Will Religion survive the Internet?
- Details
- Published on Monday, 04 February 2013 06:27
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 486
When religion was invented, many thousands of years ago, there was no science. There were many things that could not be explained and the only way to find answers was to think about them. Even the Greek philosophers did that. There were few experiments to test ideas. If it "made sense" it was probably true. Then later, when religions spread, there was no way to question if it was right. Not only that, but anyone questioning what the priests said was likely to be burned at the stake as a heretic. The first serious questioning was done in Luther's time which just so happened to be at the time of the printing press. He managed to get the word out using handbills before the Pope heard about it and demanded he stop. Too late - by then many were thinking the same as Luther. They were not questioning the existence of a God - just questioning the collection of add-ons put out by the Catholic Church.
Read more: Will Religion survive the Internet?
God and Science are Incompatible
- Details
- Published on Saturday, 02 February 2013 06:36
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 3560
There was an article on June 26, 2009 in the Wall Street Journal by Lawrence M. Krauss that is headed God and Science Don't Mix . The idea was first published in 1934 by J.B.S. Haldane in "Fact and Faith" and is quoted as follows:
My practice as a scientist is atheistic. That is to say, when I set up an experiment I assume that no god, angel or devil is going to interfere with its course; and this assumption has been justified by such success as I have achieved in my professional career. I should therefore be intellectually dishonest if I were not also atheistic in the affairs of the world.
Yet many scientists say that they are Christians or believe in some other Religion. How can that be?
Why hell?
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 07:02
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 567
Some Christians and Muslims really believe in hell as a real place where their merciful, good god sends people after they die. Others say it's simply an absence of god - and they believe that this would be unpleasant - although I can't imagine why. Both versions require that there be a life after death. If you think about it, like many Christians seems to have, it doesn't make sense that the God they preach about would be so cruel as to subject all who reject him, knowingly or unknowingly, to pain for all eternity. But if you are gullible or sadistic, and you still believe in a literal hell, then maybe the problems with the concept have not been properly explained. With the help of an article in the Economist, let me try.
Scientology - book by Lawrence Wright
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 31 January 2013 06:50
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 600
CBC's Neil Macdonald reviewed a book by Lawrence Wright: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. My first reaction is that both Macdonald and Wright should now be afraid - if not of violence then of being hounded by Scientology lawyers. The leaders of Scientology don't like the truth about them being said in public. Macdonald focuses on the fact that the classification of Scientology as a religion gives it a degree of immunity from Government and the law - much like the Catholic Church has not had its leaders prosecuted for the abuse by its priests. But it's important to spread the word on the facts about the vicious cult of Scientology so below are some extracts from Macdonald's review.