Re: Constructed Religions
| From: | Padraic Brown <pbrown@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, December 31, 1998, 16:39 |
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On Thu, 31 Dec 1998, 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.
I tend to agree with Terrence on this at least in part. It might seem
that scientific advance might come more swiftly to people without
Otherworldly baggage in tow, for they might not spend eons cowering in
fear of the gods. But on the other hand, such nonreligious people might
just collectively say "cest la vie" and not bother with doing much of
anything: thus hundreds of thousands of years with very stable "low level"
technology that changes very slowly.
Just another possibility.
> Also,
> the Ranamemi people of my conworld Zyem developed scientific inquiry
> as a direct result of religious sensibilities. They take a basically
> gnostic view of the world, and believe that the more you understand
> the workings of the Universe, the more able you are to make it work to
> your advantage. In times past, they focussed on the proper rituals and
> spells needed to influence the gods, but nowadays they channel much of
> this energy into science. Actually, they see no dichotomy between
> the natural and supernatural worlds, and their explanation of electricity
> (for example) will give the actions of the gods and of Maxwell's Equations
> equal weight.
I think this is an enlightened attitude, and one shared by many religious
scientists even in the real (con)world.
Padraic.