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Tuesday, 04 January 2011

Studying Religion

Another question from the ever curious.

Again, I am not well read on religion so take what I say lightly I suppose.

I am enrolled in an Evolutionary Psychology course right now. Evolutionary Psychology is basically discovering and understanding the design of the human mind. Viewing the mind as an information processing machine and each part designed with some sort of task in mind. I think that is the least science-y and least evolution-y I can put it. It's sort of a bi-product of biology and cognition in my mind. Hah.

Anyways, I cannot find the passage I was reading in this article (basically a primer on E-PSY) but it was something to the effect of... if we can find the true answers to why the simplest things exist, why wouldn't we try to find those answers? Why wouldn't we want to know? Not that everyone needs to know or wants to know, but as an important part of our history (our history in general, and our creation) it makes sense to dig a bit.

My question is-- does religion do this? From what I know there are a lot of people who don't believe in evolution (?) and rather believe God created the Earth? I could be OK with that, but is there anyone out there proving God created the earth by doing research and... stuff? I've heard of "religion science" or the science of religion but I'm not sure if that is the same thing.

Bottom Line-- do the people who don't believe in evolution or the study of why we are the way we are simply live with the acceptance that they don't need to know and/or that someone else created them and that's all they need to know? Or is there another explanation out there besides evolution that has actual studies/proof in a similar way that evolution does?

Curious if there's anything out there.

Thursday, 11 November 2010

child abuse?

One of my professors posed this question to the class to get some thinking going.

Is taking your children to church child abuse?

He didn't really give any structure to the question but wanted us to think about it however we thought about it. As a class we didn't get much into religion itself but we did say that because a child's brain is very plastic (think of it like running through a dust storm coated in glue) everything is going to stick in it. While I personally don't see any harm in taking a child to church I do question whether it is a good idea to really get your kid really involved in religion at a young age. Jesus Camp is a wild example of this, but I've seen it in some of my friends too. I remember being a kid and my friends who went to church would talk about Jesus as if he were standing right next to him.

I think religion can be healthy and I think that everyone should have the choice of what religion they want to practice.

I think that you can give your child a certain set of morals that your religion might follow without necessarily indoctrinating them into that religion. As they get older, they should have the choice to continue studying what they've been presented or to take it at face value and walk away.

So don't jump down my throat, I don't think taking your kid to church is child abuse all by its lonesome. I do think it can be... like many things can be when taken in the wrong way.

I think its an interesting conversation starter. Where do you stand? Think about it.

Saturday, 11 September 2010

almighty god tweets...

I saw a few of my friends on twitter re-tweeting this morning and thought it was interesting. I've had thoughts on this before but really haven't read much into it. I guess my question is, if there is a God why is it that so many innocent people die in such horrific ways? The only thing I've heard is that God has a plan for them or needs them in heaven. It has always seemed like an awful lot of work to create a human being just to take them away.

How would you explain this?

Sunday, 29 August 2010

Fake Christians

According to this article on CNN.com, more teens are becoming "fake" Christians. In other words, they are straying from the more traditional Christianity.

Many teenagers thought that God simply wanted them to feel good and do good -- what the study's researchers called "moralistic therapeutic deism."

She says this "imposter'' faith is one reason teenagers abandon churches.

They go on to say that these new forms of expressing yourself in religion are mutant and depressing. They say that the churches aren't giving teenagers enough to be passionate about. It reminds me of watching Jesus Camp a couple of weeks ago. In one scene that stands out particularly vivid in my mind, a young girl says that God is not at those quiet and calm churches but at the churches where people are yelling and screaming up at the sky. (This is my take of what she said, hers was much more enthusiastic.)

Do you think that these new "mutations" of Christianity are depressing? Do you think you can still be a Christian if you don't express yourself in the traditional Christian way? Have you noticed (and perhaps this is just me, not being a Christian) that many people think that their perception of Christianity is the "true way"? What is the "right way" to be a Christian- is there one?

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Leaving Christianity?

I've been reading a lot of blogs recently about people who are leaving their religion because of other people abusing it or not properly understanding it. For example, Author Anne Rice.

"In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life." (source)

Would you ever leave your religion (and either become agnostic, atheist, something else) because of other people who were of the same religion as you? Are you committed to your religion no matter what happens?

In other words, do other peoples thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions pertaining to your religion affect how you feel about your religion?