Which religion should I believe?
- Details
- Created on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 06:23
- Published on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 06:23
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 2845
Muslims truly believe that they are right and that only Muslims will go to heaven/paradise. OK, so I should become a Muslim. But Catholics believe that if you commit just one mortal sin in your life you will go to hell if you don't see a priest and confess before you die So I should become a Catholic - I need a priest! Fundamentalist Christians believe I need to be "saved" to end up in heaven. I don't think I'm "saved" so I should join them. Others believe that I just have to be a good person - whatever that means. Who decides what's good? Can I have sex outside marriage? Can I skip prostrating myself towards Mecca 5 times a day? Hindus and Buddhists and various other groups have quite complicated beliefs - which one of all these is right? And how do I decide?
Assuming I do decide - how do I know I chose right? Do I take the imam's or priest's word for it?
Read more: Which religion should I believe?
Other ways of knowing
- Details
- Created on Monday, 04 March 2013 06:01
- Published on Monday, 04 March 2013 06:01
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 419
It's easy for an atheist to say (and think) that the only way to decide something is to use the scientific method. It uses evidence and facts and has a method that is rational and logical and produces results. (Scientific Method for Atheists). But it's not that simple. People who are strongly religious will often say that "Science doesn't know everything" and "There are other ways of thinking and knowing". Atheists and scientists would all concede that there is still much to learn and that science does not know everything. "People of Faith" want answers for everything so turn to religions for answers to questions that they think are not yet resolved by science. The second comment implies that the scientific method is not the only way to find out the truth. The idea is that we should discover things through faith or revelation from someone who claimed to be God or a messenger from God. The catch of course is that the sources have to first prove that they are divine or divinely inspired.
Religions are pre-occupied with sex
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 02 March 2013 06:31
- Published on Saturday, 02 March 2013 06:31
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 2263
If you want to get a religious person upset, be tolerant of gays, abortions, sex outside marriage, prostitution or any of the taboos related to sex. Religions care more about mostly victimless sex sins than they do about violence, robbery and even murder. Rape is really a crime of violence using sex and everyone condemns rape but why all the other sex sins? It can be explained scientifically in terms of our species needed to have evolved with sex taboos that would ensure the survival of our species but there do not seem to be any strong prohibitions in the bible or the Qur'an against promiscuity. In fact multiple wives are common or encouraged, you have to look through many thousands of words to find anything against gays; abortion is not mentioned and in fact sex is hardly mentioned. Most of the stories are about other subjects. Yet sex is a pre-occupation.
Living with Probabilities
- Details
- Created on Thursday, 28 February 2013 06:48
- Published on Thursday, 28 February 2013 06:48
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 383
When we go to sleep at night, we assume that the roof of our bedroom will not fall in and kill us. It's possible but very unlikely - the probability is very low. We live our life as if it it's zero or at least negligible. There are many things that are possible in life but rarely happen. A madman could break into our house and try to kill us - but how often does that happen? How many times has that happened that you know about - especially in your neighbourhood? Every time we drive on the highway could be our last - yet to avoid driving would be to deprive ourselves of one of the benefits of modern living and the chances of an accident are low. Next time we go to the supermarket, we might catch a bug from one of the other people there - but we go anyway because most times we don't catch a bug or there are none. The message here is that we live our lives based on probabilities. If it's a low probability, then we act as if it's not going to happen or it does not exist.
Is religion good for business?
- Details
- Created on Tuesday, 26 February 2013 06:49
- Published on Tuesday, 26 February 2013 06:49
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 2001
We like to think that we are free to believe what we choose but if you want to be successful in business, it helps if you believe the same as your customers and your suppliers. This kind of thinking is explicit in some fraternity groups like Freemasons and it is also understood/implied in small towns where local business depends on reciprocal favours. The attitude is strongest amongst cult Churches like the Mormons but exists in all religions. It’s not irrational – if you think someone believes in something that’s wrong, that makes him less trustworthy! How can they be wrong on some things yet right on others? That’s why many Americans (in particular) won’t vote for an atheist.
Why are Muslim countries poor?
- Details
- Created on Friday, 22 February 2013 05:59
- Published on Friday, 22 February 2013 05:59
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 5583
It's obviously because they are Muslim but why would that make them poor? Unless of course, they are Muslim because they are poor - but that does not work because many Africans are poor yet they are Christian. It has to be something that's happened over the centuries since the middle ages when Baghdad and Istanbul were actually richer than Europe. So what happened? There are three reasons commonly given for this: 1. Islam is hostile to commerce - but Mohammed was a merchant and the Qur'ran praises commerce. 2. Islam bans usury but so do the Jewish Torah and the bible. 3. Muslims would like to blame western imperialism - especially more recently, American imperialism. But Islam was once much more imperialistic - what happened?
The Unbelievers - the movie
- Details
- Created on Sunday, 24 February 2013 06:41
- Published on Sunday, 24 February 2013 06:41
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 519
There is a war going on - a civilized war of words. Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss (amongst others) are trying to communicate to the world that Science and Religion are incompatible. That is, science is rational and works whereas religion teaches falsehoods and is a negative influence on progress and peace. Giving seminars, appearing at conventions and having an Internet presence can help get this message across but the more avenues for the message the better. Dawkins and Krauss have collected some of their talks, added some commentary by others and included some other material to make a movie called "The Unbelievers".
Office of religious freedom now established
- Details
- Created on Wednesday, 20 February 2013 06:05
- Published on Wednesday, 20 February 2013 06:05
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 513
In April 2011, Stephen Harper announced that Canada would set up an Office of Religious Freedom. Today, he introduced the man appointed to head up that office: Andrew Bennett, currently Dean at the Christian Augustine College. Although he is a Catholic, Bennett said that even those who choose not to have a faith would be protected. How a bureaucrat in Canada can protect an atheist in Somalia or Iran was not explained but at least he's saying the right things. When the idea was announced, there were two main concerns:
- That it was a cynical ploy to win votes from Muslims - this was not contradicted by the fact that Harper chose a mosque to make the announcement.
- That it would be biased to favour Christians. Although the announcement in the mosque was meant to counter that accusation, the appointment of a strong Catholic currently employed at a Christian institution does not alleviate that fear.
