Blog
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).”
.
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?
This is a confronting but comprehensive investigation of the limitations of God, leading many to the conclusion that there is no personal God. Atheists will find it confirming while theists will be confronted but unlikely to be convinced. Click here to open up to a large website: Why won’t God heal amputees?
Flotsam - March 08
(29 February 08)by Greg Spearritt
Flotsam
…found floating on the sea of cyberfaith…
Our Jesus is Bigger’n Yours
Rio de Janeiro will still hold the record for the highest statue of the Redeemer, but a Slovak mayor is upping the ante in the race for second place. The ABC reports that Mayor Pavol Hagyari of Presov in Slovakia is aiming to put his city on the map with a 33-metre tall statue of Jesus. It will, he hopes, "bring in religious tourists" and knock the 12-metre high Soviet soldier in Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, from his perch as the highest statue in the country.
Image Enhancement for Lent
From the Times Online Faith Central Blog comes news that Dutch Catholics think their young folk these days know more about Islam than Christianity. They are calling Lent the ‘Christian Ramadan’ in a bid to get across the need to take it seriously.
Slip, But No Slap
It’s agin the rules in mozzie-ridden monasteries for Buddhist monks to go about slapping the little suckers. Soon, however, they may be able to just slip on the saffron to avoid being bitten. According to the ABC, a Thai fabric designer has come up with a line of robes infused with a herbal bug repellent. Though the new robes cost a little more, Thai Covenant Co Ltd is expecting a good return, considering the market for monks’ robes in Thailand alone is worth around $72 million annually.
Star Turn
SoFiA member Nigel Sinnott sends news of an interesting statement on the website of The Astrological Magazine: "We regret to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the publication of The Astrological Magazine will cease with the December 2007 issue." See it here.
The Forgiving Faithful
The cause of violence – or a force for peace? The Sydney Morning Herald tells us of an Australian study which shows that people with belief in a ‘higher being’ are more likely to forgive those who wrong them. In a sample of 475 adults, Christian, Jewish and Muslim people as well as those with new-age beliefs were compared to non-believers in an online survey. One researcher is quoted as saying the study “indicates that there's something in the system of thought connected to spirituality that helps people to accept others and their actions."
Soccer Holygans
The Melbourne Age reports that seminarians and priests in Rome get passionate about more than just religion. Officials at a Vatican-backed soccer tournament have had to crack down on chanting (sometimes in Latin) and the use of megaphones, drums and ghetto blasters by supporters of the various teams.
God or Blind Nature?
(29 February 08)by Scott McKenzie
God or Blind Nature?
Philosophers Debate the Evidence (2007-2008)
(Thanks to Brian Wilder for this lead to an interesting website)
This site opens up to an outline of a book (yes a complete book) on this philosophical question: how can we explain the world around us: created by God OR ‘blind nature’ called here metaphysical naturalism i.e. the result of the laws of nature unassisted by any supernatural entities?
The first section addresses the question of human minds and human will: understandable only from the assumption of a supernatural god or satisfactorily from a naturalistic perspective. Cases for and against, and subsequent rejoinders are provided. Heavy stuff!
The second section looks into question of evolution as the only explanation necessarily to account for life. The problem of evil features largely in this analysis. Again a real debate is engaged in.
Section three considers cosmology and what light recent developments in cosmology sheds on the question of the supernatural or the natural. More debate here.
The final section asks what the implications are for uncertainty. If we are really objective about these matters we must admit to uncertainty. So what to do then? And how come God is so hard to find? What does this mean?
Now I must confess not to have read all of this material – but I have a plan to do so. First to read Paul Draper’s Introduction to get a feel for the overall themes being addressed. Then to read the Introductions to each of the four sections, again to get an overview for each of the themes. Then to each of the debates if the content sounds interesting.
There’s enough for a month or so. Hence only one posting in the Global Web Round-Up series this week!
Global Web Round-Up
(23 February 08)by Scott McKenzie
This week I post some articles I found trawling the global web. It’s quite amazing what’s available to us if we know where to look. The pieces below are what I found interesting. Perhaps you will also.
If you come across material that you think others might find interesting, please send me (scottmck@tpg.com.au) the URLs and, if you wish to, an introductory paragraph. I’ll post
your contribution so that others are able to access it also.
Book review: Psyche and the Sacred by Lionel Corbett
“Can we talk about spirituality without using religious language? In his fine book Psyche and the Sacred: Spirituality beyond Religion, psychologist and scholar Lionel Corbett argues that, indeed,
we should understand the spiritual as not only separate from religion, but irreducible and
enduring.”
So writes Sean Patrick in his review of Corbett’s book on the CG Jung website. Some of us have difficulty separating the spiritual from the religious, spirituality from religion. This review explores the differences.
Do we agree?
Interview: The Death of the Mythic God
In this interview from What is Enlightenment? magazine/website, Jim Marion a former
monk discusses the revolutions in spiritual thought that he believes is transforming religion and forever changing the face of God.
This is a three-page piece which requires you to click on 2 (at the bottom of page 1) then 3 to
see these pages.
I subscribe to WIE getting a hard-copy magazine every couple of months but also weekly downloads of interviews. The WIE website itself opens up an amazing range of information
about matters spiritual.
Why The “A” Word Won’t Go Away
In this piece from the Council for Secular Humanism, Tom Flynn examines the arguments for/against the use of the “A” word. Sam Harris has been advocating that we (atheists) call ourselves something else, and Daniel Dennett has coined the term “brights” and started a website.
Personally I don’t like the term “bright”, but if you agree with Harris what do we call ourselves?
Darwin’s Influence on Modern Thought
Recently biologists around the world celebrated Darwin’s Day, the birthday of the scientist who might well have made the most significant contribution to our worldview, so significant that we might we not even realize what the worldview of the C19 person was like.
In this piece from 1999 Ernst Mayr outlines
John Wilton, a Brisbane-based philosopher of biology will be a speaker at the
Flotsam - February 08
(20 February 08)by Greg Spearritt
Spare a thought for 80-year-old Yanadi Kondaiah, an Indian holy man renowned in his local area for an ability to predict the future and for having curative magical powers in his right leg. Unfortunately, he became ‘legless’ in more ways than one when two strangers approached him for advice about a medical problem. News.com.au tells us they returned to thank him by offering him a drink, to which it appears he was partial. They took him to a spot on the outskirts of his village 550km north of Hyderabad and, while he was drunk, brutally amputated his ‘magical’ leg and left him for dead. Mr Kondaiah was found by locals and is recovering in hospital.
Seeing the Sacred – in Court
Also in India, in the eastern state of Jharkhand, two Hindu gods have been called as witnesses in an argument over ownership of a temple. ABC News reports that local man Puran Chandra Halder is challenging the assertion of Manmohan Pathak that the temple, dedicated to the popular god Ram and the monkey god Hanuman, belongs to his family. A judge has issued notices to Ram and Hanuman, whose names appear on Halder’s petition to declare the temple public property.
A Nation of Believers
Over 80% of Americans believe in God, according to a recent US poll of 2,455 adults. The survey by Harris Online also showed belief in miracles at 79%, heaven and angels at over 70% and hell/the devil at more than 60%. Just 42% accepted evolution, beating belief in creationism by a whole 3 percentage points. More than a third of respondents believed in UFOs and ghosts. 25% overall claimed to attend church once or more each week.
Safely Avoiding the Topic
Late last year the New York Catholic Archdiocese released a comic/colouring/activity booklet designed to warn children about sexual abuse by adults. In the booklet, a guardian angel (who tells us, incidentally, that God and angels are “persons”) gives advice: messages include the importance of not keeping secrets from parents, not being alone in a closed room with an adult and not accepting gifts unless it’s okay with parents. News.com.au reports that the publication, titled ‘Being Friends, Being Safe, Being Catholic’, has been criticised for taking a moralising tone which could be counter-productive – and for not explicitly pointing out that priests could be among potential abusers. In fact, a word puzzle in the booklet lists ‘priest’ and ‘nun’ as “people you can trust”.
New Word for the Week
Do you suffer from pareidolia? More than a few eBay customers do, it seems. Pareidolia, as Wikipedia tells us, “describes a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant”. The next time you see Jesus in your chest x-ray or a profile of the Virgin Mary in your soup, you'll have a name for your condition. But don't let the name put you off when there’s serious money to be made. The WPBF.com website tells of the Jesus and Mary pancake which recently fetched US$338 on eBay.
Have Some Manners
(12 February 08)by Greg Spearritt
John Allen Paulos, a mathematician at Temple University in Philadelphia is author of a new book, Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up (Hill & Wang).
In a review of the book, Paulos is quoted as saying:
"It's repellent for atheists or agnostics to personally and aggressively question others' faith or pejoratively label it as benighted flapdoodle or something worse. Those who do are rightfully seen as arrogant and overbearing."
I'd have to agree. Dawkins and Hitchens, for all that they have some wonderful things to say, do come across as "arrogant and overbearing" at times.
Mind you, I see it as equally arrogant for theists/believers to assume that those around them share their beliefs. In conversation some will, for instance, casually talk about something or other in their life being 'God's will'. If they don't know me, they're making an assumption they have no right to make. If they do know me, they're being provocative. In either case it seems like bad manners.
Is this just me being an over-sensitive curmudgeon?
Middle Age Blues
(03 February 08)by Greg Spearritt
A new international study suggests middle age is the time of least happiness: if you reach 70 in reasonable nick, chances are you'll be as happy as an average 20-year-old. (I can't wait!)
If (and it's a big 'if') this is true, how could we account for it? Perhaps, as the researchers suggest, it's that people realise in their 40s that they simply won't achieve their dreams.
I wonder whether the issue of certainty might also be involved. In our youth, many of us see things in black-and-white terms; we have a confidence that our beliefs (religious or political) are correct. In middle age we have more data and experience to draw on, and we become confused and uncertain. Old age brings a measure of acceptance: the ability to live with uncertainty and to sort the (fleeting) gold from the dross. It's commonly called 'wisdom'.
A fairy story, or is there something to it?
A dangerous delusion
(27 January 08)by Scott McKenzie
Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris and many others have written about God and faith as delusions, so there's nothing new about this idea. But trawling through Sue Blackmore's website I came across her way of writing about these dangerous delusions and found her explanations - especially of memes - to be particularly clear and comprehensive.
I wonder what others think about her explanation of the rise and survival of religions.
Faithless and Fractured
(22 January 08)by Greg Spearritt
The minister said… the new initiative… would include five core areas: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making and relationship skills.Mr Welford said change was needed because "under-15-year-olds in Australia are the most under-parented generation in our history"."This is not necessarily a criticism of parents, but a function of the changing society," he said.
Toxic faith?
(19 January 08)by Scott McKenzie
Christopher Hitchens, towards the end of a piece on "Belief in Belief" writes:
In other words, "faith" is at its most toxic and dangerous point not when it is insincere and hypocritical and corrupt but when it is genuine.
Now this is quite a bit controversial and one that even the most atheistic of us might find to be over the top (as Hitchens is capable of), and the 'progressives' among us will find distasteful. But he makes some significant points in the piece. that you might find challenging.
Hybrid Humans?
(19 January 08)by Greg Spearritt
Clearly, these embryos will not be allowed to develop into viable ‘beings’, whether human or not. If they were human (and ‘viable’) and allowed to develop, lots of moral questions would arise. If none is in fact allowed to develop, does it matter whether they’re hybrids or not?
Fighting Fat with Faith
(10 January 08)by Greg Spearritt
The Golden Compass - 'malevolent caricature' of religion?
(02 January 08)by Greg Spearritt
Barney Zwartz, blogger and religion writer with the Melbourne Age, sees The Golden Compass - the newly-released movie based on Phillip Pullman's novel Northern Lights - as involving a "malevolent caricature" of religion. Pullman, he says, "stands against religion".
Zwartz's blog post on The Golden Compass reveals clear Christian sympathies as he duels with atheists ready to condemn anything and everything religious.
Perhaps Pullman does caricature the present-day Catholic Church, though his picture fits the Church of the Middle Ages pretty well. I have doubts even about today's Church, though, in light of the recent Sydney Morning Herald story about the Vatican vowing to train more exorcists:
"Under plans being considered, each bishop would have a group of priests in his diocese who were specially trained in exorcism and on hand to take action against 'extreme Godlessness'."
But Pullman is not against religion as such. The Gyptians clearly have their beliefs and rituals, as do the witch clans, and both are portrayed as groups with integrity. What irks Pullman - and many thinking Christians, including Catholics - is the oppressive authoritarianism often associated with religion. In many repects, the shoe still fits the Catholic Church on this one: just ask former priest Michael Morwood! The religious thought police are alive and Pell well.
In the third book of Pullman's trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, the corrupt being known as 'the Authority' is shown to be behind the 'Magisterium' and its repressive ways. I see that not as anti-religious, but as a fair assessment of where we are now in the 21st century. Unquestioned authority from on high - be it Catholic, Conservative-Evangelical, Muslim or Communist - does violence to individuals and to society. This is a democratic age, an age of religious autonomy where we should take for ourselves the power to create meaning. I'd argue that's still a religious task, but it doesn't involve forcing our conclusions on everyone else.
If you still crave Authority, you could always move to Iran or Burma.
Marketing Religion
(01 January 08)by Greg Spearritt
It seems to have worked for Coca-Cola and KFC. Why not for the Christian churches?
The Sydney Morning Herald cites IBISWorld industry analyst Edward Butler as saying young people these days are used to marketing. He attributes some of the success of Pentecostal groups like Hillsong to media images of "lots of young people having a good time in a community environment".
But doesn't making Christianity yet another 'consumer experience' to be had rather contradict its message of selflessness?
(And that's quite apart from the issue of truth in advertising: a significant minority of young people will come away from church involvement not fulfilled and radiantly happy, but scarred - as Tanya Levin's story about leaving Hillsong attests.)
And yet... word of mouth doesn't seem to cut the mustard for the churches either, these days. Is it really advertise or perish?
Charles Birch and God
(27 December 07)by Scott McKenzie
Helen Mason drew the attention of the Sofia-talk group to an ABC/RN interview with Charles Birch broadcast last Wednesday. Thanks Helen!
In this interview Charles Birch (a nonagenarian Australian biologist who won the Templeton Prizer)gives some explanation of his concept of God that is not intervening in the world in any way but one that is "persuasive" of love etc. in the world. He also considers all entities to be subjective rather than objective as is typical of science. This means that consciousness occurs/is spread throughout the Universe.
Charles Birch was also interviewed in 2002 by Rachel Kohn and again puts these ideas forward. They are worth considering. Perhaps a reader will respond to this post telling me (and others) what Birch is trying to say. I don't understand really.
The (Immutable?) Laws of Nature
(20 December 07)by Greg Spearritt
Are the 'laws' of nature fixed and immutable or merely human approximations?
Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies, currently at Arizona State University, apparently raised a storm of protest by suggesting in a recent article that the laws of physics have been reified into metaphysical entities à la Plato. He's quoted in a New York Times article (see below) as saying that in the 17th century "God got killed off and the laws just free-floated in a conceptual vacuum but retained their theological properties".
The NYT article, 'Laws of Nature, Source Unknown', is a helpful discussion of the issue.
We're All Religious?
(16 December 07)by Greg Spearritt
In his address to the 2006 UK Sea of Faith Conference, Noel Cheer suggests that even those who loudly 'disbelieve' - the Sam Harrises and Richard Dawkinses of this world - are engaged in a religious quest: "The ambition to be radically, totally human", he says, "is about as sacred as it gets."
Are we all, in fact, 'religious'?
Authority
(08 December 07)by Judith Bore
Authority is one of the big words in both life and study. Who to believe, who to quote, who to respect and who to obey? A few months ago I received a book via the SoFiA mailbox, kindly sent by the author. A thickish tome I was instantly interested by the title, The Mind of Consciousness. Over the next few weeks I dipped into it. The style of the writing was a little idiosyncratic and the content somewhat repetitious. Having a long-standing interest in psychology, spirituality and psychoanalysis with their attendant theme of self-awareness I kept going back to it. But I noticed there were no references to other thinkers and writers, no big names that I might I have recognized. I turned to the back and found no bibliography. But there was a web site so I got on line. There was a photo of the author but, and by now I was not surprised, no biography, except an assurance that the author had had a common enough run of life experiences including ones that lead to a search for answers and better solutions. No hint though of the sources that he had gone to, just the maxim, “taste and see”. Recently I have gone back to reading about the, again rather idiosyncratic, French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. He became impatient with the way psychoanalytic training in France tended to become rigid and rule-bound with little attention being paid to ‘formation’, the experiences that would bring about real involvement with the subject matter and so change, develop and mould the debutant analyst. But he was by all accounts an authoritarian character and when chaos broke out he dissolved the training school he himself had created. Yet he remains a ‘leading light’ in the discipline. I cannot help wondering who the ‘leading lights’ are that have guided the author of the “The Mind of Consciousness”? If you are curious then you can start at the web site. www.themindofconsciousness.com
Knowing Nice From Nasty - It's Natural?
(05 December 07)by Greg Spearritt
A new study in the journal Nature suggests that the assessment of character is an inbuilt human trait. The ABC Science site reports on experiments at Yale University involving babies aged 6-10 months which show them preferring helpful/kind characters to 'mean' ones.
I doubt they polled infants, but perhaps there's a connection here to the fact that former Health Minister and parliamentary head-kicker Tony Abbott, described by the Melbourne Age as "Australia's most prominent Catholic politician", had only 9% of people in favour of him as new leader of the Liberal party.
Our Interventions Were Better Than Your Interventions
(27 November 07)by Greg Spearritt
ABC News reports that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has compared the USA's actions in Iraq with the British colonialism of past centuries:
"It is one thing to take over a territory and then pour energy and resources in to administering it and normalising it," he said. "Rightly or wrongly, that's what the British Empire did - in India, for example."
"It is another thing to go in on the assumption that a quick burst of violent action will somehow clear the decks and that you can move on and other people will put it back together - Iraq, for example."
No doubt he's right about Iraq, but his comment about the British Empire rather downplays the longer-term effects of British meddling in the 'colonies'. Gunboat diplomacy enforced English presuppositions in places like Fiji - for example that there had to be a 'supreme leader' in charge a la the British monarch. The result? Traditional political checks and balances corrupted and instability that continues to blight Fiji's citizens to this day.
Then there's the British arrogance, backed by brutality, in assuming Australia to be unoccupied. Aboriginal people, dispirited, living in third-world conditions in the midst of prosperity... arguably the product of Britain's actions in 'administering and normalising' the Great South Land.
The Arch may have a good case about Iraq, but he needs to look a bit harder to find some moral high ground from which to launch his criticism.
How to Vote
(22 November 07)by Greg Spearritt
No more poring over policy statements or sifting the pollie-speak for sense. Here's how you should vote on Saturday: www.HowShouldIVote.com.au.
Well worth a squizz.
Cafeteria Religion
(18 November 07)by Greg Spearritt
Some wise words from A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically - One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible:
[T]here is some picking and choosing in following the Bible, and I think that's OK. Some people call that cafeteria religion, which is supposed to be a disparaging term, but I think there's nothing wrong with cafeterias, I've had some delicious meals in cafeterias. I've also had some terrible meals in cafeterias. It's all about picking the right parts.
Jacobs tells Newsweek what he's learned from his year of 'literal living'. Christianity Today carries an interesting review of the book.
Cafeteria religion is all very well, but for mine Jacobs limits the menu far too much. I believe we're better off to live eclectically rather than biblically: use inspiration and wisdom wherever they're found, be it in religious texts of any persuasion, poetry, song lyrics or history books.
Boyer Lecture 1
(11 November 07)by Scott McKenzie
In the first Boyer Lecture of 2007 this afternoon (11 November), Professor Graeme Clark of bionic ear/Cochlear impant fame, said the following:
"When one considers the complexity of the brain, and its relation to consciousness, we must surely stand in awe. Indeed, Sir John Eccles, a distinguished Australian neuroscientist, who received the Nobel prize in 1963 for his research in that field, said in his 1965 Boyer lecture series: 'I wish to do all I can to restore to mankind the sense of wonder and mystery that arises from the attempt to face up to the reality of our very existence as conscious beings'. So what is it that brings unity to all the sensory experiences? Eccles saw it as a mystery how so many diverse events in the brain are united in the conscious experience of the individual. Eccles came to the conclusion that we have a soul, which is specially created by God, and thus there is the possibility of an afterlife.
On the other hand, Donald MacKay, a Christian as well as a physicist and brain scientist, differed not only from John Eccles but also from Karl Popper, a leading philosopher of science. MacKay considered that brain and soul together form a unity, that our conscious thinking is complementary, and linked to our cerebral processes. Therefore, we have a realistic basis for studying the brain as a machine, but without rejecting the moral and spiritual significance of human nature. Furthermore, Sir John Polkinghorne, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and former professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge University, suggests that, as this world 'is special and finely tuned for life', then we should consider it 'the creation of a Creator, that wills that it should be so'.
So could the physical universe, which physicists now show had only the remotest chance of producing carbon-based life, have evolved into human consciousness by mindless chance? I think not. The human brain is so sophisticated a mechanism that scientists have still not been able to design engineering systems that can match its crucial functions. For me that means a supernatural entity, namely God, was responsible, rather than saying it assembled itself by mindless chance. In any case, a human being would have to know everything to actually know there is no God!"
From: www.abc.net.au/rn
If we had the chance to question Professor Clark or offer comments on these paragraphs what would we say/ask?
The need to belong
(08 November 07)by Judith Bore
Noorjehan Barmania had her 'two cents worth' in the Guardian Weekly recently (26.10.07). Now living in the UK and having grown up as a Muslim in apartheid South Africa she wanted to complain about not knowing where she fits in in British, 'mainly atheist', society. One attempt at fasting led a work colleague to observe that she was easier to work with when not fasting! Her Croatian Muslim handyman on hearing this said she was perhaps becoming like him a European Muslim, i.e. just culturally Muslim. She baulked at this. No, she insists she wants much more spiritually, a sense of belonging to a community which transcends 'ethnicity, nationality and class'. She claims we all need to belong in such a way. Is she right? If so, is it so for everyone, part of being human? And again, what is the mechanism? Many more questions might follow, producing stuff for story-telling.
Atheism - a positive statement
(05 November 07)by Scott McKenzie
The following is a statement about atheism found on www.atheist.org/Atheism that rejects the negative "what atheists don't believe" for a more positive formulation.
"Atheism is a doctrine that states that nothing exists but natural phenomena (matter), that thought is a property or function of matter, and that death irreversibly and totally terminates individual organic units. This definition means that there are no forces, phenomena, or entities which exist outside of or apart from physical nature, or which transcend nature, or are “super” natural, nor can there be. Humankind is on its own.
The following definition of Atheism was given to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Murray v. Curlett, 374 U.S. 203, 83 S. Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d (MD, 1963), to remove reverential Bible reading and oral unison recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the public schools.
“Your petitioners are Atheists and they define their beliefs as follows. An Atheist loves his fellow man instead of god. An Atheist believes that heaven is something for which we should work now – here on earth for all men together to enjoy.
An Atheist believes that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction, and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and enjoy it.
An Atheist believes that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment.
He seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to know a god. An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man.
He wants an ethical way of life. He believes that we cannot rely on a god or channel action into prayer nor hope for an end of troubles in a hereafter.
He believes that we are our brother's keepers; and are keepers of our own lives; that we are responsible persons and the job is here and the time is now.”
Is this our view of what it is to be an atheist?
Bring Back the Gods!
(03 November 07)by Greg Spearritt
Tolerance of others, openness to a diversity of viewpoints and ideas, acceptance of human fallibility... these are just some of the benefits of Greco-Roman polytheism.
Mary Lefkowitz, emeritus Professor of Classical Studies at Wellesley College (USA) argues it's time to ditch Yahweh/Allah and bring back the pantheon.
Quote of the Week, By George!
(27 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, came up with the quote of the week as he responded to criticism by Canberra Anglican Bishop George Browning on his (Pell's) dismissive comments about climate change:
"My task as a Christian leader is to engage with reality, to contribute to debate on important issues, to open people's minds and to point out when the emperor is wearing few or no clothes."
Thank God for open-minded, reality-engaged Archbishops!
(Thanks to Nigel Sinnot for pointing out the article containing this gem.)
God, Gods and Spirituality
(23 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
Can we understand the notion of God, gods and spirituality without recourse to the supernatural? David Miller argues we can...
Thealogy (No, Not a Typo)
(21 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
Ever heard heard of thealogy? There's more of it needed, according to a review on the Earth Link site of a book by Paul Reid-Bowen titled Goddess as Nature: Towards a Philosophical Theology.
The book apparently raises some interesting questions which take Goddess/Gaia worship out of the new age arena somewhat and into the world of rigorous thought:
Are prayer and worship conceptually appropriate activities for Goddess feminists given their understanding of deity as the living whole of nature? Does the widespread Goddess feminist practice of magic cohere with thealogical views of the nature of reality?
Spiral Dynamics
(19 October 07)by Scott McKenzie
Spiral Dynamics is a theory about the evolution of world-views of humankind over the last 100,000 years. It has been developed by Dr Don Beck and has largely been made accessible to non-academics via the What is Enlightenment website. It is part of WIE's 'program' to assist us to develop ourselves spiritually in such a way as to be faithful to the rationality of post-scientific modernism and to post-modernism itself. I have found this website to be most 'enlightening' in my quest to understand a spiritual self that is essentially atheistic. (More about the website itself at a later date - Spiral Dynamics is quite a good way to be introduced to it.)
Spiral Dynamics uses colour codes as short-hand for various categories of worldviews:
- beige - family groups; survival in a violent environment - 100,000 years ago
- purple - tribal life; world of magic and spirit beings - from 50,000 years ago
- red - feudal kingdoms; egocentric; magic-mythic - from 10,000 years ago
- blue - life has meaning & purpose; mythic; ethnocentric - from 5,000 years ago
- orange - individual achievement; rational, worldcentric - from 300 years ago
- green - seeking inner peace, pluralistic, free of dogma - from 150 years ago.
There is a continuation into more modern times but few of us are likely to reflect those worldviews. (Now there's a challenge!)
I've found it easier to understand some of the events of history and some of the strange worldviews of people today, using the SD categories. For example Christian fundamentalists 'fit' the blue category while SOFIA members are often orange and some green! Have a look at SD and see what you think.
Click on: http://www.wie.org/spiral/?ifr=hp-thm and then scroll down to The Never-Ending Upward Quest, click an "Article". It's quite long but well worth (in my view) the time and effort. You will be asked to register free of charge, thereby receiving the odd email, but access to this site will be rewarding to most of us.
Responding to the Apocalypse
(17 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
Global warming, natural disasters, wars over oil and ancient enmities, the prospect of a dictator in the Lodge once again (whichever side wins the election)... troubled times indeed.
Which path will you take in response: nihilism, fundamentalism or activism? Richard Eckersley outlines the options.
The Lord Decideth
(13 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
Forget the polls (and democracy)... the Lord has already ordained the victor in this year's Federal election.
SoFiA member Jim Norman alerts us to the prophecy, courtesy of Online Opinion's Alan Matheson...
Science, Religion and Certainty
(12 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
SoFiA member David Miller of Victoria sends the following thoughts on science and religion:
As one of the soapbox orators at Melbourne's Speakers Forum, I am often to be found bellowing in competition with Creationist speakers. These Creationists and Fundamentalists demand to know how anybody could possibly believe in Evolution. "The fossil record is incomplete", they say. They shout their other criticisms and conclude with the observation that Evolution is useless as a belief.
When it's my turn to respond I spruik back at the Creationists that Evolution is not something to be 'believed' in. It is just a theory with a high probability of being correct, that's all. It's not 'The Truth', any more than science in general is The Truth. Capital 'T' Truth is for believers in religion and for those who seek Certainty. The psychological need for Certainty is the hallmark of Theistic religion.
"Yes", I admit to my audience, "There are many Atheists who do believe in Evolution and who treat science as The Truth". These Atheists are using science as a 'secular religion'. They are worshipping it. They want science to give them Certainty. But science can never give Certainty, only higher or lower probability. New evidence causes changes to both hypotheses and theories. Sometimes hypotheses and theories have to be discarded.
The knowledge on which science is based is conditional. It is constantly modified by new discovery and experience and by being subjected to the most rigorous standards of examination, testing and experimentation to see whether it meets the standard of replicable results. Consequently science is ever changing. People who rely on science for their Certainty are wasting their time. And what's more, if they themselves are the researchers then they may distort, pervert or even destroy those areas of science within which they are active.
You can tell who these science worshippers are by listening to their verbiage. Do they implore you to accept that 'high probability' means 'near certainty'? Do they use terms like: immutable laws, established authority, universal principles, self-evident claims to reason, fixed bodies of knowledge, enduring facts? You can almost smell their desperation for Certainty. Why don't they go back to supernatural religion to find their Certainty, and leave science alone?
The Divine Prince Philip
(11 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
Five inhabitants of Tanna, a small island in Vanuatu, have recorded their impressions of life in the UK, courtesy of a British TV company. Guy Adams reports on their visit and their responses.
One of the fascinating aspects of the story is the fact that these tribal folk reportedly worship Prince Philip.
The result of the enterprise is a documentary titled 'Meet the Natives', which (says Adams):
boasts an intriguing sub-plot: the group is anxious to meet with the man they believe to be the Son of God, and ask him to return home. Much of the series revolves around the question of whether they will be granted an audience with Prince Philip. Without revealing what does happen, it all reaches a show-stopping denouement at Windsor Castle. Fascinating and hilarious as this exercise turned out to be, it will not be without its detractors. Within the anthropological community, there are many who now believe that the exercise threatened to corrupt a unique tribal culture. Still more believed that attempting to introduce the visitors to Prince Philip was fraught with danger: in one slip of his tongue, he would after all be capable of shaking their entire religion to its foundations – and the Duke is not, let's face it, a man renowned for tact.
(Thanks to Nigel Sinnot for the heads-up on this one.)
Superstition or spirituality?
(10 October 07)by Judith Bore
“Lotus Land’ by the Vietnamese artist DinH Q Le is a series of ceramic conjoined-twin figures each standing in a lotus flower and arranged in a circle around a central figure. The twins wear clothing bearing designer labels – only the names are the names of big multinational chemical companies. The interpretative panel points out the significance of the style of the figures whose poses are replete with references to Buddhist and Hindu iconography. In Vietnamese rural folklore these twins are seen as special spirits who afford protection, bring luck. (From a distance they looked like cherubs.) The lotus is a symbol of purity and enlightenment. it is a survivor plant that thrives in polluted water. Unlike language a visual artwork can say many things simultaneously. This one was part of the five-month long Asia-Pacific Triennial and digesting its impact, teasing out the many strands of signification, has lasted much longer. Reading the note that in country folklore these twins are seen as ‘special’ reminded me of a book my parents were loaned called ‘Angel Unawares” around the time that friends of theirs gave birth to a Downs Syndrome baby girl. Using a biblical text, the American Christian authors were encouraging those who, like itself, had a handicapped child to see that child as bringing a particular kind of blessing. Of course the opposite response to abnormality – abort the damaged foetus, allow the struggling baby to die, put the child in an institution, keep the deformed adult behind closed doors – is everywhere too. And not necessarily always arising from the all-too-human and universal feelings of revulsion and fear towards something that is different or weak, just the realistic assessment that a mother or a family, even a community does not have the resources, material or spiritual to deal with the infant. The Japanese Nobel Laureate, Kenzaburo Oe, devoted much of his writing career to writing about his handicapped child, beginning with a novel, ‘A Personal Matter” in which the protagonist’s wife gives birth after a long hard labour to a brain damaged baby son. We follow the days of agony as the new father takes the newborn from the maternity home to the pediatric unit and then removes and delivers it to a shady clinic. But even for this short trip he has to buy clothes for the child and attempt to soothe him when he becomes distressed. At the last minute he turns around and returns the child to the surgeons who will operate. Kenzuburo Oe against prevailing Japanese social mores, based on strands of Shinto and Buddhism, had himself given consent for his son to be operated on knowing that the child would suffer brain damage which would impair his intellect and learning abilities. With his wife he went on to spend much time and effort in raising Hikari who went on to become a musical ‘savant’. Again, in the face of constant negative comment from the surrounding society. ‘Hikari’ in Japanese means ‘light’ and he did turn out to be an ‘angel’ composing music that went into the best-seller charts in Japan, without it seems any investment in advertising or promotion. So what about that bit of folklore about the conjoined twins? Is it a mere reaction-formation superstition or an enabling spirituality for a society without scientific understanding? Does our scientific understanding with its advancing biotechnologies cope anymore successfully with the phenomenon of birth defects?
Secular Party of Oz
(07 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
A new player in the 2007 Federal election has arisen, with Senate candidates in all States. The Secular Party of Australia, formed in 2006, has recently merged with the Freedom From Religion Party; 'freedom from religion' is now the key slogan for the SPA.
They claim to be about "comprehensive secularism":
Comprehensive secularism is the separation of religion from state institutions, impartiality between religions and the protection of human rights from violation on the basis of religious doctrine.
Can't see any problems here, though I'd want to protect human rights from the kind of violation we see in anti-religious regimes (e.g. China) as well.
Are religions "on balance harmful to society"? Pretty hard to find the point of balance, I reckon. I wouldn't like to judge it either way. Surely a case-by-case assessment of religious actions is a better way to go.
I do have a problem, though, with the claim that "the validity of any contention must in some way be tested on the basis of reason and observation". How about my contention that participating in a religious ritual can enhance my love of life and my contentment with life? Not sure where reason comes in there.
Religion in the Future Global Civilization
(06 October 07)by Scott McKenzie
Religion in the Future Global Civilization
I came across an interesting piece in the September-October edition of The Futurist, the magazine of the World Future Society (www.wfs.org). Entitled “Religion in the Future Global Civiization”, it assessed the likelihood of some movement towards unity or at least a significant reduction in antagonism among the world religions in this century. It was written by Thomas McFaul, a professor of ethics and religious studies at
The Asian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, among others) “share common themes of enlightenment, karma, reincarnation, and duty.” But their views of God differ – Hinduism and Sikhism are pantheistic seeing the universe as the body of God; Buddhism and Jainism do not incorporate the notion of God in their worldviews.
The Abrahamic religions from the
McFaul advances the notions that the Abrahamic faiths will grow closer together if:
· they come to accept that each of their religions is revealing truths about the same God and that together they give a more comprehensive understanding of God’s purpose for humanity – there are multiple pathways to God
· they also accept that God has been revealing Truth over time and in different places without favouring any one religion.
While this might sound eminently reasonable digging deeper into the differences of scriptures, theology and liturgies brings out matters less easily resolved. But there is perhaps a basis for a start to dialogues (trialogue?). The author similarly addresses how the Eastern religions might grow closer together.
McFaul suggests three scenarios, three visions of the future (say 2050).
Scenario 1 - Exclusivism: I’m Right and You’re Wrong
The sort of increases in confrontation between different parts of the world based largely on religion have increased, and this has posed greater problems for humanity as previously powerless parts have developed the military, political and economic strength to underpin such confrontation. “Hatred and hostility in the global village have increased.”
Scenario 2 – Pluralism: Despite Our Differences, We Can Live Together
As communication has increased within the global village misunderstandings and ignorance have abated very considerably. Humanity has better been able to live in harmony with one another becoming more aware of the commonalities and more accepting of the differences. Tolerance towards worldview differences has increased and common beliefs about preferred human behaviour drives collaboration.
Scenario 3 – Inclusivism: We’re Becoming One Family
Basing dialogue on the common beliefs in compassion, peace, justice, mercy, love and kindness, religious leaders and active laity throughout the world gradually worked towards a more inclusive worldview seeking out truths that all would find acceptable. It was not an easy task – in fact it became a work in progress. Emphasis was given to how we live as global citizens united by the need to solve global problems; past traditions came to be less dominating eventually receding into the background.
Having established these scenarios McFaul suggests:
- that Inclusivism, while the preferred scenario, is most unlikely
- Pluralism will rise but not until somewhere between 2025 and 2050 will the power of communication mechanisms build sufficient knowledge and understanding to underpin this scenario
- Exclusivism will prevail until then, and indeed it will increase.
The author does however acknowledge that Exclusivism could continue well into the future.
For what it’s worth I believe that Exclusivism will reign supreme well into our futures until such time as an unprecedented crisis (climate induced, WMD induced, asteroid collision with the Earth) shows that we all do depend on one another and that for humanity to survive we need to put aside our differences. It might well be that secularists take a lead at that time.
(The complete McFaul article is available for US$2 on the World Future Society site (www.wfs.org). Just enter the article title is the search space and look for the name of the article on/about page 17 of the search results.)
Posted by Scott McKenzie
A Memorable Memoir
(03 October 07)by Greg Spearritt
Pamela Bone, author and journalist with The Age (Melbourne) has a new book out. Bad Hair Days is a memoir, written after she began suffering the effects of incurable bone cancer. The review by Morag Fraser is well worth a look.
Bone has written eloquently on religion: on good and bad religion, on politicians urging us to take up religion, on women wearing the hijab and the burqa and more. She's a feminist and secularist, not strident but thoughtful and courageous.
The God of Airline Safety
(26 September 07)by Greg Spearritt
Making Meaning: Conspiracies and Contingency
(20 September 07)by Greg Spearritt
Don Barratt is on the money, I reckon, when it comes to conspiracy theories:
"Why do we love conspiracy theories about the deaths of... prominent people? [He's just been discussing Princess Diana, President Kennedy, Harold Holt et al.] Patrick Leman, a London University academic, suggests that, when a big event happens, we prefer to have a big cause, not something as arbitrary and mundane as a traffic accident, a drowning or the act of a lone mad gunman. These latter make us feel insecure in our own lives. Who knows? We could be next."
We humans are incurable meaning-makers: we want (or need?) to see significance even when it's not there. We have trouble accepting the contingency, the arbitrariness of life. Is religion evidence of this foible writ large?
Go Forth and Mutilate
(18 September 07)by Greg Spearritt
Religion and Morality
(09 September 07)by Greg Spearritt
Around 2 out of 3 Britons believe religion has an important role to play in guiding morality according to a new poll. I'd love to know what they mean. Is it the idea of cosmic capital punishment that they find so effective? Interestingly, two-thirds of UK citizens polled by Tearfund in April hadn't darkened the door of their local church in the last year. Perhaps that's why the more recent poll finds 4 out of 5 Britons believe their country is in moral decline.
Dark Decades of the Soul
(02 September 07)by Greg Spearritt
The September 3 issue of Time Magazine tells us that Mother Teresa persevered with her ministry despite feeling no sense of God in her life for decades on end. On one occasion she wrote: 'the reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul'.
Compiler and editor of Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, considers this spiritual heroism and a grand example for others.
Surely, though, what she was doing was worthwhile in itself. Many people give of their lives tirelessly for organisations like Oxfam, or take in foster children, or work in soup kitchens without having any overtly religious belief or imperative behind their actions. Do we need God up there or in there or anywhere at all to love our neighbour?
