Enlightened Religious Belief...Going...Going...
Hard though it is to believe, we must. Not a play on words in that to invoke reason is to deny religion which would have us believe, passionately and without proof of any dimension that a great spirit resides high in the atmosphere above this world we inhabit which looks down upon us his creatures for good or for ill. For the good of our souls must we believe and no proof required.Faith is by its very nature blind. On the other hand most of us express a kind of faith when we anticipate the sun will rise in the east and set in the west, a natural phenomenon which cosmologists can explain rationally in their enlightened, largely theoretic view of the universe and our place within it. Within that rational environment there is place for the belief that we are surrounded by other heavenly objects which in total make our universe.
Does the god then that looks down upon us do likewise with all those other swirling, orbiting objects comprised of molecules, atoms, gases, metals, dust and ice? Has this supreme being launched his experimental projects upon other planets orbiting their very own suns? Has he created beings to match the multifarious environments to be found elsewhere, far from our constellation?
He would most certainly have to be omniscient, all-powerful, great beyond the understanding of mere mortals, and besides, one very busy spirit to dabble hither and yon. A scientist then in his own right, curious, logical and working within the confines of a nature he has himself created. A powerful combination of creativity, hubris and curiosity.
Well, all of a sudden the skeptics living on this earth who take upon themselves the option of non-belief in religion and faith in god, along with those who find they can balance their religious belief with a commitment to scientific enquiry and response are discovering we live in an increasingly faith-filled world. The pendulum of doubt has swung the other way.
Religious fundamentalism appears to be on the upswing across the world. Tepid and societally-obligatory obeisance to the idea of a religious entity whose purpose it is to control and guide us toward our own salvation is beginning to melt into a more rigid 'blind' faith accepting without question the sacred writings at face value - the immutable word of god.
"You're giving up a rich artistic, intellectual (and) ethical tradition and, in its place, you're putting this kind of visceral belief not even in the bible as much as your experience in tandem with the bible. We may be the first society in a very long time that is heading in reverse", according to Joseph Hoffman, chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion. "The growth of Pentecostalism is the growth of unreason."
"The rationalism of the Enlightenment is a minoriy position in the world today" according to John Green, who worked on a recent international survey of Pentecostals, charismatics and other revivalists for the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "I think many Enlightenment folks aren't comfortable with religiosity in general, but particularly Pentecostals, who are very traditional, very otherwordly, very big and aggressive."
This society which we inhabit appears to be increasingly dividing into those who embrace reason, education and technology and those who do not, according to The Center for Inquiry, an umbrella group advocating for science and reason with an increasing sense of urgency. The group sponsors debates between atheists and Christians on university campuses.
"We're holding the line on the Enlightenment until these dark times pass", claims David Koepsall of the Council for Secular Humanism, a group affiliated with the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion. "How could we go so quickly from the principles of the Enlightenment in the western world? In the last 10 or 15 years everything seems to have changed."
More than 50% of people in the United States do not believe in the theory of evolution and the number in Canada who believe likewise is catching up. Since the 17th and 18th centuries reason has been the universal language that espoused points of view through the exercise of logic. Logic demonstrated through its elegant simplicity that it could solve all the mysteries of existence.
Formerly ideas that could not be logically and scientifically proven were effectively disproved. Those that held up under intense scrutiny and could be replicated convincingly were accepted. Despite which answers to too many questions which tease us with their elusiveness appear now to stubbornly evade solution.
People now are turning increasingly to a convincing belief in the extraordinary, that which is opaque to reason, not transparently accessible. Belief in the supernatural is growing at an accelerated rate, and new churches are springing up leaving the old churches in the dust as people begin to flock to them, where the hysteria of belief in the divine spreads in ways convincing to those who want to believe that god can speak directly to them.
Through self-induced trances, unintelligible speaking of tongues, the hysteria of uncontrolled emotions people are increasingly adapting themselves to a faith which has left rationality far behind. People now become filled with the spirit of god, it speaks within them, gives them comfort and courage, fills them with gratitude.
There are some sociologists who insist that humankind is hard-wired to spirituality, to the need to be spiritual, to search for the meaning of life within the belief that they are placed on earth to worship god and to do his sacred bidding.
That people do instinctively and subliminally appear to embrace an inner need to confirm their faith is undeniable. That people are complex organisms on this earth with minds/brains, a soul that is little understood through scientific enquiry is also a reality.
The question perhaps is why are some people so obviously needful of such a belief that "reason doesn't get you to heaven, reason doesn't save your soul and reason doesn't give you a personal experience of Jesus Chris"? Why do these people have such an all-abiding need to believe in heaven, the yearning of the soul toward faith?
What trait is it within others that causes them to shrug off a similar need?
Labels: Religion
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, March 08, 2007
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