ban among the million or so people attending the event. Such a move is necessary, according to chief district officer Tara Nath Gautam, so that (as the ABC reports) “people can carry out their religious activities in peace."
One can imagine what a peaceful couple of days it will be!
Despite the protestations of pesky animal rights activists, the Nepalese government won’t stop the festival. It’s a centuries-old religious tradition, don’t you know. And, of course, it’s peaceful. Who could possibly object?
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Who on earth was Jesus - and does it matter?
(11 November 09)by Greg Spearritt
The text of David Boulton’s two addresses to the 2009 South-East Queensland Conference are now online:
Who on Earth was Jesus: The Scholarship and the Research
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A non-pandering pollie: hallelujah!
(09 November 09)by Greg Spearritt
If his proposed speech to the Sydney Institute is anything to go by, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey’s take on religion – and perhaps even his political integrity – is quite an improvement on that of a prominent former Liberal Treasurer (and not a few other pollies and former pollies of both persuasions).
A politician publicly having no truck with biblical literalism is a brave move, even in secular old Oz.
One suspects Hockey won’t come to be known anytime soon as one who “soaked up a rapturous welcome from 20,000 followers of the Hillsong Church”.
Update: Joe Hockey’s opinion piece.
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God endures, even as religion wanes
(02 November 09)by Scott McKenzie
The nature of the American religious experience is changing as a rising number of people report having no formal religious affiliation, even though the number of Americans who say they pray is increasing, according to a new survey.
Those twin trends suggest a growing number of people are “spiritual but not religious,” says study author Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. The report, “Religious Change Around the World,” found that in addition to an increased number of people who pray, a growing number believe in the afterlife.
The complete 364-page report Religious Change around the World, by Tom W. Smith of the University of Chicago was released on October 23, 2009. It is a report prepared for the Templeton Foundation.
Who Speaks for Christians?
(31 October 09)by Greg Spearritt
Lyle Shelton of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has complained about a group calling itself Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Euthanasia. It seems the CSCVE group had the temerity to campaign about VE legislation before Parliament last week in Adelaide.
How dare these people purport to be Christians? According to the ABC, Lyle is certain that Christians don’t support VE.
Two-thirds (67%) of those attending the recent SoFiA Conference in Toowoomba described themselves as Christian. And two-thirds (66%) of those attending were in favour of voluntary euthanasia. Sounds rather like there was at least some overlap…
Could it be that Lyle and the ACL, despite the hubris underlying the name they chose for their organisation, do not in fact represent the thinking of each and every Christian in Australia?
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Religion: society's saviour or nemesis?
(28 October 09)by Greg Spearritt
In the wake of Christopher Hitchens’s visit to Oz, and more especially in the lead-up to the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne next March, the argument about whether religion is society’s saviour or its nemesis is likely to hit our shores with renewed vigour.
Two such salvos have just been fired in The Age: Jew Dvir Abramovich vents at the hypocrisy of anti-religion writers like Dawkins and Hitchens, and atheist James Richmond presents a lively rebuttal.
So is religion good or bad on balance? In a poll of SoFiA members at the recent Toowoomba Conference the results were pretty even: 26% saw religion as a force for good, 21% as a force for evil and 53% felt it was neutral.
James Jupp, editor of the newly-published Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia, says of that volume in The Australian:
If you go through the whole book the general message is that religion in Australia is fairly benign. Most of the things the religions do here are socially desirable and relatively benign.
(Jupp, by the way, says he is “not a person of faith”, though he won’t lay claim to being an atheist either. Phillip Adams has recently interviewed Jupp and two other contributors about The Encyclopedia of Religion In Australia.)
There is, surely, no objective way of judging the question. ‘Religion’ is far too broad a category to say anything much that is coherent about its virtues or vices. Personal experience counts for a lot in this debate, and evidence heavily skewed to a sample of one just doesn’t stack up in the reasoned argument stakes.
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Climate Justice
(22 October 09)by Greg Spearritt
The fundamental religious and ethical dimension of Climate Change is clearly enunciated by Desmond Tutu. In a word, it’s about justice: Africa’s poorest will be among those to suffer worst from changes that are probably in large part the legacy of the way rich Australians, Americans and Europeans have lived and continue to live.
In the lead-up to Copenhagen, when real-world politics will face a critical test of ethics and possibly even the long-term survival of humanity, every attempt should be made to prod the Australian Government into real action (a genuine carbon tax, for instance, as opposed to its weak-kneed ETS). Perhaps Saturday, 24 October – the International Day of Climate Action – is an opportunity to ring or send a message to a politician. (Some sound advice on getting the attention of pollies is presented on the ‘Electronic Frontiers Australia’ website).
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Is God unhappy?
(21 October 09)by Greg Spearritt
Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney Anglican Diocese, has been doing some soul-searching. He suspects God’s not happy. How else to account for the plunge of around $160 million in Sydney Diocese investments?
Jensen is quoted by the Oz as telling the Sydney Diocesan Synod that the church was "up against a large challenge and there is no guarantee whatever that we will survive except as a small but wealthy cult". (As opposed to what it has been, of course: a moderately large and very wealthy cult.)
So what on earth did God have in mind? To his credit, Jensen has apparently considered whether the Almighty might not approve of the Sydney stance on gay priests. (Don’t hold your breath for that horse to come home.)
He’s also canvassed the possibility that the Lord may not actually be “directly speaking to us through these large losses”. For folk who believe God acts through history and freely intervenes in human affairs, though, that’s a big ask.
Since the Archbishop is floundering, he might appreciate some suggestions to ponder. I have a couple to get the ball rolling:
- The Diocese could try giving a great deal more of its wealth to the poor and following Jesus
- Perhaps it’s a sign biblical literalism isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
Any more ideas?
2010 Global Atheist Convention
(06 October 09)by Greg Spearritt
Richard Dawkins, AC Grayling, Peter Singer, Phillip Adams and Catherine Deveny are among the speakers at next year’s Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne. The Convention runs from 12 - 14 March, 2010.
Atheism in Australia, according to Deveny, is “going off like a frog in a sock”, and the clear intention of the organisers (the Atheist Foundation of Australia and Atheist Alliance International) is to ‘sock it to ‘em’ and show some atheist muscle.
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Religions don't deserve special treatment
(04 October 09)by Scott McKenzie
Religions don't deserve special treatment
“It is time to reverse the prevailing notion that religious commitment is intrinsically deserving of respect.
It is time to reverse the prevailing notion that religious commitment is intrinsically deserving of respect, and that it should be handled with kid gloves and protected by custom and in some cases law against criticism and ridicule.”
So writes AC Grayling in The Guardian on 19 October 2006. Well worth a look.
The pros and cons of discrimination
(04 October 09)by Greg Spearritt
The recent debate in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald about the Victorian Attorney-General’s decision to exempt religious groups/schools from aspects of anti-discrimination law has raised much food for thought. Here are the contributions, by date:
(Sept 29 –John Mcintyre, Anglican Bishop of Gippsland)
Christians should support equality and human rights laws, not seek exemptions.
(Sept 29 – Dick Gross, atheist blogger)
The right wing bit of our broad church of the religious community has done it again. It has actively campaigned on promoting prejudice and bigotry and won.
Freedom of religion is also a basic right
(Sept 30 – Rob Ward, Victorian Director of The Australian Christian Lobby)
Telling a church or a mosque it can't employ people who share its ethos is a bit like telling the Labor Party it must employ Liberals.
Why the Bishop is wrong on faith and rights
(Sept 30 – Kevin Donnelly, former Liberal staffer and Executive Director of Melbourne-based consulting group Education Strategies)
Bishop John McIntyre criticises the decision by Attorney-General Rob Hulls to continue to allow faith-based schools to discriminate in terms of who they employ.
Balancing religion and rights: the case against discrimination
(Oct 4 – Margaret Thornton, professor of law at the Australian National University)
Allowing religious organisations to discriminate runs contrary to community standards.
Balancing religion and rights: the case for discrimination
(Oct 4 – Denis Hart, Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne)
Religious organisations must have the right to act in ways consistent with their beliefs.
Hulls' lack of courage leaves discrimination entrenched
(Oct 4 – Editorial)
We must be cautious about allowing any group the right to discriminate.
Teacher scorned for 'chosen lifestyle'
(Oct 4 – news item, Melissa Fyfe, journalist)
This is an example of the largely unseen discrimination that will be allowed to continue under last week's decision by Attorney-General Rob Hulls to grant religious organisations the right to continue to reject employees on the grounds of sex, sexuality, marital and parental status and gender identity.
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A discriminating decision
(29 September 09)by Greg Spearritt
In the recent action of Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls we see more confirmation of the irrelevance of some churches: it’s exactly as Don Cupitt observes in his 2008 book The Meaning of the West (SCM, p.34):
The Church clings to its old inefficiencies, discriminations and injustices, and repeatedly demands for itself opt-outs from legislation that would require it to get its treatment of its own employees, women, gays and other groups up to decent contemporary secular standards.
Hold on a minute, though: before we tar all Church leaders with the same brush, let’s give credit where it’s due. The Anglican Bishop of Gippsland, John McIntyre, has made a spirited objection to Hull’s actions which ought to give hope to progressive Christians everywhere. He says, in part:
How bizarre that the followers of Jesus Christ would oppose, and ask for exemptions from, a legal instrument that has at its heart a declaration of the dignity and value of every human life and the basic rights of every person. Jesus of all people, would champion an affirmation of fundamental human rights, which especially benefits marginalised groups in society and those least able to protect themselves.
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Who do Americans mistrust the most?
(28 September 09)by Scott McKenzie
A recent piece in Psychology Today reports on yet another study that finds Atheists to be "the most mistrusted group" in the United States.
When asked in a national survey to identify segments of the population which did "not all agree with my vision of American society," ten groups were listed. Some were religious -- Christians, Muslims and Jews -- while others covered ethnic categories (Asians, blacks). Still others were traditional targets of popular animus, such as homosexuals and immigrants. The category which elicited the most opprobrium, however, was Atheists. When it came to marriage and other indicators of social acceptance, the godless were the most despised, marginalized and excluded.
Psychology Today contributor Gad Saad observed, "This might be one of the saddest scientific findings I have ever read." He cited a roll-call of famous luminaries including Albert Einstein, Francis Crick, Linus Pauling, Bertrand Russell and others who fall into the Atheist or non-believer category. There have been Atheist men and women who have made astounding contributions to the welfare of humanity, who have fought for civil liberties and individual rights, who have struggled against considerable odds to make the world a more peaceful, tolerant and nourishing space -- and to no avail, at least, it appears, to the average American.
Religious Instruction
(25 September 09)by Greg Spearritt
A good number of children in Australian state schools spend half an hour each week in exile from the classroom because their parents can’t abide the thought of them being subjected to the naively-realist conservative religious propaganda that the Religious Instruction program serves up.
The Talking Squid backs up my own experiences as a parent and a teacher concerning the materials that are used (often emanating from Sydney Anglican Diocese). I’d add to that the selection (usually self-selection) of people who deliver the program: enthusiastic, usually well-meaning people of faith with little or no theological education who take this state-sanctioned opportunity to promote biblical literalism and pump sacrificial atonement theory into the kids for all they’re worth.
At least the Queensland Education system has had the grace to switch back to calling the program “RI”: at one stage it was known as Religious Education, which in 99% of cases it most certainly was not.
An alternative that encourages children to explore issues ethically without the baggage of uncritical, conservative religion makes a lot of sense: but not, apparently, to the NSW State Government’s religious education advisory panel.
A good place to start would be with the work of Professor Phillip Cam, renowned for bringing quality philosophy programs into primary schools. (There’s an example on You-Tube of Cam’s work.)
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Religion ain't what it used to be
(24 September 09)by Greg Spearritt
Nicholas Rundle (our man in Adelaide) points us to an stimulating article on the Social Science Research Council website in the US.
‘Rethinking secularism and religion in the global age’ is a discussion with sociologist of religion, Robert Bellah about the place of ritual vis-à-vis thought or theory in religion. Has religion ‘evolved’ into philosophy out of ritual beginnings? And if so, is this necessarily a move toward secularism?
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Books for the Boys in Blue
(05 September 09)by Greg Spearritt
Good news! Every policeman graduating from the police academy in Goulbourn will now be offered a Bible – but not just any old Holy Writ. It’s the new policeman-blue version especially designed by the Bible Society for the wallopers of NSW.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, these new Bibles
contain the police prayer and images of police on the beat. They also feature ''situational'' chapters with specific readings on grief, ethics, integrity, leadership, sin and, perhaps less practically for police, forgiveness.
We’re assured that it’s the Bible Society, not the NSW taxpayer footing the bill for this innovation (though it’s not clear whether tax-deductibility comes into it).
Now who’ll step up to offer a cop-coloured Koran? Or the Blue Books version of Bertrand Russell’s ‘Why I am Not a Christian’?
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Don't Mention the... Church
(02 September 09)by Greg Spearritt
It’s September, so be prepared. Over the next 6 weeks, 90% of you – if all goes to plan – will be seeing a prime-time ad or billboard about Jesus at least ten times, courtesy of the Bible Society, local churches (including Catholics, Brethren and Hillsong) and a largely-tax-deductable $1.8 million. You might even be lucky enough to cop the “viral internet component” of the campaign.
One marker of success, as Bible Society chief executive Daniel Willis told The Age, will be a boost to regular church attendance in Australia (currently around 8%).
And yet the campaign (“Jesus. All about life”) was apparently designed to take our minds off church. Willis admitted:
Research showed us that people were not really happy about the church. When we started this research in 2003, all the problems that were associated with the church were being raised, and there was a lot of bad press. The church was anathema but Jesus was fine.
So be prepared to hear about “who Jesus is and what he actually said” and “the truth of the Bible” without, presumably, much mention of church (or of the Jesus Seminar, for that matter).
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Conversation or Conversion?
(21 August 09)by Greg Spearritt
Anglican Bishop Tom Frame is Director of St Mark's National Theological Centre and head of the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University. He has a new book out, reportedly lamenting the weakness of the Churches and their message in Australia.
In Losing My Religion: Unbelief In Australia he says:
The Christianity that most Australians have encountered is weak and insipid and in more than a few instances uninspiring and unintelligible, and the majority have no idea of what the Christian religion is offering.
It seems that among the factors contributing to a decline in faith in Australia is an inability among Christians to stand up and express clearly and resolutely what they believe.
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But Frame makes clear in an interview on Radio National Breakfast that he’s not promoting bible-bashing. He argues that Christianity should engage with non- (or tepidly-) religious Australians, but that the encounter should be in the form of conversation, not point-scoring debate.
It sounds good at first blush. However, ‘conversation’ here has a very clear sub-text: to whit, conversion. Frame himself has a firm view of his own faith, based as it is on what he considers “strong and compelling” evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. My question is whether there can really be genuine conversation if one party has a position fixed in the cement of fervent religious belief (or unbelief, for that matter) and, to boot, a hope that the other party will come round to their way of thinking.
It’s a bit like the situation in anthropology:
In their studies of the cultures of other people, even those anthropologists who sincerely love the people they study almost never think they are learning something about the way the world really is.
(Riesman, quoted in Bernard McGrane, Beyond Anthropology [Columbia Uni Press, 1989] 128)
In ‘conversation’ of the kind Frame envisages, can the Christians – the ones firm in their faith, the ones Frame believes need to engage with non-believers – engage so that they are genuinely open to the possibility that their faith may not after all be justified? If their position is not in the teensiest bit provisional, how can the conversation be genuine?
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Reconciling science and religion?
(18 August 09)by Scott McKenzie
Jerry Coyne, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, has written an excellent analysis of efforts to effect a reconciliation between science and religion. He has done this by way of reviewing two new books by scientists who are practising Christians, both of whom attempt to demonstration the needed reconciliation.
Coyne shows the failure in their attempts, and in the process examines the many aspects of the science-religion conflict. It is a 12 page piece but well worth the read to find Coyne's view that the reconciliation is impossible, at least with traditional Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
The article was published in The New Republic in February this year.
One in the Eye for Dawkins?
(15 August 09)by Greg Spearritt
Karen Armstrong has responded to Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion with a new book. Peter Kirkwood’s review suggests that The Case for God: What Religion Really Means is much more than a cogent refutation of simple-minded atheism.
Evidently, Armstrong quotes Einstein:
To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself to us as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our full faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms -- this knowledge, this feeling is at the centre of all true religiousness.
Having read a couple of previous Armstrong books, I have no doubt she could make a compelling case for religion. To be fair to Dawkins, though, I do wonder whether what she describes in The Case for God bears much resemblance to religion as it is actually practiced by the naively-realist 95% of pew- or prayer-mat-warmers.
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Profiles of the Godless
(05 August 09)by Scott McKenzie
Last year the Center for Inquiry asked members to participate in a ground-breaking, first-of-its-kind survey of nonbelievers. Thousands responded and the results are in!
Luke Galen, associate professor of psychology at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, has released the findings of his study and published an article summarizing the results in the most recent issue of Free Inquiry magazine, the flagship publication of CFI's sister organization, the Council for Secular Humanism.
In his article, Galen notes that other researchers have collected mountains of data about the attitudes and characteristics of believers, but there's far less information about nonbelievers. Even worse, what little data does exist has often been collected accidentally.
Galen's study is the first to direct a full range of sociological survey questions specifically at our population of "nones" (as nonbelievers have usually been identified by pollsters).
In addition - and perhaps most significantly - Galen's data calls into question the oft-reported link between strong religious belief and mental health.
The Divine Dumbledore
(03 August 09)by Greg Spearritt
The Harry Potter Alliance is a group dedicated to creative and innovative action on social justice issues. Whether it’s raising money for victims of oppression in Darfur and Burma, supporting local food banks or promoting equal marriage for LGBT folk, members of the HPA draw their inspiration from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels and in particular from the character Albus Dumbledore.
Are we seeing the rise of a genuinely secular, this-worldly religion?:
What Would Dumbledore Do?: 100 Lessons on Living from the World’s Greatest Wizard
While this project has been coordinated by the HP Alliance, it is happening because of the entire Harry Potter fandom and our love for a fictional character who continues to serve us as a real teacher in transforming our lives and our world to be based on love.
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Living in Sin
(29 July 09)by Greg Spearritt
Though the Church of England says it’s not condoning sex before marriage, it’s taken the step of introducing a double whammy of a service: the ‘hatch ‘n’ match’, or marriage for a de facto couple plus baptism of their children.
Such a ceremony is opposed by those few whose mouths morph into a cat’s bum at the very mention of the phrase ‘living together’, but there can be no doubt that cohabitation is no longer seriously considered ‘living in sin’ in our society.
Not so long ago it was scandalous behaviour. So have the clergy and the religiously devout acquired tolerance on this issue, or have they simply had no choice but to accommodate to the way we live nowadays? Or does it indicate the irrelevance of old-style religious moralising in an increasingly secular society?
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A Speck in the Sea of Existence
(22 July 09)by Greg Spearritt
Does the immensity of the universe – or perhaps even the multiverse – inspire religious terror, wonder… or just more hubris based on an inflated view of our significance in it?
Marcia Bartusiak argues that it’s not all about us.
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A Future for Progressive Christianity?
(21 July 09)by Greg Spearritt
SoFiA member Jim Norman has alerted us to a thought-provoking article by Rita Nakashima Brock on the website of The Centre for Progressive Christianity. It’s titled ‘We Might Need the End of Progressive Christianity’ and, being written by an ‘insider’, pulls no punches. For instance:
Most progressive Christians don't even know the strand of their own tradition well enough to have a clue about the vast and profound cultural differences involved in encountering another religion. Instead, they like to dabble in an eclectic "spirituality." This same tolerance applies to their view of race: side-by-side, respectful, and profoundly unintegrated and unengaged, so they tend to be kindly and paternalistic or admiring and fawning.
Can progressive Christians escape the ‘woolly-thinker’ label for so long associated with religious liberalism and find a way forward?
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Scaling Sacred Heights
(20 July 09)by Greg Spearritt
The Chaser team has hit the news (again) for attempting to scale the spire of St John’s Anglican Church in Canberra while K. Rudd & spouse were at Holy Communion. This, of course, at a time when a draft management plan calls for a ban on people climbing Uluru. The Prime Minister apparently wants the climb to remain open.
The Federal Government’s Environment website, however, makes it plain that
[t]he traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park ask visitors not to climb Uluru because of its spiritual significance as the traditional route of the ancestral Mala men on their arrival at Uluru.
Respect is surely the keyword for dealing with sensitive cultural and religious matters. Respecting the religious tradition of the local Aborigines should therefore mean not climbing. But what if climbing Uluru is a ‘spiritual’ experience for some of those who do it?
(A useful presentation of pros and cons for climbing can be found here.)
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Women are People, Too
(15 July 09)by Greg Spearritt
Long-time Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter has explained his (biblically-underpinned) reasons for cutting ties with the Southern Baptist Convention. His enlightened rant points out the need for all faiths to respect people regardless of sex/gender:
The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter.
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Insecurity and Religious Belief
(07 July 09)by Greg Spearritt
Tomas James Rees, writing in the Journal of Religion and Society, investigates a possible link between personal insecurity and the intensity of religious belief. He considers the puzzle of why modernisation is linked to increased secularisation in some countries but not in others.
Though he doesn’t specifically mention Australia, our situation is clearly in keeping with his thesis.
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The Good Ol’ Days
(05 July 09)by Greg Spearritt
According to art critic/”cultural commentator” Giles Auty, postmodernism has usurped communism as “Christianity's most persistent and relentless recent foe”:
Now postmodernism in all its largely Marxist-inspired guises - political correctness, gender theory, feminism, post-colonialism, determinism, deconstruction, relativism, structuralism, historical revisionism - has become a stealthier and thus even more sinister adversary that flourishes, generally unremarked, in our midst.
It’s a topic Giles has been banging on about for years. Especially in the arts and in education, it seems, an evil plot is unfolding, driven by the Devil’s Left-hand men (and, as even Giles would acknowledge, women).
Giles pines for the days when ‘the truth’ was singular and tradition ruled the roost: a time of “truth, honour, objectivity, altruism, justice and religious faith”.
Like, for instance, when priests were revered by a submissive public and merely shuffled from parish to parish if their proclivities for sex with little boys became inconvenient. A time when homosexuals were justly persecuted, when men altruistically barred women from tertiary education and the professions, and theft was uncommon (unless you counted the theft of country and children from heathen indigenous folk).
Ah, the good old days of traditional Christian authoritarianism. Don’t you miss ‘em?
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Belief and 'g'
(28 June 09)by Greg Spearritt
In The Chronicle of Higher Education, associate professor in the department of behavioural and applied sciences at Texas A&M International University, Christopher J. Ferguson, dismisses Howard Gardner's influential theory of multiple intelligences. There’s just one intelligence, says Ferguson, ‘g’, and either you’ve got it or you haven’t.
One must assume that the vast majority of medical students have it. Yet a surprising number of those I’ve known personally have had a conservative, even fundamentalist, approach to religion.
I’ve thought the idea of multiple intelligences might help to account for this: maybe lots of med students are ‘logical-mathematical’ thinkers instead of ‘verbal-linguistic’, for instance. Medicine requires ingesting and regurgitating a large quantity of facts, where an Arts degree demands critical analysis and synthesis of ideas. Perhaps the critical thinking skills required to question received religious doctrines are just poorly developed in many of these students.
Ferguson argues that the ‘multiple intelligences’ theory “fundamentally conflates intelligence and motivation”. So perhaps the intelligent, educated students who read sacred texts literally are simply motivated to do so in ways that over-ride the application of their intelligence to their beliefs.
Whatever the answer, belief, and religious belief in particular, is a complex phenomenon. There seems to be a lot more going on than ‘g’.
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God and Science don't mix
(26 June 09)by Scott McKenzie
Lawrence Krauss, who sme of us met in Melbourne at the SoFiA Conference last year, has written a piece for the Wall Street Journal "God and Science don't mix". He reports some esults of a panel he was on that addressed this sort of topic, with scientists of both persuasions (atheist and Christian) speaking.
Krauss points out, as many of us do from time to time, the disconnect between what Christians believe and say, and how they behave, in relation to God' concern for4 each of us as individuals. He starts off noting that scientists do their work assuming that God (or his agents) won't interfere in any way. Sounds reasonable?
But in other aspects such as health we insure against ill-health rather than trust in God, or go to a doctor rather than praying for help. Is there a disconnect here?
Don Cupitt talks about the end of Christianity starting when a couple of otherwise religious Scots businessmen insured their cargoes from abroad against loss at sea several hundred years ago. Niall Ferguson made reference to thsi event during hs "Ascent of Money" episode a couple of mweeks ago. Why if you trust in God, do you insure anything against loss?
The Faith-Healing Flaw
(18 June 09)by Greg Spearritt
I recall Don Cupitt suggesting that the death of God should be traced to the time when life insurance entered the scene.
This excerpt from thehistoryof.net points up this connection (and contains a delicious irony):
The first American insurance corporation was sponsored by a church – the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia – for their ministers and their dependents. Then other needs for insurance were discovered and, in the 1830s, the practice of classifying risks was begun. Although there was religious prejudice against the practice of insurance by a church, after 1840 it declined and life insurance boomed.
It makes sense: if God is in fact who many contemporary conservative-evangelical Christians claim Him to be, insurance is nothing but evidence of a lack of faith. And surely the same should apply to medicine.
Unfortunately, a couple in the US is facing up to 10 years’ jail for manslaughter for holding this very view. Instead of seeking medical help, they relied on prayer as their daughter died of pneumonia.
Most conservative Christians would not hold views as extreme as this. The question is: why not? Nothing in the Bible suggests seeking a physician is an important adjunct to faith healing. And does God answer prayer, or not?
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The Pope's Physician Hits the News
(16 June 09)by Greg Spearritt
What do Australians – or, at least, Australian newspapers – find newsworthy about religion?
After a year and a half of trawling through the websites of ABC News Online and the major Fairfax and News Ltd papers in search of articles about religious topics, I find some interesting facts emerging. Interesting, but probably not so very surprising.
If (God forbid) you were to rely on these news sources for a snapshot of our society, you would probably believe that Catholics and Muslims are the only religious people doing anything really worth reporting on, both in Australia and overseas. And much of what they’re up to is bad.
(The figures, very roughly, are these. In almost 70 weeks of reporting, here are the number of weeks in which the following are mentioned at least once:
Muslims 68, Catholics 67, Anglicans 60, Jews 45, Buddhists 43, Scientologists 24, Atheists 21, Orthodox/Eastern 20, Uniting Church 18, Exclusive Brethren 17, Baha'i 16, Witchcraft 15, Mormons 14, Hindus 14, Baptists 11, Hillsong 11, Salvation Army 11, Pagans 10, Sikhs 7, Lutherans 4, Presbyterians 4, Jehovah’s Witness 3, Seventh-Day Adventist 3, Spiritualists 2, Zoroastrians 1.
In a given week, however, there are usually far more articles about Muslims and Catholics than about any of the others.)
Why so much on Muslims and Catholics?
Religious violence, of course, accounts for many of the articles mentioning Islam. General reference to the Middle East accounts for many more. In articles about events in Australia, controversy over different cultural standards and issues like opposition to Islamic schools – as well as terrorism trials – feature strongly.
For the Catholics, child sexual abuse is right up there with the doings of the Pope. In reporting on Australia, sexual abuse by Catholic clergy again features, as does the Pope. In fact, whatever the Pope does seems to be considered newsworthy – did you know, for instance, that he just changed his doctor?
It should not be surprising, I suggest, that our news media especially pick up on the violent, abusive, outdated, intolerant, intransigent and illiberal aspects of religion. Certainly, there are articles which paint religion in a much more favourable light, but clearly these don’t sell newspapers. Nothing sells like controversy, and in the world of religion today, the Catholics and Muslims seem to have cornered the market on it.
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In God Our Pollies Trust
(09 June 09)by Greg Spearritt
We expect religion to feature in US politics, but why in Australia, where God-bothering is an even more marginal sport than soccer? In a new article, Anna Crabb examines the increasing prominence of religion in Australian politics.
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New articles and reviews
(02 June 09)by Greg Spearritt
In our newest set of online articles and reviews:
- Peter Bore muses about the big questions and in particular the biggest of all: ‘how should we live?’.
- Religion writer Alison Cotes reviews the latest Dan Brown movie, ‘Angels and Demons’;
- Greg Spearritt looks at Don Cupitt’s recent book The Meaning of the West in which Cupitt claims the long-promised Kingdom is finally manifest here on earth;
- Rodney Eivers assesses Who On Earth Was Jesus?, the latest book by our 2009 Conference speaker David Boulton; and
- Judith Bore looks with tenderness on Don Cupitt’s Impossible Loves.
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Angels, Demons and Fatwas
(01 June 09)by Malcolm Brown
The review of ‘Angels and Demons’ that is reproduced in this month’s Sea of Faith Bulletin includes these words: ‘Rushdie’s life was endangered when the Ayatollah Khomeini imposed a fatwa, or sentence of death.’ The review was taken from the American Atheist News, I enjoyed reading (most of) it, and – I want to emphasise this point – it was entirely appropriate to reproduce it in the Bulletin.
So, what’s my problem? Simply this: a fatwa is not a sentence of death, and never has been. A fatwa is a legal opinion, issued by a suitably qualified Islamic jurist. Usuli Shi’a Muslims – such as the majority in Iran – are expected to follow the fatwas of a living mujtahid (jurist capable of exercising independent legal judgement). Khomeinin died some 20 years ago, so he doesn’t count any more!
One of the most notable Sunni fatwas on the twentieth century was the Al-Azhar Shi’a Fatwa, an exemplary piece of Islamic ecumenism. A recent one forbids the use of weapons of mass destruction, reportedly because they endanger the lives of Muslims as well as non-Muslims, but I haven’t yet seen the text (which I would expect to value the lives of non-Muslims as well). The same scholar, Ali Gomaa, has issued a fatwa forbidding female genital mutilation, which he describes as ‘a deplorable custom’ with ‘no written grounds in the Qur’an’.
Is life sacred?
(01 June 09)by Scott McKenzie
Universal moral precepts are finding it difficult to survive in a postmodern world where all standards appear to be relative to one’s point of view. Here, Peter Kuttner reflects on his own personal encounter with the question of whether life really is sacred.
This is a question that we might well all face eventually as overpopulation and diminishing resources, together with life-lengthening advances in medicine, conspire to confront us with this question.
Those Godless Clergy
(26 May 09)by Greg Spearritt
It’s a never-ending source of media fascination: the clergy who doubt the out-there divinity thing.
At one end of the spectrum is outrage, for example in Tess Livingstone’s Australian opinion piece condemning Fr Peter Kennedy for doubting the existence of Jesus. How hypocritical of him to celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday! (See Australian Story or ABC TV iview for more on what Kennedy believes – or doesn’t.)
A much more sympathetic hearing is given to former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway by Andrew West of the Sydney Morning Herald. Holloway, who’s in Australia promoting Between The Monster And The Saint, his most recent book about the Church, also still presides at Holy Communion, despite being an avowed agnostic.
You have to concede that the Livingstones of the world have a point. None of Kennedy’s doubts were voiced in any significant public way while he was at St Mary’s Catholic Church. Obviously, they would have constituted far too much of a challenge to orthodox Catholic teaching to be acceptable to the Catholic Powers that Be. Holloway, too, has become far more vocal on such matters as a retired bishop. In his case, articulating some of his ideas may not have been fatal to his career, but they’d certainly have made it rockier.
Did Holloway and Kennedy – like the significant minority of clergy still on the job who have similar doubts – fail their congregations by keeping schtum?
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Onward Christian Soldiers
(20 May 09)by Scott McKenzie
Let me predict here and now an enormous outrage among Muslim nations as news of the material I am about to show you filters out around the world. I was gradually more and more stunned as I turned the pages.
Journalist Robert Douglas has obtained a set of cover sheets for the Secretary of Defense Worldwide Intelligence Update, a classified daily briefing that was hand delivered (only 16 copies made) to George Bush and selected White House aides.
Why Should an Atheist be Ethical?
(19 May 09)by Greg Spearritt
Dr John Dickson, director of the conservative-evangelical Centre for Public Christianity, asks in an opinion piece on the ABC news site:
What is there in the atheist's perspective that can rationally inspire love and discourage hate?... On what grounds can the atheist speak rationally of the high and equal value of the poor or the weak or the asylum seeker?
Most atheists in our society do choose love over hate, he acknowledges, but queries whether this choice is “anything more than a mere preference, a product of 'feelings' as atheist Bertrand Russell famously acknowledged”.
The agnostic Bishop Richard Holloway seems to confirm Dickson’s point. He begins with a quote from Spanish philosopher, Miguel de Unamuno:
'Man is perishing, that may be, but if it is nothingness that await us, let us perish resisting and let us so live that it will be an unjust fate.' I want people to live as though life had eternal meaning. Even if you don't believe in a God of unconditional love, choose to live as though there were.
Is ethical behaviour, though, a clear-cut case of rational Christian action and ‘mere preference’ for atheists?
If the Christian theist’s actions are influenced by the idea of a loving God – as Dickson’s article implies – why is that ‘rational’ rather than ‘emotional’? A desire to please God is logical if you have a fear of hell or desire for heaven, but otherwise surely it’s a product of ‘feelings’ just as much as Russell’s atheistic ethical actions.
The hope of cosmic superannuation might rationally inspire good behaviour, but I think even Dickson would find that an unpalatable motive.
Surely, too, there are ‘rational’ reasons for atheists to act morally: for example, a society that cares about the poor and disadvantaged and values human worth is logically likely to have lower rates of social alienation and therefore less crime.
This very question, the warrant for ethical behaviour in a post-Christian age, will be the theme of the 2010 National SoFiA Conference in Brisbane. Keep an eye on our main page for links to the details as they come to hand.
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The Call of Islam
(19 May 09)by Malcolm Brown
Liberation theology, inter-religious solidarity, feminism, justice for people with AIDS.
Not words you will often hear associated with Islam. However, leading South African Muslim Farid Esack has brought them together in his reflections on the Muslim role in the anti-apartheid struggle, and its relevance for today. His website includes articles on these issues, and more. It also has information about his books, including “On Being a Muslim”, and the excellent “Qur’an, Liberation and Pluralism”.
Here’s a snippet: “I can use Islam and its text, the Qur’an, to re-enforce all my prejudices, to shed them or to re-work them.”
Sound familiar?
Cupitt for Archbishop!
(15 May 09)by Malcolm Brown
Whenever I read Don Cupitt, I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with about half of what he says, and violently disagreeing with the other half. I wouldn’t have it any other way. So, how could I resist this petition on Facebook?
“Don Cupitt for Archbishop of Canterbury
“Don Cupitt is England's (forgotten?) theological genius. It is my belief that the only way to correct such sinful neglect is by enthroning him as the next Archbishop of Canterbury - or, as a compromise measure, working alongside Rowan in a job share.
“Join this group now and help put radical liberal theology back where it belongs - Lambeth Palace.”
I love the job share idea. As long as he works on the days that I agree with him.
Religion That Moves With the Times
(13 May 09)by Greg Spearritt
Commenting on the current situation in Pakistan, Tanveer Ahmed writes in the Sydney Morning Herald:
Laws that were designed to protect women in the tribal clans of the sixth century now hold back the aspirations of half the population. What women now need protecting from, within Islam, is the idea that they need so much protection.
It’s another case of human customs, developed for a specific cultural and social context, becoming set in the cement of religion. Even in Australia, where real religious fervour has ebbed to a record low, ideas once enshrined in religious text or edict continue to have a powerful effect. Whether the issue is homosexuality, the roles and rights of women or voluntary euthanasia, we still have centuries-old views from entirely different cultural contexts exerting their influence by dint of their association with religion.
‘Progressive religion’, however, is not an oxymoron. Religion that can move with times and distinguish custom from substance and principle is happening more and more (and now more!) in Australia - and even in America.
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New articles and reviews
(09 May 09)by Greg Spearritt
A new set of articles and reviews is now online:
- The Noah Assignment – how did Noah manage it?
- Spiritual Experiences in a Secular World – ideas and experiences from one of the local Brisbane SoF groups.
- Seriously Secular – has religion had its day?
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – revisited after all these years
- Reviews of Don Cupitt’s Above Us Only Sky, Michael Hampson’s God Without God? and Peter Kirkwood’s The Quiet Revolution.
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Why we believe in Gods!
(02 May 09)by Scott McKenzie
Brian Wilder sent in this YouTube piece of Andrew Thomson presenting a talk on "Why We Believe in Gods" at the American Atheist Convention 2009 in Atlanta Georgia.
This talk (all 54 minutes of it) draws on a wide range of studies in neuroscience in particular but also in evolutionary psychology and related disciplines, to explain how our brains evolved in such a way as to make us susceptible (vulnerable?) to belief in the supernatural.
Justin Barrett covers similar territory in Why Would Anyone Believe in God? (AltaMira Press, 2004)
You need to set aside almost an hour to watch Thomson's quite interesting address which is well supported with PP slides. Interested? Click here.
Humanitarian Religion
(24 April 09)by Greg Spearritt
It’s refreshing to see a religious point of view reported in the Australian press that clearly has compassion – rather than self-righteous judgement – at its root.
Darwin imam Adam Konda has a response to the recent arrival and disastrous experience of Afghan and Iranian asylum-seekers aboard SIEV 36 that suggests a very humane and laudable perspective on Islam.
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Science & Religion: Hear, Hear!
(23 April 09)by Greg Spearritt
Some audio snippets from the plenary session of the 2008 SoFiA National Conference are now available online.
Physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss and philosopher with a special interest in evolution John Wilkins respond to these questions:
· Is organised religion helpful or unhelpful to science?
· Is there any value in scientists engaging with religious fundamentalists?
· Why are you, or are you not, religious?
· What do you think of Richard Dawkins’ approach to religion?
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Defending the Offensive
(21 April 09)by Greg Spearritt
I seldom agree with much that Australian columnist Jane Albrechtsen has to say, but on the issue of free speech I’m behind her 100 per cent. (Her contribution and that of David Marr’s to the recent IQ2 debate on this topic are well worth hearing.)
‘Openness’ is prized by the Sea of Faith Network because it is a necessary condition for allowing genuine autonomy of thought – that is, for treating people as grown-ups capable of deciding for themselves what they should think. It means being able to hear and assess all points of view, whether ridiculous, sublime, unorthodox or even offensive. No topic should be taboo for us.
For centuries we in the West have been – as Don Cupitt puts it in The Meaning of the West – outgrowing “the repressive boarding-school culture of the Church”. Now the State, if Albrechtsen and other commentators are to be believed, is showing signs of stepping into the breach.
BTW, Cupitt has an interesting sidelight to this free speech issue:
Blasphemy used to be an offence directly against God, and God punished it with suitable thunderbolts; but today blasphemy is an offence against human religious susceptibilities, and no more than that. With the disappearance of the sacred, blasphemy has come down in the world.
(The Meaning of the West, SCM 2008, p.129)
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The Jesus Vote
(17 April 09)by Greg Spearritt
Would Jesus vote for the British National Party?
Despite sentiment such as that from eleven C of E bishops in the UK who said in 2004 that “voting for or supporting a political party that offers racist policies is like spitting in the face of God", the BNP has apparently recruited Jesus in the lead-up to June 2009 elections for the European Parliament.
I suppose it’s fair enough. Jesus no longer has a US election to distract him, and he won’t have to choose between Kevin from Heaven and Mal from H...eavens knows where for another couple of years.
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Believers are away with the fairies
(12 April 09)by Scott McKenzie
We'd be better off without religion, argues AC Grayling, who is a keynote speaker in a major debate on the futility of faith in London tomorrow (30 March 2007) He says:
"There is an increasingly noisy and bad-tempered quarrel between religious people and non-religious people in contemporary society.
It has flared up in the past few years, and has quickly taken a bitter turn. Why is this so?"
Grayling makes an important point about faith-based schools (and in particular, government funding of them) that we need to take well into account. This is of signifixcance to me since I chair the board of one such school.
Rudd, Recession & Religious Rhetoric
(09 April 09)by Greg Spearritt
David Burchell, writing in The Australian, takes Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown to task for their bout of “windy semonising” at St Paul’s Cathedral during the G20 Summit:
When Rudd crafted a word-picture of modern society torn between rival and incompatible doctrines - one of Friedrich von Hayek-style naked greed, the other on the model of Christian kindness - he revealed a striking lack of interest in the ethics of politics, as opposed to the transcendental morality of the churches. By the same token, when Brown spoke to the assembled prelates at St Paul's about the need for the West to rediscover its moral compass… he revealed only the capacity of windy moralism to obscure the most troubling facts about our economic predicament.
Mutuality à la Adam Smith, not economics based on Christian benevolence or moralising from on high, suggests Burchell, is the way out of the GFC maze.
Regardless of the value of his economic argument, however, in this entertaining article Burchell has some interesting side-swipes at the churches - which today “not uncommonly occupy what we might call an ethical niche-market, with a speciality in the rhetoric of moral reproach.”
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CPX - Conservative Propaganda for Christianity?
(09 April 09)by Greg Spearritt
The Centre for Public Christianity (CPX) has been embraced with worrying enthusiasm by the mainstream Australian media (notably the Fairfax press and that bastion of critical thought, the ABC) and glowingly endorsed by our highest publicly-elected official. What CPX comes out with is portrayed as “the Christian” point of view, and one bolstered by rigorous scholarship to boot.
According to co-founder and director Dr John Dickson, CPX aims to “promote the public understanding of the Christian faith [meaning good ‘ol Nicean orthodoxy, of course] using the best of scholarship by the best of media, which basically means a lot of good, intelligent noise for Christianity in the public sphere”.
Best of scholarship? What he actually means is the best of scholarship that a Moore Theological College-trained Sydney Anglican can bring himself to accept.
You won’t find any of that Jesus Seminar, Spong or FaithFutures nonsense underpinning CPX thinking.
A sample of what you can expect from CPX – the “best of scholarship”:
- Speaking to John Cleary on the ABC, Dickson claims: “The historical core of the birth narratives is a Bethlehem birth.” (This is well-known to be considered of dubious historicity among biblical scholars.)
- “Bizarrely, 31% of Australians think that Jesus lived ‘B.C’—before he was born, so to speak.” - From a CPX press release. (Scholarly consensus is that Jesus was in fact born around 4 or 5 BCE.)
· Teaching about world religions at Macquarie Christian Studies Institute in 2008, Dickson avers that in Australia “over 70% of the population describes itself as ‘Christian' ”. 2006 Census figures published in 2007 show that the actual figure is 64%.
- Dr John in this film trailer proclaims that “around 5%” of people are atheists. It may (or may not) be true worldwide, but it’s well and truly wide of the mark for most Western countries. Adherents.com gives figures of over 20% for more than 30 countries, including Australia (at 24-25%). Other sources, too, give figures for places like Australia that are much higher than 5%. What ‘atheist’ means is a moot point, of course, but in the 2006 Australian Census, 19% stated “no religion”.
CPX has given us an Easter present: a documentary titled Life of Jesus, due to be aired on Channel 7 at 1pm on Good Friday.
It beings with the question: “What happens when the theologians hand over the New Testament to the historians?”. The answers to that, if the trailer is anything to go by, suggest the historians in question (including Dr John himself) might also happen to be Christians. There seems to be a tendency to blur theology (or Christology) and history.
Co-founder and co-director of CPX, Greg Clarke had this to say about Life of Jesus in an opinion piece on the ABC news site:
There is a Jesus who can be explored through history. I have just finished working with colleagues on a six-episode documentary on the life of Jesus, filmed in Israel, that looks at what mainstream historians agree upon in the historical record of Jesus and there's plenty. In fact, in The Historical Figure of Jesus, Duke University historian, Professor EP Sanders goes so far as to say: "There are no substantial doubts about the general course of Jesus' life" (p.11). I do wish the outspoken atheists of our time would give a little respect to the historians on this question.
Perhaps the outspoken Christians of CPX need to give a little more respect to what Sanders has to say elsewhere in The Historical Figure. For example, about the gospels: “There are no sources that give us the ‘unvarnished truth’; the varnish of faith in Jesus covers everything” (p. 73).
They could also give a little more respect to the Australian public – who subsidise the ‘Centre’ through the tax deductibility of donations to it – by not pretending that all Christians think alike. Theologically and socially conservative Christians are but one strand in Australian Christianity.
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New Articles & Reviews
(01 April 09)by Greg Spearritt
A new crop of articles and reviews from our newsletter is now online. (You can, of course, receive such items hot off the press, along with a myriad of other news, ideas and information by becoming a SoFiA member and receiving our monthly Bulletin.)
New Articles
- The Failings of Religion
- Is Science the New Religion?
- What’s Wrong with Buddhism?: An Atheist’s Perspective
- Nor Certitude
- A Psychological Approach to the Experience of Spirituality
- The Origin of Religion
New Reviews
- Karen Armstrong On the Bible
- David Mills Atheist Universe
- Fisk, Robert The Great War for Civilisation & Hamid, Mohsin The Reluctant Fundamentalist
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The Catholic Mass and the St Mary's Saga
(29 March 09)by Greg Spearritt
What is the meaning of the Catholic Mass? Donna Garibaldi sees this as a crucial question in the current furore over St Mary's Catholic Church, South Brisbane:
[For the latest development see Rebel priest to lead Catholic 'community in exile' - ABC News]
Fr Tom Elich, Director of the Liturgical Commission in Brisbane, in his article in The Catholic Leader on March 8, came closest to pointing out the real problem with St. Mary's. The secular media had been caught up in the peripheral issues and focussed on such things as the unfairness of treating an obviously socially aware priest, as Fr Kennedy seems to be, so badly. After all, didn't he look after the disadvantaged and run a very inclusive community? Why then should how he celebrates Mass matter? More…
Science - don't be too dogmatic
(22 March 09)by Scott McKenzie
Harry Collins, a philosopher and sociologist of science in the UK has contributed an interesting piece in Nature that illustrates the difficulties of: 1. treating scientific knowledge as if it provides universal truths 2. emphasizing the 'post-modern' perspective on the social constructivist nature of scientific knowledge. A position somewhere between these is probably more appropriate, Collins claims. This piece is worth reading for its balance, redressing the extremes of Dawkins for example. ……………..
The deification of stupidity
(21 March 09)by Scott McKenzie
AC Grayling writing in the Guardian about the attempt by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to make criticism of religion a case of defamation, points to some of the terrible examples of religious stupidity both Christian and Islamic, that it would be illegal to make comment on.
One recent example of the Christian variety comes from Africa where the Pope has recently fulminated against condoms as exacerbating the spread of HIV/AIDS. Protecting the Pope against criticism for such an absurd position by making it illegal to criticise religion would take us back many centuries in common sense.
Grayling gives examples also from Islamic nations - some of which beggar belief. But it appears that the OIC is pressing hard on this at the United Nations Council on Human Rights in Geneva. That such a group might well be successful in their endeavours is frightening.
Only in America ...
(16 March 09)by Scott McKenzie
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 1ST SESSION OF THE 52ND OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE:
THAT the Oklahoma House of Representative strongly opposes the invitation to speak on the campus of the University of Oklahoma to Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, whose published statements on the theory of evolution and opinion about those who do not believe in the theory are contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most citizens of Oklahoma.
THAT the Oklahoma House of Representatives encourages the University of Oklahoma to engage in an open, dignified, and fair discussion of the Darwinian theory of evolution and all other scientific theories which is the approach that a public institution should be engaged in and which represents the desire and interest of the citizens of Oklahoma.
America - Land of the Free Thinkers
(14 March 09)by Jim Norman
America, Land of the Free Thinkers
Meerkat or ostrich, what's your style? Consider the meerkat, standing vigilant astride its burrow. Then the ostrich - well, everyone knows what ostriches do. Two long-running studies of Americans' religious alignment exemplify these styles. Which is doing the better job of capturing today's religious landscape?
Standing with the meerkats we find Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College. Since 1990 they've helmed the American Religious Identification Study (ARIS). The third of their massive, methodologically consistent surveys was released this week.
ARIS 2008 finds Roman Catholicism in near-collapse across the Northeast. The church of Rome now draws its numbers largely from Hispanics across the South and West. Denominational Protestantism, too, is in decline. Mainline Protestant denominations claimed 17.2 percent of Americans in 2001, just 12.9 percent in 2008. Even Baptists declined as a portion of population. In their place have surged generic or nondenominational evangelical Christian groups (for example, megachurches): 5 percent of Americans in 1990, 11.8 percent today.
Meanwhile, America's fastest-growing religion is ... no religion at all.
Read the rest in the Washington Post's On Faith blog.
Economic Growth: Cancer or Cure?
(12 March 09)by Greg Spearritt
New York Time columnist Tom Friedman, building on the thinking of Paul Gilding, has a crucial question for us.
What if the crisis of 2008 represents something much more fundamental than a deep recession? What if it’s telling us that the whole growth model we created over the last 50 years is simply unsustainable economically and ecologically and that 2008 was when we hit the wall – when Mother Nature and the market both said: ‘No more.’
Is it in fact a time “when both Mother Nature and Father Greed have hit the wall at once”? Or should we, as Kevin Rudd, Barack Obama and many others are attempting to do, get the whole endless-growth-through-consumer-frenzy going again? What other choices do we have?
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God-Spot Scepticism
(10 March 09)by Greg Spearritt
MRI scans, it seems, are all the rage. And they seem to be telling us we have God hard-wired into our brains, as Leigh Dayton (rather vaguely) suggests in a recent article in the Oz. But is MRI all it’s cracked up to be? Sceptic Michael Shermer brings us back to earth with some common sense. .
Helping or Hindering?
(07 March 09)by Greg Spearritt
In part because of our Christian heritage, we in the West consider it our humanitarian duty to help people in need. Trouble is, we don’t always do it in a discriminating or particularly intelligent manner.
Noel Pearson, among others, speaks of the need to cure Aboriginal communities in Australia of welfare dependency. Now Zambian-born economist Dambisa Moyo (as Damien Murphy in the Sydney Morning Herald observes) has made the same point about aid for Africa.
Surely the issue is not so much aid per se, but the form in which it is delivered. The huge ‘Band-Aid’ style projects do not, apparently, result in well-targeted aid. Groups such as Oxfam which focus on helping local communities become healthier and more self-sufficient seem to me a better bet for Western philanthropists.
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Tide of Unbelief
(02 March 09)by Greg Spearritt
In a recent article – and in her usual incisive manner – Geraldine Doogue assesses the times and impact of Billy Graham’s 1959 tour of Oz. His Southern Cross Crusade saw 130,000 Australians come forward to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal saviour.
However, while there are many personal stories of the long-lasting influence of that event (for example on the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Diocese, Peter Jensen), it seems Billy did little in the long run to stave off a steadily advancing secularism:
The statistics on Christian affiliation and practice in this country reveal a steady decline from the 1950s to the present, and show that the Graham crusade did not have a marked effect on Christian belief.
Perhaps, though, it hasn’t been an unremitting tide of secular unbelief. Where have all the Christians gone? Maybe they’re Buddhists now, or into crystals.
Death Throes of the Church?
(24 February 09)by Greg Spearritt
In his latest book, The Meaning of the West: An Apologia for Secular Christianity, radical theologian Don Cupitt argues that Western culture simply is Christianity nowadays. It’s in secular, humanitarian Western society that the outsider is welcomed (e.g. gays), the poor and the weak are cared for (e.g. through aid budgets) and human life is respected and celebrated (at funerals we honour Jill’s life rather than pray for her soul).
God’s creative, compassionate powers have become incarnate in humanity, and the Church’s mission is fulfilled: it’s the Kingdom of God finally “on earth as it is in heaven”.
In all of this, however, the Church has been left behind: “I am very embarrassed by the present-day Church’s ugly moral backwardness” says Cupitt.
We see exactly this played out in the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane in its dealings with the parish of St Mary’s Catholic Church, South Brisbane. This is a parish where compassion and justice are privileged over doctrine, where women are allowed to preach, gay relationships are celebrated and marginalised people are welcomed. It’s all too much for Rome.
St Mary’s shows, in Cupitt’s words, that
Christ has returned and the Church is obsolete (though, as Dostoyevsky foresaw, the Grand Inquisitor is far from pleased; he loves the Church and spiritual power much more than he ever loved Christ).”
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Firing up the Aussie Spirit
(19 February 09)by Greg Spearritt
A friend has drawn my attention to an article by a survivor of the Marysville bushfire on Crikey.com. It's a welcome antidote to the frenzy of nationalism being wrung by the press out of the Victorian bushfires. Worth a squizz!
Monkey's Got a Conscience?
(15 February 09)by Greg Spearritt
Altruism, empathy and a sense of fairness: none of these, apparently, is a uniquely human trait. According to The Australian newspaper, scientists at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) suggest that our conscience – a facility many religious groups consider God-given, unique to humans and in no way the product of evolution – is prefigured in apes and monkeys.
If morality is in the genes, then it will vary from one individual to the next. What might that do to our justice system?
God & Evolution - A Major Mismatch
(11 February 09)by Greg Spearritt
According to The Australian, the Vatican “has admitted that Charles Darwin was on the right track when he claimed that Man descended from apes”. And so it should, of course, acknowledge what is by now the bleeding obvious.
However, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, is said to have “argued yesterday that biological evolution and the Christian view of Creation were complementary”.
I have a logical problem with this. It’s fine to argue that God is somehow the author of evolution: I assume that’s what Archbishop Ravasi is saying. It’s certainly what many liberal Christians seem to believe. But please don’t tell me that God loves his creation.
Evolution is not some warm, fuzzy process magically producing “all things bright and beautiful”. In contrast to the God proclaimed by the Catholic Church, it cares not one whit about individuals. It’s about populations. And worse: for the bulk of the history of life on Earth, natural selection has involved individuals dying agonising deaths, including very frequently being eaten alive.
Here, from my review of Scott Cowdell’s A God for This World, are the words of one Catholic contributor to The New York Times, writing in 1996 after a proclamation by Pope John Paul II endorsing the theory of evolution:
What can one say about evolution, even a spiritual theory of evolution? Pain and suffering, mindless cruelty and terror are its means of creation. Evolution's engine is the grinding of predatory teeth upon the screaming, living flesh and bones of prey… If evolution be true, my faith has rougher seas to sail.
You can have evolution. You can have a loving Creator God. I just don’t see how you can have both.
Pastor Danny Nalliah does it again
(10 February 09)by Jim Norman
Pastor Danny Nalliah has done it again. Now he is blaming the decriminalisation of abortion for the wildfires in Victoria. See the article on the Sydney Morning Herald website.
While no-one can be in favour of too many abortions, it should remain an option in family planning. Pastor Nalliah is guilty of an egregious over-extension of his narrow religious beliefs at a time such as this. When people are hurting over the appalling human costs of the last few days as Victoria has suffered from fires which extend beyond the old definitions of extreme, the last thing they need is bible-bashing pontifications from Danny Nalliah.
Perhaps when the danger has subsided we can discuss issues such as climate change, over-population and "stay-or-leave" policies, but now is not that time. Today we need to be doing what we can to support those who are suffering, whether by donating money, goods or time. Bible-basher finger-pointing does nothing that helps anyone.
If there is a theistic god, perhaps now is the time for him (it, or her?) to do something useful and send a bolt of lightning and finish Pastor Nalliah off!
Charles Darwin on Religion
(07 February 09)by Scott McKenzie
Charles Darwin on Religion
What did Darwin have to say about religion? What were his religious, or anti-religious, beliefs? Did he believe that his theory of evolution by natural selection was incompatible with belief in a Creator? Was it his revolutionary science that turned him into an agnostic? These questions have a special urgency in 2009, the year that marks the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of his most celebrated book, On the Origin of Species (1859).
The piece was written by Professor John Hedley Brooke, the Andreas Idreos Professorship of Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University.
Born believers: how your brain creates God
(06 February 09)by Scott McKenzie
Born believers: how your brain creates God
When human beings lose control over their lives, they become more prone to superstition, spiritual searchings and conspiracy theories.
Some of these losses of control are self-inflicted: studies show that people in risky professions - deep-sea fishermen and sky-divers, for example - perform a greater number of superstitious rituals than those with safe desk jobs. Others, though, are a response to circumstances. For example, people living in high-risk areas of the Middle East, such as Tel Aviv, are much more likely to carry a lucky charm or avoid walking under ladders. A 2007 study showed that the growth rate of evangelical churches in the US jumps 50 per cent with the downturn of each economic cycle. The global downturn is no different: church leaders (and psychics) are now reporting brisk business.
Uncertain times cause us to cast about more widely for explanations of our circumstances - and rational reasoning, alas, does not always come naturally when we are desperate for answers. It is ironic that science is revealing our modern, sophisticated, scientific world view to have a fragile hold on our minds.
(From a New Scientist editorial)
The full story in the New Scientist (4 February) is HERE.
St Mary's South Brisbane
(03 February 09)by Greg Spearritt
Alison Cotes in a recent article about the saga of St Mary’s Catholic Church, South Brisbane, says:
Outside St Mary’s flies a banner proclaiming the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “Everyone has a place in the church. Every person without exception should be able to feel at home and never rejected.” And by welcoming women’s groups, gay people, indigenous people and victims of abuse from within and outside the church, St Mary’s would seem to be doing that. But rules are rules, and church orthodoxy can never change.
The saga of orthodox belief and practice versus relevance, inclusivity and compassion continues. The priest at the centre of the storm is Fr Peter Kennedy, who spoke recently with ABC radio – well worth a listen.
Belief in the Bad Times
(29 January 09)by Greg Spearritt
Bernard Salt of KPMG writes in The Australian about 2006 Census figures concerning religious belief in Australia:
[A] patchwork of values rises and falls across the Australian landscape, and superimposed above the lot is a rising market for godlessness, which is making inroads at a rate of three percentage points every decade. The 2011 census will be interesting because, when compared with 2006, it will capture the nation before and after recession. I suspect godlessness rises when we are feeling confident, secure and immortal and that in troubled times we return, perhaps at the margins, to the notion of needing a saviour.
Could it be true? Does faith really bounce back in the bad times?
Journal of Religion and Society
(27 January 09)by Jim Norman
Previously available as a paid subscription for a physical journal, The Journal of Religion and Society is now available online for free. You can either read the articles online or download them for later study.
As a properly refereed academic journal it comes highly recommended for the level of scholarship whilst still being accessible to the general public.
The latest issue has been released, details below, and you can sign up to receive email notification of the latest edition.
I like the fact that it is genuinely across the range of religions (though Christian issues are the most likely to be discussed at present).
Give it a try.
Jim
The Journal of Religion & Society has published the first installment of Volume 11 (2009) with the following articles:
Fatwa and Violence in Indonesia, by Luthfi Assyaukanie
Depicting the Bread of the Last Supper: Religious Representation in Italian Renaissance Society, by W. R. Albury and G. M. Weisz
Assur is King of Persia: Illustrations of the Book of Esther in Some Nineteenth-Century Sources, by Steven W. Holloway
The Definition of Atheism, by Paul Cliteur
Barabbas in Literature and Film, by Bill Jenkins
The Journal is accessible online at http://www.creighton.edu/jrs
Flagging Aussie Pride
(25 January 09)by Greg Spearritt
Driving to an Australia Day function last night I was surprised by the number of cars on the road with small Australian flags fluttering from their windows. As I see it, the waving of little Australian flags is - ironically - unAustralian.
As reported on the PM's website, "The Australian Government encourages the flying of the Australian National Flag by all Australians and is committed to promoting pride in the flag." Honestly, though: if you see someone flying an Aussie flag in their front yard you have to suspect they're a kangaroo short in the top paddock. Or they're a diehard faithful remnant of the One Nation party.
To be sure, at times of manufactured nationalist fervour such as the Sydney Olympics, extraverted national pride is to be expected. But the brandishing on Australia Day of tiny plastic made-in-China Aussie flags is yet another sign - along with the 'Candy Bar' at the movies and the absurd but increasingly common 'Drug Stores' popping up like magic mushies after rain - that we have willingly imbibed far too much garish American culture.
Perhaps I'm just one of those who should, like the troublesome Aborigines who see January 26 as Invasion Day, go back where we came from if we don't like it. That would be big beautiful downtown Chinchilla on Queensland's Darling Downs for me. Trouble is, they're probably even waving flags there today.
God as ‘Love’ or God as ‘Life’?
(02 January 09)by Greg Spearritt
A contribution to a sofiatalk discussion about God by Rodney Eivers usefully teases out two of the popular ‘progressive’ terms often used instead of the G-word: love and life. In Rodney’s view, as a ‘progressive’ Christian active in a local community of faith, each supplements the other.
Big Bang or Big Bounce?
(28 December 08)by Greg Spearritt
What if there never was a ‘singularity’? Some recent thinking (also here) suggests our universe may have been continually recycled – radically contracting and then expanding again – instead of the result of a ‘big bang’.
What might this do to theology? Is a Big Bounce consistent with the story of a creator God?
Evolution: What’s New in 2008?
(28 December 08)by Greg Spearritt
New Scientist magazine offers for your reading (and thinking) pleasure its top 10 articles on evolution from 2008. These include
- ‘Evolution: what missing link?’;
- ‘Rewriting Darwin: the New non-genetic inheritance’; and
- ‘Evolution: 24 myths and misconceptions’.
Well worth inwardly digesting over your summer break! (If your reading prompts any thoughts, I’m sure our Bulletin editor would love to hear from you.)
Thou Shalt Not Apologise
(24 December 08)by Greg Spearritt
Howard Government ministers, following the erstwhile PM’s lead, were never big on apology. Of course, there was no apology to the Stolen Generations, but in other cases too a fundamental lack of human decency was evident.
Did the Tampa refugees ever receive an apology for the false and outrageous accusation that they threw their children into the sea? Did Philip Ruddock ever apologise for the brutality he and his Immigration Department visited upon innocent refugees, including children, by locking them up for years?
Now we have Ruddock, who as former Attorney-General was at the helm of Australian law-enforcement during the Mohamed Haneef debacle, declaring – along with then Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews – that there’s no need to apologise for the false imprisonment and defamation of Haneef.
The icing on the cake is the claim by Liberal attorney-general spokesman George Brandis that Kevin Rudd owes an apology to Kevin Andrews because he “clearly and repeatedly sought to trash Mr Andrews' public reputation”!
Andrews, Ruddock et al probably did think they were acting in the national interest by imprisoning Mohamed Haneef and revoking his visa. But now that they know it was wrong and unnecessary to do that, why not apologise for the harm caused? Unfortunately, as in the case of the refugees, a lack of human decency pops to mind…
The Future of Secularism in American Politics
(13 December 08)by Jim Norman
A recent article in The Huffington Post, an online source of news and comment especially regarding aspects of US life raises the issue of the future of secularism in American politics after the success of Barack Obama in the recent US Presidential elections.
To quote: "From the start, from Barack Obama's 2006 Keynote Address to the Sojourners Call to Renewal Conference to the over-the-top faith confessions by Obama, Clinton, and Edwards, the Democrats were determined to run as a faith-friendly Party. On the Republican side, though John McCain was pretty easy-going about religion, the religious right finally got to celebrate with the vice-presidential nomination of the ostentatiously religious Sarah Palin. You would not have known there was a secularist in America."However this raises the issue of the degree to which secularism is, somehow, an exclusively Democrat domain, or the degree to which politicians will stoop in order to win a few extra votes. Perhaps there is also the matter of whether Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris or Christopher Hitchens speak for all secularists.
Another quote: "The growing power of the nonreligious can be seen in the publishing success of the group often referred to as the New Atheists. Christopher Hitchens' runaway best-seller, God is Not Great, joined Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, and many similar books as a militant secularism found its voice."
However the article goes on to give other examples of secularist voices which are more religion-friendly. Click here to follow the link to the full article.
Jim
Center for Inquiry challenges Vatican on Biomedical Technology position statement
(12 December 08)by Jim Norman
The Catholic Church is becoming yet more conservative and anti-science. One would have thought that they had learnt from the taste of humble pie in finding that Galileo was right and they were wrong centuries after his death.
The Center for Inquiry is a nonprofit, educational, advocacy, and scientific-research think tank based in Amherst, New York. Their research and educational projects focus on three broad areas: religion, ethics, and society; paranormal and fringe-science claims; and medicine and health. They have released a statement condemning the Vatican’s recently published position on biomedical technology.
To quote the opening paragraphs: “CFI Calls Vatican’s Position on Biomedical Technology Deplorable and Scientifically Insupportable
December 12, 2008
“Amherst, New York—In a move designed to firm up faith-based opposition to embryonic stem cell research and other cutting-edge biomedical technologies, the Vatican has released a 32-page document titled “Dignitas Personae” – meaning “the dignity of a person.” The document condemns a host of procedures considered “immoral” by the Catholic Church, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), the freezing of unfertilized eggs, embryonic stem cell research, and the testing of embryos to help identify those with defects.
“The Center for Inquiry, a think tank headquartered in Amherst, New York that supports research on bioethical questions, deplores the Vatican’s pronouncement. The Vatican’s position has no justification other than religious doctrine, according to the Center for Inquiry, and may have a serious adverse effect on scientific research and the development of medical therapies.
““I regret the renewed effort by the Vatican to censor—indeed prohibit—research in reproductive science,” said Paul Kurtz, chairman and founder of the Center for Inquiry. “Do we have to wage the Galileo battle again? The Vatican claims that their objections are “moral,” but they are based on a theological doctrine that a formless fertilized egg is a full human being, a position which most scientists reject.””
Religion: Bulwark Against Anarchy?
(27 November 08)by Greg Spearritt
Daniel Henninger writes with concern of those in the USA who might wish to replace “Merry Christmas” with something less… er… potentially offensive:
It has been my view that the steady secularizing and insistent effort at dereligioning America has been dangerous. That danger flashed red in the fall into subprime personal behavior by borrowers and bankers, who after all are just people. Northerners and atheists who vilify Southern evangelicals are throwing out nurturers of useful virtue with the bathwater of obnoxious political opinions.
The point for a healthy society of commerce and politics is not that religion saves, but that it keeps most of the players inside the chalk lines. We are erasing the chalk lines.
Feel free: Banish Merry Christmas. Get ready for Mad Max.
Is that really the chief value of religion?
(Perhaps such sentiments are behind the refusal of Australia’s largest outdoor advertising company to take on a $16,000 campaign by the Atheist Foundation of Australia - “Sleep in on Sunday Mornings”.)
The Magic of Christmas
(23 November 08)by Greg Spearritt
Rodney Eivers, Queensland Contact for SoFiA, has been reflecting
on the magic of Christmas. He says:
In aligning myself with the Progressive approach to Christian faith it has long concerned me that because we are putting aside old traditions and old biblical interpretations we can tend to come across as very negative. We may well be charged with taking the fun and passion from our faith.
For this reason I make a conscious effort to look out for positive pointers as to how we might view and live in this new world. One aspect of this is the promotion of George Stuart’s setting of new words to old hymn tunes.
Another side of Christian tradition I struggle with is “What to do about Christmas?” This annual celebration at both a religious and a secular level would have to be far away the biggest of all in the Western world, and increasingly so in the Eastern world, if what we hear about Christmas in Japan is anything to go by.
So how do we respond to the deep ingraining of this celebration in our culture and the powerful influence it has for generating goodwill among human beings, when so much of the historical basis for it is suspect.
In pondering this, my attention was strongly drawn to what Bishop John Spong noted recently:
Perhaps we ought not to worry that for a few days each year people suspend their rational faculties and enter a world of magic where stars do wander and angels do sing and wise men do travel and virgins do conceive. There is enough time each year to deal with reality, maybe Christmas is the time for pretending. What is important is that we need to know that pretending is exactly what we are doing.
In response to this commentary, Australian writer, Margaret Rolfe has expanded the theme beautifully:
Yes, as you say, tell it as a “Once upon a time…” story, but tell it as a story with meanings: A story about hope (because all babies are about hope for the future); a story for ordinary people because the angels appeared to shepherds; a story about a star (a symbol of light in a dark world); a story about wise men (the search for wisdom); a story about love (Mary and Joseph’s love for their baby born in dubious and uncomfortable circumstances); a story about angels (if God is love, then angels are messengers of love);and a story, above all about peace and goodwill on Earth! We all need that story. We all suspend belief when it comes to turtles racing hares, but we all can get the message.
Faith and Reason
(22 November 08)by Greg Spearritt
I was once criticised by a Christian friend for studying theology at the Religious Studies Department (as it then was) of the University of Queensland. His gripe was that their courses began with secular assumptions. Perhaps he thought I’d get closer to the truth of things if I attended one of the many Bible Colleges around Queensland where biblical inerrancy was taken for granted.
Peter Slezak of the Uni of NSW takes up this theme, arguing the dangers of assuming what we seek to prove if we are genuinely looking for truth – which, surely, is the goal of academic study.
Charter of Compassion
(13 November 08)by Scott McKenzie
Join the world at www.charterforcompassion.org to write the Charter for Compassion. The Charter brings together the voices of people from all religions. It seeks to remind the world that while all faiths are not the same, they all share the core principle of compassion and the Golden Rule. The Charter will change the tenor of the conversation around religion. It will be a clarion call to the world. The Charter is a result of Karen Armstrong's 2008 TED Prize wish
Click here to see the video.
And here to visit the website for the Charter of Compassion.
Where did the Universe come from?
(07 November 08)by Scott McKenzie
Where did our universe come from?
It is one of the most fascinating questions that we can tackle as a species. One thing that makes this question so interesting is the fact that there are only two possible answers:
- God or Allah or some other god-like being created our universe.
Or
- A natural process created our universe.
But which is it? Did God or Nature create the universe that we live in?
Check out this 9 minute video for some possible answers.
Parliament and Prayer
(01 November 08)by Greg Spearritt
Cheryl Lawrie, writing in the Melbourne Age, defends the use of the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each session of Parliament. She says:
“It's a dangerous prayer, not a respectable one. And, most importantly for this context, it offers a foundational ethic for the communities that pray it… [It is] a statement about what it is that we're on about as a country.”
Lawrie is partly right: the Lord’s Prayer ought to be a dangerous one.
But just as the churches have tamed, ignored and subverted the message of Jesus to serve their institutions (do you see the Sydney Anglican Diocese giving all its money to the poor?), so the Lord’s Prayer in the context of Parliament is about reassuring us that we still live in a civilised, ‘Christian’ country with conservative values.
And that’s the problem. The Lord’s Prayer is, unfortunately, “a statement about what it is that we're on about as a country”. But it's not an accurate statement. The actual content of the prayer is irrelevant.
It’s an icon. Like the Australian flag, it stands for a mythical glorious white Australia of the past. Our diggers in the World Wars did not fight for the flag – it wasn’t officially our flag, in fact, until 1954. But those who would fight tooth and nail to keep the current flag design would also be the most vocal in retaining the Lord’s Prayer in Parliament.
Lawrie is on firmer ground when she notes that
“We're also discarding a shared public ritual, and we have far too few of them in our community already.”
However, it’s time we came up with rituals that are far more inclusive and reflective of who we are in the twenty-first century.
Exorcism
(31 October 08)by Scott McKenzie
Joe Nickell is CSICOP's Senior Research Fellow and author of numerous investigative books. In a recent post to the website of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Joe writes:
"Belief in demonic possession is getting a new propaganda boost. Not only has the 1973 horror movie The Exorcist been re-released, but the "true story" that inspired it is chronicled in a reissued book and a made-for-TV movie, both titled Possessed (Allen 2000). However, a year-long investigation by a Maryland writer (Opsasnik 2000), together with my own analysis of events chronicled in the exorcising priest's diary, belie the claim that a teenage boy was possessed by Satan in 1949."
Religion Explained
(24 October 08)by Scott McKenzie
At the recent SoFiA conference John Wilkins talked about religion being natural and explored some ancient history and evolutionary psychology. This started me looking into the cognitive psychology of religion which turns out to be a recent but quickly developing field.
John's blog Evolving Thoughts this morning addressed some similar themes but cited a paper by Pascal Boyer: Being Human: Religion: Bound to Believe that's worth a look.
This paper addressed much the same research area as Justin Barrett in Why Would Anyone Believe in God? Turns out that it is more natural for us to believe than not to believe: we've evolved with sub-programs in the brain that give us a predisposition to believe in gods and other supernatural entities. It's harder work to be an atheist than not.
"There's Probably No God"
(23 October 08)by Greg Spearritt
The Age tells us that the ever-controversial Richard Dawkins has supported an advertising campaign by atheists in the UK which declares: “There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." The slogan will appear, amongst other places, on buses.
Dawkins justifies his support (financial and otherwise) for the campaign in this way:
Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride — automatic tax breaks, unearned 'respect' and the right not to be 'offended', the right to brainwash children. Even on the buses, nobody thinks twice when they see a religious slogan plastered across the side. This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think — and thinking is anathema to religion.
Aside from the last statement – some of the most thoughtful people I know are religious – I quite agree. It’s high time atheism took its place alongside religious belief as a legitimate and respectable option.
And it’s important that it happen at the level of bus advertising: only when atheism and agnosticism become a part of everyday life will the underlying assumption that there’s something sacrosanct about organised religion as an underpinning for our society be questioned.
I look forward to the day when the Humanist Society (or some such) gets the same space in the local rag as the pastor of the local evangelical church.
Rational Religion?
(08 October 08)by Greg Spearritt
Is this what rational religion looks like? Or must we dispense with church and religion altogether to achieve rationality, as John Gunson proposes?
Why Christians Should Leave God and Religion Behind
(02 October 08)by Greg Spearritt
John Gunson, at one time an ordained minister in the Congregational Churches of Australia, argues that Christians should take Dietrich Bonhoeffer's challenge seriously: to live, and understand their faith, as secular people. This involves, in Gunson's view, leaving both God and religion behind.
Gunson's book is titled Learning to Live Without God.
Why Just Blame Religion?
(05 August 08)by Greg Spearritt
Australian anti-religion writer Tamas Pataki has an interesting and compelling take on fundamentalist religion, linking its repressive, violent and destructive nature to unresolved narcissism among adherents.
However, he fails to consider the idea that political and nationalist ideologies that explicitly reject religion can be as much a vehicle for narcissistic expression – and every bit as destructive – as religion. He says:
The idea that people should be killed for holding beliefs that are deemed errant and a threat to the faithful is, I believe, an entirely Judeo-Christian-Islamic conception. (Against Religion, 84)
Surely, however, Stalin, Mao, the Red Army, Kim Jong-Il and Pol Pot – if not many more atheistic and despotic individuals and groups – have provided just as fertile an environment for the kind of infantile urges that Pataki sees as so uniquely satisfied in religion. Absolute and inerrant authority, the demonising of the outsider, the demand for obedience, the illusion of having superior knowledge: all are present.
And if you think it’s perfectly safe to hold any sort of belief in (atheistic) China today, try standing in Tiananmen Square with a placard reading ‘I believe in democracy’.
Believing is Living Meaningfully
(26 July 08)by Greg Spearritt
In a recent column on the new movie The X Files: I Want to Believe, Dr Karen Brooks (associate professor of media studies at Southern Cross University) says:
“Despite our willingness to query and challenge certain kinds of faith, it's clear that, as a species, we not only want to believe, we have to.”
Seems to me Dr Brooks is right. Belief/faith in something – God, humanity, reason, conspiracy theories, whales, whatever – is how we make meaning for ourselves. And the only real problem, as she also notes, is when that faith is “misplaced or mis-directed, particularly against other creeds.”
Performance-Enhancing Prayer?
(26 July 08)by Greg Spearritt
The Sydney Morning Herald tells us that Churches of Christ-trained pastor Nett Knox of Sydney will be one of six international chaplains at the Beijing Olympic Games. She will support athletes of all nations and faiths, though from the SMH article praying with them seems to loom large in her modus operandi.
The article claims that Pastor Knox might pray for athletes to win “in the context of fulfilling their potential and doing what God wanted of them” since, in her own (quoted) words, “God has given them that gift.”
Given the power of prayer, is Pastor Knox a potentially performance-enhancing factor? And would she pray for rival athletes to win the one event?
Institute of Noetic Sciences
(14 July 08)by Scott McKenzie
I can’t remember how I came upon the Institute of Noetic Sciences website. But I’m really glad I did. Noetic science refers to the science of consciousness.
For $10 I was able to download (eventually) their 80-page The 2008 Shift Report: changing the story of our future, which uses consciousness research and evolutionary biology to show how humankind’s world view needs to change for us to be capable of saving the planet. It’s not about climate change per se: the need for that is taken for granted. What it’s about is the change in mind-set (world view) before we’ll be able to take the necessary action in any significant way. And it’s a change that they see happening already, albeit slowly.
The Shift in Action element of the site offers more and ongoing (at a fee) information and exercises supporting our personal transformation.
Have a look at their website – our future could be there.
Do Atheists Pose a Threat to Morality?
(28 June 08)by Scott McKenzie
Atheism is said to pose a major threat to morality. Some theists claim that disbelief leads to moral relativism and undermines a major factor motivating pro-social behavior. Recent research can help us see what is true and false about these anxieties.
This piece from the Psychology Today blog is by Jesse Prinz Ph.D. and was originally published in Experiments in Philosophy (interesting title – must follow it up).
If you are like me you would likely think that morality can arise from our consideration of what could happen to our community if there was none. And that we don’t need some ancient pronouncements about how best to live taking account of other peoples interests as well as our own.
Anyway the Prinz piece is worth a read.
Mark Vernon
(18 June 08)by Judith Bore
Three weeks ago a writer called Mark Vernon did Thursday’s “Perspective on ABC Radio National”. I began my blog then but I didn’t get round to posting. But I have just re-read what I wrote and think it is still worth posting and Mark’s talk, ‘After Atheism’ is still available. I hadn’t heard of him before but as he told his story it was so familiar I felt I should have. The story, familiar to members of SOF, is that of the young curate who gradually begins to feel differently about God. What should he do? Talk to his bishop? Find out the rest of the story by going to the ABC website(http://www.abc.net.au/rn/perspective/stories/2008/2248793.htm) and either listen to the talk or read the transcript. Mark Vernon also has his own website including a ‘Philosophy and Life Blog”. /www.markvernon.com/
The next Jack Spong?
(08 June 08)by Scott McKenzie
Via the Common Dreams network I have come across the name of a United Church of Canada minister, Rev Gretta Vosper from Toronto, who has just published a book With or Without God: the Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe. Jack Spong wrote an unbelievably positive and complimentary foreword for the book. And she is to be invited to the next Common Dreams conference in 2010 in Melbourne.
Gretta Vosper is interviewed on CBC (Canada) here. This is a 20 minute interview, so you need to be able to download audio files and have a speaker or earphones to listen. Scroll down to Part 3 and click on Listen to Part Three.
But it is well worth the effort. For those of us who've given away the traditional church because of ancient ideas about God, the Bible and Jesus, this is a very refreshing interpretation and perspective. It seems to me that she has pushed beyond Spong, particularly in her views about God.
Is this the next Jack Spong? And does it matter anyway?
The Power(lessness) of Belief
(01 June 08)by Greg Spearritt
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne scientists at a cancer conference in Chicago have presented evidence showing that a positive attitude and a ‘fighting spirit’ have no influence at all on cancer survival rates (though they may improve quality of life).
This is supported by other research, but it’s clearly still counter to common wisdom.
In our society we have a powerful belief in the power of belief. Is this a vestige of magical thinking: a woolly-headed, pseudo-scientific ‘new age’ conviction about the power of the brain?
The Atheist, the Agnostic & the Scientist
(24 May 08)by Greg Spearritt
David Miller argues for agnosticism as the position most compatible with science.
"As an agnostic", says Miller, "I do battle with the defenders of the faith. Not only with the theists but also with the militant atheists who hold science as their religion."
An Open Dialogue between Science and Religion?
(05 May 08)by Judith Bore
Is it possible, An Open dialogue between Science and Religion? We in SoFiA certainly hope so as we are organizing a conference with that name. But really, of late most of what we have heard recently on the “religion and science “ front contains an unfortunate preaching tone. Of course I am referring to the ‘new atheists’ - Dawkins et al - who also happen to be scientists. However, today I did hear of what I think is a real dialogue between science and religion. The science in question was the examination of brain tissue from a sufferer of Huntingdon’s Disease in a New Zealand laboratory. The religion was that of the researcher and also the wife of the deceased sufferer; they are both Maori. Find out the full story by listening to this week’s edition of All in the Mind on Radio National.
A Church Funeral?
(03 May 08)by Greg Spearritt
Pamela Bone, erstwhile journalist with the Melbourne Age and long-time secularist, chose to have her funeral in a church. Louise Adler reports her reasoning:
It may seem hypocritical, after I have spent many years of my life in journalism writing columns about the harm done by religion, to want to have a funeral in a church. I go to my death without any sense that God exists, or that there is an afterlife. However, I love old hymns, religious poetry, church spires … I am a cultural Christian … I have written that all the good things we can get from religion can be had without religion, and I still believe this …
I am an atheist, in that I don't believe in God. Yet I also admit that I don't know whether God, some higher being, or whatever else you might call it, exists … My position remains that I don't know, that no one really knows … I believe in people, that's all I know.
I share Bone’s sentiments, and I do not presume in any way to judge her choices. However, if I have any choice in the matter I won’t be having a church funeral unless somehow the church manages to let go of homophobia, sexism, idolatry/literalism, racism and moralism. But then, given the wonders of modern science, pigs might fly…
Religion vs Spirituality
(01 May 08)by Greg Spearritt
Both 'religion' and 'spirituality' resist easy definition, but there seems to be a view out there that it’s somehow better to be a ‘spiritual’ person than to be ‘religious’. Rosemary Aird has been studying mental health in relation to these terms. She says:
The findings from [my] research showed that young adults who believe in a spiritual or higher power other than God had higher rates of problems in the three domains of mental health examined. Both males and females who embraced this belief were more likely to be anxious and depressed, to have disturbed and suspicious thoughts, and to behave in an antisocial manner.
By contrast, belief in God, church attendance, and religious background appeared to have little connection with anxiety and depression or thought disturbance in young adulthood.
Interesting!
Are We Obliged to Forgive?
(17 April 08)by Greg Spearritt
Perhaps forgiveness comes easily to some, but it’s certainly not conspicuous in many of the political and social conflicts we see on the nightly news. Is it always the answer?
SoFiA members Nigel Sinnott and Dmitri Perno have personal, and insightful, perspectives on this question.
The Black Balloon
(01 April 08)by Judith Bore
Thomas, a tall middle teenager is siting by his mother's bedside in the maternity unit. His gaze moves from his mother and baby sister to the source of an insistant whining and drumming. It is coming from his brother Charlie who in spite of being even bigger than himself is squirming around on the floor. Thomas then looks at the faces of the other mothers and babies. In the car going home he asks his Dad "Don't you ever wish Charlie was normal?" Some others are so 'other' they are hard to accept let alone love. Congratulations to all the makers of "The Black Balloon" for daring to show the everyday reality of life with an autistic adolescent. They showed a family coping brilliantly with the help of a skilful band of teachers and teacher-aides. Thanks to the audience who sat through this one and a half hour movie which gave us some humour, some 'urrh' scenes, some nasty brawls and tender moments. I enjoyed the 'aussieness' of the film - it reminded me of 'Cloud Street". In the end it is Charlie who inadvertently leads Thomas towards his 'Beatrice'. She is so 'other' of course but life has allotted her too an extra burden. In the end love - romantic and brotherly flowers against the backdrop of sneering repugnance and intolerance. We feel all these things. Mum is almost too good to be true but she is so strong too. As is Dad. What enables them to cope? Is it just as Dad declares the belief that 'those who can't look after their own are weak as piss'? What about this 'belief' - where did he learn it? Will it see the family through? Is it just father-to-son talk?
Easter v. Christmas - No Contest
(21 March 08)by Greg Spearritt
Catherine Deveny in The Age has an amusing rant on the relative insignificance of Easter.
And she’s right: no carols, no family customs, no fairy lights (though to be fair the Orthodox do have their dyed or painted eggs). Certainly for most Australians it lacks anything like the cultural significance of Christmas. Chocolate and camping: that’s about it.
It’s a pity. There’s as much (if not more) to reflect on in the story of Holy Week as there is in the tale of the wee bairn in the barn.
I’m not sure, though, that Christians are willing to share the Easter tale with the unwashed in the way that they seem happy about – or at least resigned to – the popularity of Jesus in the manger. Easter commemoration is a much more ‘in-house’ event.
Though Christianity needs both, resurrection does seem to pip incarnation at the post for pride of place at the heart of Christian belief. Perhaps it’s a card that needs to be played that bit closer to the chest?
Or is it that our society just isn’t willing to listen at Easter? Are we less interested in a grisly death (even if followed by resurrection) than in a new-born babe?
Doing the Right Thing: a Trivial Matter?
(17 March 08)by Greg Spearritt
From a blog post on The Australian’s website:
[Philosopher Peter Singer] cites a recent experiment in which theology students, asked to prepare a lecture on the parable of the good Samaritan, were given a briefing about the lecture in one building before walking to another building where they were to give their talk. On leaving the first building, they passed a stranger groaning by the side of the path, apparently in need of help.
“The key determinant of whether the students stopped to help him or not was whether they’d been told there wasn’t a lot of time and had to hurry to the lecture theatre,” Singer recalls. “Now if something as trivial as being late for a lecture, even when you’ve got the good Samaritan parable in your head, stops you from helping a stranger in distress: that suggests character doesn’t go very deep.”
Singer concludes that “fairly trivial matters seem to determine whether people do the right thing”.
I suspect he’s right.
Global Round-Up - March 2008
(09 March 08)by Scott McKenzie
With some assistance from Brian Wilder of the Bondi group we have four items worthy of your attention this month. The first two are comparatively short, the Pinker article an hours’ read but the last a much bigger reading task. The executive summary is manageable but the rest needs to be addressed over time.
What is an agnostic?
John Wilkins is a philosopher of biology at UQ in
Exam time!
Wayne Crich of the Bondi group has his own website “Finding My Heart” – www.waynus.blogspot.com – which we recommend as a visit some time, but which has an interesting set of questions that suggest: EXAM TIME! Have a look.
What makes us want to be good?
This is Steven Pinker’s piece in the New York Times magazine of 13 January in which he asks the question: what makes us want to be good and provides some answers for us to think about .
Why won’t God heal amputees?