tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19331652.post8553744284704803509..comments2011-06-18T18:58:36.294+10:00Comments on The Blog for Rob: A short discourse the meaning of religion and scienceRobert Mark Bramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06992070434006567093noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19331652.post-73493114107610647052008-06-02T22:07:00.000+10:002008-06-02T22:07:00.000+10:00Hi Marc, you raise some very good points and I app...Hi Marc, you raise some very good points and I appreciate you reading what I wrote.<BR/><BR/><I>Taking a look at religions with the presupposition that no God exists and that they are man-made (as you have done) will lead you into many quandaries.</I><BR/><BR/>I think life is quite literally a never-ending chain of quandaries, and belief in God doesn't change that. It might change how you analyse and react to each new quandary, but it doesn't shield you from either the possibility of new quandaries nor from the consequences of them.<BR/><BR/><I>It's like analysing science with the assumption that there is no external reality - it all looks silly.</I><BR/><BR/>It does look silly when your understanding of what is reality changes. Today, it looks silly that we ever believed the Earth was flat.<BR/><BR/><I>However, I think you'll find that religion is best explained in terms of man's response to a transcendent reality and not because he did not understand his environment. Try something truly radical today and analyse a religion as if it were true.</I><BR/><BR/>I wholly respect your right to do so, and to have faith in the conclusions that come from that analysis. Personally, I do not share that faith. My analysis has shown me what I have written already.<BR/><BR/><I>It also seems to me a contradiction to say a) religions tell us how we should live and b) this should change over time.</I><BR/><BR/>It is clear to me that morality is dynamic: it changes over time and furthermore is highly pluralist within the global population of humans at any given time. Laws change to reflect the shifting morality of the people within them. Our sense of morality with respect to equality of race and gender is a prime example, showing both that humans across the globe have changed over time and that there are still wide differences between the morality of different cultures at the current time.<BR/><BR/><I>If morality is dynamic then what Hitler did could have been OK for his time and culture and may be OK again in the future. Any atrocity can be justified by saying: "move with the times!".</I><BR/><BR/>I hope that would never happen, but honestly, is it that hard to think of things we once thought were ok but now abhor?<BR/><BR/>This is precisely why religion needs to be dynamic: it needs to change as we change. Just as our legal and governmental structures do, just as our understanding of science does, religion must change to reflect our shifting beliefs and understanding of the world around us.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again, you really gave me something to think about. :)Robert Mark Bramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06992070434006567093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19331652.post-61385702114539326402008-06-02T18:17:00.000+10:002008-06-02T18:17:00.000+10:00Taking a look at religions with the presupposition...Taking a look at religions with the presupposition that no God exists and that they are man-made (as you have done) will lead you into many quandaries. It's like analysing science with the assumption that there is no external reality - it all looks silly.<BR/><BR/>However, I think you'll find that religion is best explained in terms of man's response to a transcendent reality and not because he did not understand his environment. Try something truly radical today and analyse a religion as if it were true.<BR/><BR/>It also seems to me a contradiction to say a) religions tell us how we should live and b) this should change over time. If morality is dynamic then what Hitler did could have been OK for his time and culture and may be OK again in the future. Any atrocity can be justified by saying: "move with the times!".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com