Posted by Estella on May 21, 2006, at 4:51:33
In reply to The Long Withdrawing Roar » Estella, posted by Declan on May 21, 2006, at 2:35:40
> In the transition from a religiously based society to a different one, the habits of thought associated with religion can be grafted onto belief systems without the kinds of safeguards religion normally offers.
Ah. Sure.
There is good thinking and bad thinking from within religion and from without...
What 'safeguards' does religion offer?Could this be met in alternative ways (laws and social norms)?
I guess what I struggle with when it comes to established religion... Is that some people take religion to be beyond science and beyond critique. But critique is an important tool for keeping checks and safeguards in place. And science... Well I'd sooner trust a scientist telling me the flight was going to go okay than someone who said god told them so...
I guess another thing that is hard...
Is history of opression.
People were killed because the church disagreed.
Everything revolves around the earth (including the sun). Apparantly that was biblical. To say otherwise was to put your life in danger.
The church set the research agenda for a number of years...Medieval philosophers worried about such things as 'how many angels can fit on the head of a pin' where the debate was around whether there was any limit (do angels take up space or not)?
Witch burnings...
But you can similarly look to the history of science (medicine and psychiatry and psychology in particular) for some fairly horrific things...
Maybe it is about mystery...
I don't know.
But I feel frightened when established religion has a lot of power / sets the agenda.
Because people tend not to question religion. Because religion is thought to be beyond question 'what can we mere mortals hope to understand about the mysterious ways of god' and so forth.
justifying values aside from religion...
so many interpretations of the bible are possible.
for example...
there is something in the new testament about men (presumably women too) not judging each other. god is supposed to be the judge of man.
(how does that fit with capital punishment)
there is also stuff about turning the other cheek.
(how does that fit with capital punishment. or war)
one can argue most anything from the bible.
so how much does that help?
ones interpretation of the bible...
how about justifying that?or how about just articulating values etc without reference to religion.
i'm not sure what religion buys you...
not sure at all...
poster:Estella
thread:642679
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060417/msgs/646469.html