Bertrand Russell on morality
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- Created on Thursday, 23 May 2013 07:18
- Published on Thursday, 23 May 2013 07:18
- Written by John Draper
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One of the great philosophers of the last century, Bertrand Russell was a declared atheist and wrote many articles on god and morality. His style was clear and concise but his thoughts on morality of itself were not put into a single short article. I am attempting to do that here. My source is a book called "Why I am not a Christian - and other essays on religion and related subjects". It was published in 1957 when he was 85 - he died in 1970.
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Democracy and the Catholic Church
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- Created on Tuesday, 21 May 2013 06:57
- Published on Tuesday, 21 May 2013 06:57
- Written by John Draper
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What people believe is not necessarily what they are told to believe by an autocratic Church. Centuries ago, the priests and bishops and even the ministers and pastors were the majority of the educated class. Worse, other educated people did not have the weekly sermons to tell the faithful how things worked and what they should do and believe. The average peasant had no way of knowing that what he was being told by the priest was a load of crap. In addition, religions and their dogmas were integrated into politics - they were a way of keeping the riff-raff in place. But gradually, education, literacy and the thought that people could decide for themselves began to spread. It was not just religion but also politics that was subject to individual thinking. When Luther asked some awkward questions, he got support from local Princes who were fed up with the autocratic bishops telling their subjects what to think and do - which included sending money to Rome and ignoring the Prince when the bishops said so.
Is Atheism a Religion?
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- Created on Sunday, 19 May 2013 07:16
- Published on Sunday, 19 May 2013 07:16
- Written by John Draper
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By anyone’s definition, religion is a set of beliefs – but more than that, these beliefs have to be in some fashion not readily believable. Believing in gravity, a hot sun, cold ice and a collection of other physical facts do not constitute a religion. But believing in an invisible god and stories about how he created us is a religion. However, other things are described colloquially as “religious”. For example, you might say that a friend is “religious about going to the gym”. You mean he treats his commitment to the gym like he would his commitment to a religion. So another aspect of religion is that you are committed to it. You might say I am religious about atheism – that by itself does not make atheism a religion – it just describes my level of commitment.
Catholic Contradictions
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- Created on Friday, 17 May 2013 06:43
- Published on Friday, 17 May 2013 06:43
- Written by John Draper
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One difference between Catholic teaching and other religions is that Catholics reject "relativism" - Benedict was the most recent Pope to speak out against it. In its place, Catholics promote the idea that morality is objective. Any particular act is always wrong. Jesuit Kenneth Baker writes that "The Catholic Church has consistently and continually rejected subjectivism and relativism in morality". This is why they resist approval of abortion and gay sex. They also say that abusing children is wrong whether it's done by priests or anyone. So that would mean that abuse is always wrong and is never acceptable no matter the circumstances.
Astrology or Star Struck
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- Created on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 06:50
- Published on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 06:50
- Written by John Draper
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By Karl S. Kruszelnicki
The word "disaster" comes from Latin words meaning "bad star" - which shows that the Romans thought that the stars could influence our lives. They were wrong, but even today, many people share this belief.
There are several types of astrology. "General Astrology" looks at how humanity is affected by supposedly "significant" alignments of the stars and planet. "Genethlialogy" is a branch that looks at your life based on the positions of the stars and planets at the moment of your birth, while "Catarchic Astrology" tries to find the most auspicious time to start a given task.
"Believers" Don't Believe in God
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- Created on Saturday, 11 May 2013 07:08
- Published on Saturday, 11 May 2013 07:08
- Written by Larry R. Lawson
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Reading, in recent weeks, some very interesting blogs on atheist sites and the comments that get written on these blogs, one thing has gradually been borne in upon me. Odd as it may seem, I'm becoming convinced that those who claim to be religious "believers", do not, in fact believe what they say they believe. They do not believe in a god.
Many of them show little or no signs of having any clear idea just what it is they do believe; each indicating a different, sometimes much different, concept of a "god". Since their idea of what and who their god is, is the basis for their other ideas about religion and faith, it is not at all surprising that those other ideas will also show a marked difference from person to person and from church to church when their very concept of god is different.
Religion and Canadian Politics
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- Created on Monday, 13 May 2013 07:17
- Published on Monday, 13 May 2013 07:17
- Written by John Draper
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At the 2011 Federal election, an Ipsos Reid exit poll showed that in Canada, support of Political parties is divided along religious lines. Personally, I believe we live in, or should be living in, a secular society so that politics is to do with economics and preserving equal rights. From this flows the concept of supporting the disadvantaged while maintaining an incentive to work. If there is no incentive to work, the contribution to society is unequal. But it seems that not everyone agrees with my views. Many people colour their view of politics by their religious views although it’s not easy to see the connection.
But first, let’s look at the numbers. A simple measure of religiosity is weekly attendance at a Church:
Official 2011 Census Canada results on Religion
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- Created on Thursday, 09 May 2013 06:44
- Published on Thursday, 09 May 2013 06:44
- Written by John Draper
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It takes a while but Census Canada have now released some numbers on religions in Canada. They have wrapped the numbers together with immigration numbers but the trend is clear. Religion in Canada is dying out - especially the Christian religion. From 2006 to 2011, Christians dropped from 75% of the population to 67% and "No religion" increased from 17.5% to 23.6%. Because of the way the question was asked, few responded as atheist, agnostic or humanist even though other polls and surveys show that close to 5% would say they are not only "no religion" but do not believe in even a higher power. The census was flawed from the start - in 2006, completion of the long form questionnaire was compulsory but in 2011 it was not. This happened because of political interference and resulted in the resignation of some senior census managers. In addition the question on religion focused on culture and not what people practised. (Cobourg atheist article)
