Religions > Atheism > Does "religion- lite" pose a bigger threat to progress than traditional religion?
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Steve O" |
| Date: |
09 Jun 2005 07:23:00 PM |
| Object: |
Does "religion- lite" pose a bigger threat to progress than traditional religion? |
In the early seventies and eighties, traditional church based religion was
on the wane.
Then along came the crystals and tarot cards, the chakras and the Wicca
women.
Reason trotted to the back of the bus and had a quiet smoke, leaving the
front seats to be occupied by the gibbering prophets of The New Age.
This was a rerun of the old Victorian spiritualism, another, essentially
decadent, fin de siecle fad.
New Age Belief, with it's emphasis on Celtic or Oriental mysticism, self-
awareness and non - Western approaches to physical health, diet and
medicine, was a sort of religion - lite, a reaction to 1960's materialism
and technological triumphism.
To slightly misquote G.K.Chesterton, when we stopped believing in God, we
didn't start believing in nothing, but came instead to believe in
everything.
I can't think of any other reason for the recent rise in non - traditional
beliefs and the influence it seems to have on our society.
I have recently seen a tv programme which appeared to take for granted that
certain New Age mystical and revived practices like reiki and reflexology,
for example, were a matter of science rather than faith.
It's a damn shame.
As Penn and Teller once wisely observed, I don't think you can fix your
liver by poking your feet any more than you can fix a spark plug in your car
by kicking your tyre.
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| User: "John Popelish" |
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| Title: Re: Does "religion- lite" pose a bigger threat to progress than traditionalreligion? |
09 Jun 2005 07:57:06 PM |
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Steve O wrote:
In the early seventies and eighties, traditional church based religion was
on the wane.
Then along came the crystals and tarot cards, the chakras and the Wicca
women.
Reason trotted to the back of the bus and had a quiet smoke, leaving the
front seats to be occupied by the gibbering prophets of The New Age.
(snip)
I call these new religions the "All this science is too hard, so lets
pretend, instead." religions. At least the long standing religions
have the excuse that their dogma was formulated before all this
scientific knowledge was readily available. They are just expressing
the inertia of old ignorance. But the new religions are throwing
available knowledge overboard just because it makes their brains hurt.
Making stuff up is so much easier (and makes you instantly feel
smarter) than working hard to learn science.
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| User: "Jenny6833A" |
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| Title: Re: Does "religion- lite" pose a bigger threat to progress than traditional religion? |
09 Jun 2005 08:27:55 PM |
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John Popelish wrote:
I call these new religions the "All this science is too hard, so lets
pretend, instead." religions. At least the long standing religions
have the excuse that their dogma was formulated before all this
scientific knowledge was readily available. They are just expressing
the inertia of old ignorance. But the new religions are throwing
available knowledge overboard just because it makes their brains hurt.
Making stuff up is so much easier (and makes you instantly feel
smarter) than working hard to learn science.
What's hard about science?
:-)
Jenny
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| User: "Cary Kittrell" |
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| Title: Re: Does "religion- lite" pose a bigger threat to progress than traditional religion? |
09 Jun 2005 08:34:28 PM |
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In article <1118348875.116524.8660@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> "Jenny6833A" <Jenny6833A@aol.com> writes:
John Popelish wrote:
I call these new religions the "All this science is too hard, so lets
pretend, instead." religions. At least the long standing religions
have the excuse that their dogma was formulated before all this
scientific knowledge was readily available. They are just expressing
the inertia of old ignorance. But the new religions are throwing
available knowledge overboard just because it makes their brains hurt.
Making stuff up is so much easier (and makes you instantly feel
smarter) than working hard to learn science.
What's hard about science?
:-)
Is it time for True Believer Barbie? "Science class is HARD!"
[those over a certain age will not get the reference...]
-- cary
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| User: "Ferrous Patella" |
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| Title: Re: Does "religion- lite" pose a bigger threat to progress than traditional religion? |
09 Jun 2005 11:18:47 PM |
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news:3grj8kFe1iapU1@individual.net by Steve O:
In the early seventies and eighties, traditional church based religion
was on the wane.
Then along came the crystals and tarot cards, the chakras and the
Wicca women.
Reason trotted to the back of the bus and had a quiet smoke,
"Reason" = "traditional church based religion"
*snirk*
--
Ferrous Patella (Homo gerardii)
T.A., Philosophy Lab
University of Ediacara
"Nature as God's "reality" show - what a concept!"
--A t.o. poster who wishes to remain anonymous
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| User: "Steve O" |
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| Title: Re: Does "religion- lite" pose a bigger threat to progress than traditional religion? |
10 Jun 2005 12:00:12 AM |
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"Ferrous Patella" <mail125797@pop.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9670A58DDE990mail125797popnet@199.45.49.11...
news:3grj8kFe1iapU1@individual.net by Steve O:
In the early seventies and eighties, traditional church based religion
was on the wane.
Then along came the crystals and tarot cards, the chakras and the
Wicca women.
Reason trotted to the back of the bus and had a quiet smoke,
"Reason" = "traditional church based religion"
*snirk*
Nowhere in that statement did I claim that reason = "traditional church
based religion"
Reason would have been to abandon all of the old beliefs altogether, without
adopting new ones.
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