“The Ignorance of Religion”
8th grade is ending, and a child sits in the pews at their local church communion. Those around them have their hands together, and heads down in prayer. Having been shoved through the industrial processor of religion of their parents choice, they sit in a group that they don’t relate to. Sure they’ve enjoyed their time with friends on Wednesday evening during religion classes, but the whole religion thing doesn’t make sense to them. Although he was born over 130 years ago, the author of The Island of Doctor Moreau, H.G. Wells, felt very similarly on the topic. He was a skeptic of religious ethics in the world. Wells did not believe that the leaders of the church were pure, and they also abused their power to
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gain wealth and blind followers. H.G. Wells has three main ways in which his religious beliefs are displayed. He uses indirect references to religious items, direct connections to religious events, and real life excerpts about H.G. Well’s beliefs. “Peace be with you” “And also with you.” Some religious ideas and phrases are easily referred to indirectly throughout all of literature. As Prendick meets with the beast folk in the jungle, they share their creed with him. “'Not to go on all-Fours’... 'Not to suck up Drink’… 'Not to eat Flesh nor Fish’... 'Not to claw Bark of Trees’... 'Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men?'” (121, Moreau) Their creed can be related to the 10 commandments from The Bible. "You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, not his male or female slave, or his ox or ass, or anything else that belongs to him." (Exod. 20.12-17) “Commandments four through ten all deal with the ways in which one is supposed to conduct themselves within the confines of society, much like Moreau’s laws (Quad 292).” To Wells, the laws seem to be a comment on The 10 commandments being less of a god-like set of laws, and rather a good set of guidelines for a society to run well. Also there are several moments throughout the novel where the Beast Folk explicitly refer to Moreau as a god-like figure. “When referring to Moreau in text as “he”, or “him”, his name is typically capitalized, much like is typically done when referring to God (McConnell 95).” Two of these moments occur in chapter twelve, ““His is the House of Pain. “His is the Hand that makes. “His is the Hand that wounds. “His is the Hand that heals.”” (12.20) "His are the stars in the sky" (12.24) Although there are many assumptions that can made as allusions and references in The Island of Doctor Moreau, H.G. Wells also gives direct references to religious content that can be analyzed. Humans are constantly compared to humans in their behavior, following others blindly as sheep being a common one.
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.(Matthew 10:16)” These innocent people attempting to make a blissful lifestyle sometimes lead themselves into the seemingly loving arms of power hungry tyrants. Wells makes many attacks on religion through his characters in The Island of Doctor Moreau. He even has his god figure, Moreau, question God many times. Some notable occurrences being “Is there a god? And if so, why does he not show himself?” (Moreau 94), “Is there a god? And if so, why does he not show himself?” (Moreau 94). He even goes as far to say the interpretation of religion is wrong, and that he has the correct idea, "Then I am a religious man, Prendick, as every sane man must be. It may be I fancy I have seen more of the ways of this world's Maker than you—for I have sought his laws, in my way" Dr. Moreau is not as successful a creator as God or even frankenstein, the only way for his process to “work” is through a painful bloody long process(14.26).” Moreau says he's a religious man/scientist. He states religion and science are not in conflict, and that only the wrong idea of religion that people like Prendick have. Even Montgomery questions Moreau’s
ethics. “It is cruel, it is abominable [Montgomery confesses] ... to take these wretched animals & carve them into these caricatures of Gods [sic] image, to torture their minds into the travesty of rational creatures, to set all their instincts at war. They were brutes & balanced & happy as brutes. Why could not he leave them brutes?“Once all the touchy-feely pain-is-bad stuff is gone, religion and science work together (Philmus 6).” Wells is a very strong believer of the idea that an extent of religion is a coverup to provide power to higher ups, and is being very carefully manipulated for self-advancement. He can only convey so much in his writing though, sometimes he resorts to real conversations to convey his emotions. H.G. Wells novel is a religious attack, but it is not attacking God, the Creator. “The Island of Dr. Moreau is Wells's critique of groups of religion that have attempted to control and civilize human beings by forcing them with fear of eternal damnation and to listen to a code of ethics contrary to the laws of evolution, and therefore contrary to humankind's natural instinct (Thatcher, 35).” Wells has also said this, “I was perhaps too aware of the numbers of fine-minded people who were still clinging not so much to religion as to the comfort of religious habits and phrases. Some lingering quality of childish dependence in them answered to this lapse toward a "sustaining faith" in myself. What we have here is really a falling back of the mind towards immaturity under the stress of dismay and anxiety. It is a very good thing at times to hear such words as,"Let not your Heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid" spoken as if with authority. It is a good thing to imagine the still companionship of an understanding Presence on a sleepless night. Then one can get to sleep again with something of the reassurance of a child in its cot(McGhee 97).”” He reassured the idea that a higher being may exist, but he is of the belief it is abused on Earth. We go through our lives trying to accept that death is inevitable, and comforting ourselves as best we can with that fact. The difficulty of coping with the fact that life may be meaningless, and that all that goes on in our lives is terrifying to anypony. Wells understood this, and tried to share his words with others, so that they could possibly find happiness thinking that they weren’t living a lie their entire life, so they could reach an inner achievement over the universe. H.G. wells strongly proves his feeling on life, and a higher being through The Island Of Doctor Moreau. He says, “religion is a safety blanket humans throw over themselves to comfort them from the inevitability of death we all face (McGhee 65).” He uses indirect references to religious items, scenes that can be correlated to religious events, and real life excerpts about H.G. Well’s beliefs. Every person is trying to make it through life the best they can. A lot face it through religion, but Wells has the braveness to declare it is a cover up. There may be a higher being, but we are not worshipping it properly.
In the article,"An Atheist Manifesto," by Sam Harris he discusses how God does not exisit because if he did exist there would not be any evil in this world. As I was reading this article I found it very intresting how Harris is so negative and believes that everything that happens is God's fault. "....at this very moment that an all-powerful and all-loving God is watching over them and their family. Are they right to believe this? Is it good that they believe this?No,.." stated Harris. He should understand that God gave us a gift called "free will," and with that gift it comes with a price that we should live with the consequeces by the descisions we make as human beings. I liked this article because it showed me the other side of the coin
Religion, by far, is one of the most dominant forces the human race has ever seen. It has influenced and continues to influence billions of people all over the world. It has driven some of the most beneficial cooperative humanitarian efforts and some of the most heinous acts of violence anybody can perpetuate on another human being. In his book, When Religion Becomes Evil, Dr. Charles Kimball explores the causes and slippery slopes that lead to these kinds of atrocious behaviors. Many of his points were incredibly well thought out and valid, but one repetitive phrase that Dr. Kimball used caught my attention: “authentic religion.” This one phrase contains so many troublesome presuppositions that it is impossible not to question.
These literary works portray how differences in societal circumstances, expression, and other people can change the way a person interprets the paper. The authors offer different perspectives in order to get their points across. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the audience of the sermon is being persuaded to follow God because He is the only one who can keep a person from spending an eternity in hell. The story “Young Goodman Brown” proves how easily people are influenced by the decision of others and also includes how witchcraft was changing the faithful of that time. In comparing the two stories the reader will come to know the influence of the time era, the differences in which the characters are being approached, and the impact the clergy has on people.
Russell, Bertrand. Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related
H.J McCloskey’s article, “On Being an Atheist,” is an attempt to show atheism as a more practical alternative to the Christian belief. McCloskey reasons against the theistic beliefs of the cosmological argument, the teleological argument and design. He references the presence of evil in a world created by God and the absurdity of living by faith. This article is an attempt to reason that God does not exist because He is perfect and the world is not perfect; evil exists therefore God cannot exist. McCloskey’s article labels these arguments as “proofs” and concludes none of these arguments would be evidence of God’s existence. I find McCloskey’s article to lack logic and coherence which only serves to invalidate his arguments. I find this little more than an attempt to justify his own atheistic worldview.
In the novel "Brave New World" civilized society lives in a world of science and technology. Major changes have occurred during the future; Utopia now revolves a religion of drugs and sex. God and the cross have been replaced by Ford and the symbol T, the founder of the age of machines. Instead of Sunday church, members now attend solidarity services where morals and tradition are not learned, but rather faith is taught in the belief of hallucinations produced by a substance known as "soma." Soma has effectively replaced the belief in a higher being by its elimination of problems and stress resulting in a lack of imagination , creativity, or "soul." Yet religion can still be found in today's society because of man's continuing need for answers to questions that cannot be solved by science or technology.
In the fifties, it was assumed of American families to be active Church goers in their respective religions; however, the idea of consensus didn’t quiet live up to its expectations. Families could all be the same through being religious, but still remain separate by believing in different religions. While the idea of consensus was certainly playing a role in that all people were religious, the safe conflict of being different still remained. Goodwin discusses in her book that everyone in her neighborhood was religious, and that her neighbors were active in attending Church services as was her family as well being Catholic. In general, religion laid out how people should behave in a black and white fashion in order to achieve salvation; however, the rules didn’t always match up with what a person wanted to do. For exa...
As said by Yale professor of psychology and cognitive science, "Religion and science will always clash." Science and religion are both avenues to explain how life came into existence. However, science uses evidence collected by people to explain the phenomenon while religion is usually based off a belief in a greater power which is responsible for the creation of life. The characters Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's novel, The Scarlet Letter, represent religion and science, respectively, compared to the real world debate between science and religion. Roger Chillingworth is a physician who is associated with science. (ch. 9; page 107) "...made [Roger Chillingworth] extensively acquainted with the medical science of the day... Skillful men, of the medical and chirurgical profession, were of rare occurrence in the colony...They seldom... partook of the religious zeal that brought other emigrants across the Atlantic." The people of the Puritan community traveled across the Atlantic for religious reasons, and because men affiliated with medical science did not tend to practice religion, they rarely inhabited this community. Chillingworth, falling under the category of "skillful men of the medical and chirurgical profession," would not be expected to reside in this community. The narrator through emphasizes this with his rhetorical questioning, "Why, with such a rank in the learned world, had he come hither? What could he, whose sphere was in great cities, be seeking in the wilderness?" These questions demonstrate that it was so strange for Chillingworth to appear in this community because of his association with science. Perhaps, the phrase "with such rank in the learned world" could yield the narra...
Hitchens, Christopher. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. New York: Twelve, 2007. Print.
In H.G. Wellls’ novella “ The Island of Dr. Moreau” power and authority are major themes. Throughout the novel there is a constant power struggle between the Beast people and their creator Dr. Moreau. It is a case of creator versus creation Dr. moreau is prortrayed as God and even has a God complex. . He created the beast people and gave them laws to follow . The laws are like the Ten Commandments , rule that must be followed or there will be severe consequences. . I infer that Power and authority are portrayed from a religious stand point and Wells uses religion to control the beast people.
Throughout his novel The God We Never Knew, author Marcus J. Borg defines his view of God as one of panentheistic origin. Panentheism is a belief system that affirms “both the imminence and transcendence of God” (Borg 32) by combining theism, the idea that God is a supreme being, with pantheism, the theory that God is everything. Utilizing a panentheistic method of thought allows one to understand that God is in everything and everything is in God. An expression of what Borg calls panentheism can be seen in the painting Canticle of the Sun II by John Coburn, inspired by a song composed by Francis of Assisi. Examples of panentheistic thought are found both in the painting, through its use of interconnected shapes, and in the song, through Francis
University of Michigan. “Religion in Schools: A look at how religious practices influence education.” .
When the colonists came to America they brought with them their culture and the way they educated their children reflected that. The first colonists were very religious people and their curriculum was very faith-based. It complimented the instruction they received at church and home. As immigrants flooded into the country, life changed dramatically. As the population spread west, the typical family and social dynamics rapidly changed. People became widely dispersed, and the church’s authority and influence was no longer as important. People soon realized the way they were used to educating their children needed to adapt to their new way of life.
How do we define religion? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of religion is as follows: “the belief in a god or in a group of gods, an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods, or an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group” (Merriam-Webster.) My personal definition of religion is that it is a set of beliefs and practices that generally pertain to the worship of one or more than one spiritual being or representation of a spiritual power. Religion can be a personal belief or an organization or group of people who have similar beliefs and values. There are many different types of religions in the world and have been since the beginning of mankind.
Up until the Enlightenment, mankind lived under the notion that religion, moreover intelligent design, was most likely the only explanation for the existence of life. However, people’s faith in the church’s ideals and teachings began to wither with the emergence of scientific ideas that were daringly presented to the world by great minds including Galileo and Darwin. The actuality that there was more to how and why we exist, besides just having an all-powerful creator, began to interest the curious minds in society. Thus, science began to emerge as an alternative and/or supplement to religion for some. Science provided a more analytical view of the world we see while religion was based more upon human tradition/faith and the more metaphysical world we don’t necessarily see. Today science may come across as having more solid evidence and grounding than religion because of scientific data that provides a seemingly more detailed overview of life’s complexity. “Einstein once said that the only incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible” (Polkinghorne, 62). Yet, we can still use theories and ideas from both, similar to Ian Barbour’s Dialouge and Integration models, to help us formulate an even more thorough concept of the universe using a human and religious perspective in addition to scientific data.