Re: Constructed Religions

Terrence Donnelly wrote:
>
> At 09:55 AM 12/31/98 -0500, Hawksinger wrote:
>
> >On the other hand, a people without religion should (IMHO) advance in
> >science and knowledge much more rapidly.  Instead of describing
> >something as supernatural they might be more inclined to say "how does
> >that happen" and try to find out and hopefully, have an associated
> >openness to new concepts and ideas.
>
> I don't think this is a given.  I've heard the argument that it was
> the Judeo-Christian world-view that fostered early scientific
> inquiry: by positing a world created by a logical Mind, people were
> encouraged to seek to understand the purposes of that Mind.  Also,
I don't claim it as a fact, just an opinion.  I admit to being
influenced by the battles over evolution, Galileo's findings, the
early attempts to relate geology to biblical castrophes, and of course
as I mentioned, the net effect of religious wars on the advancement
of civilization.  And of course, the early efforts to seek out the
scientific method predated Judeo-Christian worldviews (at least the
Christian half anyway).  Of course, in my Nowan conculture, I am free
to shape them slightly differently than Homo sapiens in any case.
--
Brad Coon
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