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Emergence of religion
Religion as an evolutionary mechanism
Religion as an evolutionary mechanism
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Life is an interesting journey that every living creature is a part of. Human beings are born into a family they do not pick and society that they do not choose. Within this unit they are taught values and morals, which are ingrained into their daily lives. Ever since I was a child I have been exposed to many different influences, religion being one of them. To this day I can still remember my grandmother saying “God has a purpose for your life, follow Him.” In Introducing Philosophy of Religion, Chad Meister asserts “there are several components (that) seem to be central to the world religion: a system of beliefs, the breaking in of a transcendent reality, and human attitudes of ultimate concern, meaning and purpose” (Meister 6). Throughout my life I feel that religion is one of the core social belief systems that people use to maintain what they feel is a good way to live. Giving them a sense of purpose or fulfillment during their earthly life, most hoping whatever beliefs that have will help them after death. Even though there are many different religions or religious value systems every one has most likely been exposed to one or more. There is only 15% of the world’s population that do not believe in one type of religion or another (Meister, 7). So I assume that humans desire to understand and most of the time follow a religion either because of the culture they grew up in or by searching for somewhere to belong. Do the people who decide to follow a religious belief system need scientific evidence to really belief? I believe that some people need to relate science to religion and some people do not. Three ways Meister argues methods to evaluate the two are: understand the conflict between each one, look at them independently...
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...e evidence and use their faith to follow their religion.
At the end of the day I believe that you can understand science and have faith in a religion. It is a bit much for someone to fathom but with Meister’s ideas, it is possible. He breaks it down into terms that are easy for a person who believe in a religion or does not. Meister’s arguments gave a valid ways to look at both religion and science, in some ways looking at them both. I believe there are many people in the world born into many different societies, the arguments that Meister interprets given them a way to twist their history with their future as a religious person or not. It is a thin bridge between the two, one that most people of the world want to walk. I believe both are recipe for living a health life style. It is important to understand where you came from and where you believe you are going.
In his book, An Imperfect God, Henry Wiencek argues in favor of Washington being the first true president to set the precedent for the emancipation of African-American slaves. Wiencek delves into the evil paradox of how a nation conceived on the principles of liberty and dedicated to the statement that all men are created equal was in a state that still preserved slavery for over seven decades following the construction of the nation. Washington’s grandeur estate at Mount Vernon at its peak had the upkeep of over 300 slaves 126 of which were owned by Washington. First, it must be understood that Washington was raised on slavery receiving ownership of 10 slaves at the age of 11 years old and that Washington was a man of his time. However, it must also be understood that Washington’s business with slavery was in the context of a constrained social and political environment. Weincek maintains that this does not exonerate the fact that Washington maintained slavery however; it does help to quantify the moral shortcoming by which Washington carried until his last year of life.
Just as there is a variety of identities involving race, gender, and class, so too are there a range of religious identities. Byzantine Catholics, Hindus, born-again Evangelicals, atheists, agnostics, and Buddhists are only a few religious identities I have encountered in America. This environment, at best, allows religious variety to be understood and embraced—and at worst, divides us. In Acts of Faith, author Eboo Patel discusses his belief that the “faith line” will define conflict and concord in the 21st century.
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.
Although the purpose of the Bible is to teach us the right way to live with its numerous rules, the book “The Year of Living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs, exposes the less publicized rules and how contradictory some of them can be. The main propose of the author of this book is not to criticize or make fun of religion in his quest to “follow the Bible as literally as possible”, but to demonstrate that he enjoys the learning experience. A.J. Jacobs suggests that people claim to be religious when in fact, they only take the rules and ideas they want, this is the reason why I think gender inequality continues to penetrate society today.
The necessity of religion is a topic that has been widely debated by many people for many years. The vast majority of the 7 and a half billion people on this earth practice some sort of religion but for what purpose? Whether it’s too give people hope for an afterlife or too fuel their need for contact with others people can list hundreds of different reasons why they rely on religion but is religion actually essential to our wellbeing and and life quality on this planet?
My father has always reminded me that religion plays a big role in one’s morals. Of course that only applies if a person is religious and has a religious background. There are a lot of religious people in this world, and if one were to ask them where their morals came from, they would say that it is based on their religion. So what is it that makes these two things so similar and distinct? Iris Murdoch, author of “Morality and Religion,” discusses how morals and religion need each other in order to work. Morals without religion is nearly impossible because; religion influences our morals, religion allows to set better morals for one’s self, and ideally morality is essentially religious.
Perhaps the most powerful statement made about religion was made by Dr. John Simmons of Western Illinois University. He makes the valid point that religion is not a noun, but a verb. Religion is based on beliefs and how people act based on those beliefs. Tradition, prayer, and meditation are all acts of religion and are considered intangible behaviors. Although many rituals of religion are “things”, the ethical and social portions are lifestyles. In addition to this point, Dr. Simmons mentions the possibility of religion being founded as a way to understand and answer important questions about life and death. People must find out who they are, why they are here on Earth, and what purpose their life holds. Questions known as boundary questions are posed when humans are faced with new situations in their lives (Beliefs and Believers, Class 1). They must believe that there is reasoning to support their actions. Rites of passage are the most frequent experiences involving boundary questions. For example, as a child of Christian parents, I was told that people die because it is their turn to be with Jesus. Heaven made sense to me and comforted me, knowing that my loved ones would be in such a wonderful place. Also in the Christian religion, questions may arise about the beginning of life and how we got to Earth. The myth of Adam and Eve and the story of the Creation answers that for Christian believers. As for my purpose on Earth, my question was answered by the Christian doctrine. I am here to spread the word of God in actions and words so that all humans may know His love. However, these answers do not make sense to a...
In John Perry's book Dialogue on Good, Evil and the Existence of God, he used three characters in the dialogue in order to clarify the positions of the three characters (Weirob, Miller, and Cohen), the arguments they provide in support their positions and the "end state" of their discussion. This allows us to examine our understanding of the good, evil and the existence of God.
The author of this book, Lee Strobel, struggled for almost two years, sometimes jumping from one issue or topic to another and then back again, investigating the facts of Jesus for himself. He traces his journey from skepticism to faith.
In Chapter 1 of Keith Ward’s, The Case for Religion, Ward discusses Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s concept of the term “Religion” and his definition of the term and critically responds to it. In one of Smith’s own books, The Meaning and End of Religion, he discusses both his interpretation of the term “religion” and his opinion that the term should no longer be used. Smith’s skepticism of the term, together with his attempt at defining it, creates a contradiction that Ward critically unpicks and responds to.
Religion as defined in, You May Ask Yourself, is a system of beliefs, traditions, and practices around sacred things, a set of shared stories that guide belief and action (Conley 613). Meaning, religion, is the way people can navigate their world and distinguish right from wrong, and good from bad. Everyone has their own belief system and often that belief system does not go with the norm of the rest of society but, what happens when a person 's belief system based off of that of the social norm? That is what society considers religion. Religion, not only in America but also the rest of the world is the basis of not only peoples beliefs but also the way they choose to live their lives. Majority of all people in the western world
I believe that religion should not be considered the basis of reality since it is highly faith-based. People have different beliefs and that provides multiple versions of how they interpret their reality. I also feel that the “truth” that religion tends to glorify is not the truth because of its lack of empirical claims. In accordance to science, on the other hand, it is heavily evidence based. With science, we understand that it is solely based on observation. The theories and phenomenon that we know of today are solely from observation. Without this characteristic, we wouldn’t have an understanding on the universe and reality. Another characteristic that is quite important in science is that science is open to falsification. Scientists understand that they want to find the truth with different phenomenon. They also understand that they cannot find the absolute truth. Scientists always change their findings as new findings are being collected. Thirdly, it rejects faith as a method of evidence. Faith is based on ones’ belief on a specific subject matter. Science is not based on belief but on finding the truth. Scientists occasionally doubt their findings or evidence in order to find more concrete evidence. On the side of religion, it is primarily faith based. Most of the characteristics that science accept, religion denies. First off,
“We tend to assume that religion is a question of what we believe or don’t believe. It’s an assumption with a long history in philosophy, which has been reinforced in recent years by the dull debate of atheism” (Gray 1). Science has given us many benefits, so many that it would be hard just to name them. The only problem is science can’t save the human species from itself. Science inquiry is probably one of the best methods we have today for figuring out how the world works. “As of now, we know a lot more than we ever have and what we know will only increase as time goes by, actually if we know anything it’s that our current theories are filled with errors and that we will still continue to use those theories to until we find a better alternative” (Grey 1) Science isn’t about belief anymore then religion is. “Religion is then not fundamentally different from science; both are like attempts to frame true beliefs about the world. That way of thinking tends to see science and religion as rivals, and it then becomes tempting to conclude that there’s no longer any need for religion” (Grey 1). If science produces theories that we can use without believing them, religion is just a bunch of gathering myths. Point intended you don’t have to believe a theory is true in order to use it. Just like you don’t have to believe a story is true for it to give a special meaning to your life. In other words, to believe in religion and to have faith in the things that you can’t see is completely up to you. Precisely, religion is a powerful tool for peace and enlightenment, but a negative tool when used for manipulation. To achieve peace, we must first submit to the unknown, and eliminate all negative intentions through religion. Religion not only affects someone’s way of thinking, but it affects our decision making ability and exactly how we choose to make that decision. In addition, you can relate the way religion is used in novels and the way
Stenmark, Mickael. How to Relate Science and Religion. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004.
The coexistence of religion and science has been a subject of debate in the recent past. This is associated with the fact that, religion is founded on issues beyond common human observation while science is founded on observation. These differences are bound to cause conflict. Apparently, scientists can be religious but at the same time, they separate their profession (founded on observation and reason) from their religious beliefs (founded on what is unobservable and faith).