PICTURES
This
is where we should start feeling at home. The way
religion has conditioned people to think for centuries is ideological thought, and is the main problem facing humanity, and the source of the conflict between science and religion.
Why? It is dangerous. Ideology addresses very real problems by mystifying them (Zizek 2008). Then we are unhinged from our responsibility and vulnerable to be told to scapegoat all our problems on saviours and sin. What, then, can you do to redeem yourself from the sickness
Ideology's
elementary mechanism is the ‘temptation of meaning.’ When something
horrible happens, our first reaction is to search for meaning (Frankl 1946). Take AIDS for
example. It is a horrible trauma. The religions decided that it is
punishment for sin. When we interpret a catastrophe as divine punishment, it makes
it easier, because then we “know” that it is not just some terrifying unknown force...it
has a meaning. When you are in the middle of such force, it is better to feel
that God punished you than to feel that it just happened. If God punished you,
then it is still a universe of meaning (Zizek 2008).
Science
today is focused largely in two spheres: atheism and ecology. Atheism will be
the topic of this post. The final one will cover ecology.
The battle between science and religion has raged for millenia, since religion first appeared in human consciousness in the hydro-agricultural revolution (Rifkin 2009). Religion has lost much of its power and control in recent years, for several reasons. The works of Dan Brown, the books-become-movies The DaVinci Code, that struck a chord with a massive audience who had been hurt by religion; and Angels and Demons which cuts right to the heart of the debate of science vs. religion.
In the real world, a man who did this better than anybody else was Christopher Hitchens. In a debate that he and teammate Stephen Fry won by a landslide, he said the following:
"I refer to Bishop Marini and the Pope's speeches directly: 'Given the number of sins we've committed in the course of 20 centuries, reference to them must necessarily be summary...he begged for forgiveness for the Crusades, the Inquisition, the persecution of the Jewish people, the injustice towards women - half the human race, right there - the forced conversion of indigenous peoples, especially in South America."
Then he went on to speak of 94 recognitions made by the previous Pope John Paul II, including the African slave trade, the admission that Galileo was...right, institutionalised and sanctioned torture, silence during Hitler's reign, the burning alive of Jan Hus, the Great Sack of Constantinople, and the rape of boys.
US President Richard Nixon was asked by his Economic Advisor what shold be done about the environment, and Nixon replied "I don't think the Lord will tarry (in his Second Coming) long enough for us to have to worry about the environment."
Religion puts that which should be organic and divine and uncaged into a cage in their control, for the purpose of controlling souls for profit (Condon 1983). Science seeks to understand what's going on. Unfortunately for humans we are still steeped in ideological disavowal and irresponsible ignorance. This is where the vehemence in the conflict, and indeed the conflict itself, comes from. People not realising that we're all in the same boat, and deep down saying the exact same thing in different words.
It's not about being a Catholic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Heathen, Wiccan, Atheist, or Agnostic. It's about being human. Humanism, and empathy, for the sake of being a part of the human race is all we need. Regrettably it's easier said than done, especially when people have been conditioned to believe otherwise with a confusion that runs deep. It's almost as if we've been asleep and now things are about to begin. The real trick will be to figure out how to never find the end that we're still hurtling towards. That will require a lot more than the lucky breaks that gave us life in the first place (Bryson 2003).
References
Bryson, B. (2003). A Short History of Nearly Everything. Transworld Publishers, London.
Condon, R. (1983). A Trembling Upon Rome. Random House, London.
Greville, F. (1609). Mustapha [Theatrical Play]. Act V, sc. 4.
Rifkin, J. (2009). The Empathic Civilisation: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis. Penguin Group, New York.
Zizek, S. (2008). In Taylor, A. (Director & Writer). Examined Life. [DVD Documentary Film]. Zeitgeist film.
Pictures obtained from:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/04/22/ron_howard_defends_angels_aamp_demons_ag
http://jootix.com/view/1561/The-Planet-Earth-planet-earth-blue-space-1920x1080.html
http://www.fashion-dress-pictures.com/can-science-and-religion-work-together/
http://glossynews.com/top-stories/serious-commentary/201105180011/science-and-religion-cannot-coexist-together/
http://jesus-needs-money.blogspot.com.au/2010_08_01_archive.html
http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=1662
The battle between science and religion has raged for millenia, since religion first appeared in human consciousness in the hydro-agricultural revolution (Rifkin 2009). Religion has lost much of its power and control in recent years, for several reasons. The works of Dan Brown, the books-become-movies The DaVinci Code, that struck a chord with a massive audience who had been hurt by religion; and Angels and Demons which cuts right to the heart of the debate of science vs. religion.
In the real world, a man who did this better than anybody else was Christopher Hitchens. In a debate that he and teammate Stephen Fry won by a landslide, he said the following:
"I refer to Bishop Marini and the Pope's speeches directly: 'Given the number of sins we've committed in the course of 20 centuries, reference to them must necessarily be summary...he begged for forgiveness for the Crusades, the Inquisition, the persecution of the Jewish people, the injustice towards women - half the human race, right there - the forced conversion of indigenous peoples, especially in South America."Then he went on to speak of 94 recognitions made by the previous Pope John Paul II, including the African slave trade, the admission that Galileo was...right, institutionalised and sanctioned torture, silence during Hitler's reign, the burning alive of Jan Hus, the Great Sack of Constantinople, and the rape of boys.
US President Richard Nixon was asked by his Economic Advisor what shold be done about the environment, and Nixon replied "I don't think the Lord will tarry (in his Second Coming) long enough for us to have to worry about the environment."
Religion puts that which should be organic and divine and uncaged into a cage in their control, for the purpose of controlling souls for profit (Condon 1983). Science seeks to understand what's going on. Unfortunately for humans we are still steeped in ideological disavowal and irresponsible ignorance. This is where the vehemence in the conflict, and indeed the conflict itself, comes from. People not realising that we're all in the same boat, and deep down saying the exact same thing in different words.
It's not about being a Catholic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Heathen, Wiccan, Atheist, or Agnostic. It's about being human. Humanism, and empathy, for the sake of being a part of the human race is all we need. Regrettably it's easier said than done, especially when people have been conditioned to believe otherwise with a confusion that runs deep. It's almost as if we've been asleep and now things are about to begin. The real trick will be to figure out how to never find the end that we're still hurtling towards. That will require a lot more than the lucky breaks that gave us life in the first place (Bryson 2003).
True Humanism loves all of this.
References
Bryson, B. (2003). A Short History of Nearly Everything. Transworld Publishers, London.
Condon, R. (1983). A Trembling Upon Rome. Random House, London.
Greville, F. (1609). Mustapha [Theatrical Play]. Act V, sc. 4.
Rifkin, J. (2009). The Empathic Civilisation: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis. Penguin Group, New York.
Zizek, S. (2008). In Taylor, A. (Director & Writer). Examined Life. [DVD Documentary Film]. Zeitgeist film.
Pictures obtained from:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/04/22/ron_howard_defends_angels_aamp_demons_ag
http://jootix.com/view/1561/The-Planet-Earth-planet-earth-blue-space-1920x1080.html
http://www.fashion-dress-pictures.com/can-science-and-religion-work-together/
http://glossynews.com/top-stories/serious-commentary/201105180011/science-and-religion-cannot-coexist-together/
http://jesus-needs-money.blogspot.com.au/2010_08_01_archive.html
http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=1662
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