Monday, July 8, 2013

Missing The Point Again

Missing The Point Again
PZ Myers and upper limit of his commenters take place to cuddle invariable missed the opinion of "Religious studies for Atheists".

They in addition to invariable go too far the importance of belief in religions. Alain de Botton is prerogative that whether or not God exists is a unexciting big business. It's been pretty well demure that God does not develop. Some theologians cuddle got roughly this dealings by saying that this is seeing that God is living, or the Homeland of All Existence, but as a result that trees the big business of what that might mean.

I'm keen that the New Incredulity has raised the stakes in the theological game, and brought non-realist and apophatic theology to the fore once again, but I hatred the way some New Atheists let off all religion as imperfect double-talk.

Limit religions are centred bumpily practice moderately than belief. In Hinduism, Paganism, Buddhism, Taoism, Unitarianism, Quakerism and Judaism, belief is not necessary to whether you tally as a quantity of the religion or not. Such as counts is either morality or practices. The big business for Jews is not "Do you believe?" but "Are you observant?" For Pagans, what counts is your column to word-process, the earth, and/or the land. Communicate are several numerous schools of intent in Hinduism, Taoism, Paganism, Buddhism, Taoism, Unitarianism, and Quakerism, ranging from theists to non-theists. For Buddhists, deities may well develop, but they are irrelevant. Many Pagans and Unitarians would regular with the Buddhists on this. Many Unitarians are atheists and humanists.

So if it is not about escape an excuse of how the world works or how it came now being, what is religion for? It is about escape a premise of public meaning, and a set of spiritual practices (meditation and ritual), and a community to share attention, joys and sorrows.

In helpful religions, you don't need to sign up to a set of axioms or propositions which may rebuff opposed to your bicker in order to be part of the community and make use of a supply of stories, mythology, symbols and practices.

Self-righteous community in addition to inspires contest to band together to transform expressive truth (even with non-religious groups do this too). By equivalently helpful members to medicine others with perceptive, saintly community can be a powerful tool for creating transform. Aspiration of Martin Luther Ruler, Mahatma Gandhi, and others who were moved to transform the world.