The Return to Religion

[Proud_Muslim]

The Return to Religion

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

[Article cut-and-pasted from the following site:]

http://www.alrisala.org/Articles/relgsci/return.htm

 

[spidergoat]

Science was once thought, in some circles, to be a replacement for religion, but it is obvious that it's purpose is different. Its not a choice between science OR religion, its a question of how we fit the emergence of new scientific facts into the worldview of religion. The current interest in religion is a good thing, I feel. No longer bound to explain the physical workings of the universe, it is free to concentrate on spiritual matters.

Some currents of religious revival are a reaction to the social changes that are the result of technology. Unlike most religions, technology is a great leap into the unknown, and it is scary. People reach back for the last model that seemed to make sense. The same thing happened with the renaissance, where people looked back to the model of the great civilizations of the Greeks and Romans.

Modern communication technology has created a culture of individual freedom. This is what Muslims are reacting to; social change.

But this bid to explain the universe atheistically failed.

Oh, time's up? Who says so? Science is an ongoing process of discovery.

I don't think the abrahamic religions are useful anymore, they are unable to assimilate scientific facts. Their view of the universe as an object of creation that needs to be controlled has resulted in mankind controlling nature to such an extent that the Earth is being destroyed. We need to look even farther back for our models, to the forms of spirituality where man and nature were fully integrated. I'm talking about the Paleolithic forms of shamanism.

for further info, look here, and listen...

 

[Flores]

I don't think the abrahamic religions are useful anymore, they are unable to assimilate scientific facts. Their view of the universe as an object of creation that needs to be controlled has resulted in mankind controlling nature to such an extent that the Earth is being destroyed. We need to look even farther back for our models, to the forms of spirituality where man and nature were fully integrated. I'm talking about the Paleolithic forms of shamanism.
[/URL]

That was a good post, but remember that religions are not abrahamic. Religion is timeless, limitless, and universal....Religion is not intended to control, but on the contrary, it's intended to offer ultimate freedom.

 

[(Q)]

But the only thing that the increase in knowledge has told man is that he has how entered into a new phase of ignorance.

So, learning leads to ignorance? We should therefore lobby the governments of the world to shut down all schools and universities immediately.

We wouldn't want to get too ignorant.

 

[Dr Lou Natic]

Homo-sapiens seem to have a spiritual gene (I believe orcinus orca do also and maybe other cetaceans). Obviously in our ancestral history we benefitted from being predisposed to being superstitious.
Even I feel it urging me to worship every now and then. Religion could be fine, as long as it wasn't lies it would be cool.
You know, worship the universe, the sun and earth.
Obey the laws of nature.
This is the real religion staring us in the face all day every day. Its undeniable, its real. Maybe too real.
'can't see the forest for the trees' type scenario.
We know the universe, earth and sun exist, we can see the acceptable code of behaviour in the other animals.
Its irrefutable immutable truth.
Other religions read like bad fiction. But they're conveniently sitting there, you don't need to put the work into discovering them they're waiting for you to attach yourself onto like a leech and they give you comfort and a reason to live before you earn it.
They're popular because people are simple.

 

[Greco]

Modern science has offered man innumerable facilities, but along with this it has brought in its wake such great dangers as have rendered all its gifts meaningless.

How true PM. It has been science that has allowed the population of the Earth to explode in an exponential manner. Billions now living owe their lives to science, but science has also found for a way for man to destroy himself. Science has been good and evil at the same time.

BUT there's no turning back on science without a catastrophic slide to chaos where decease, wars and famines reduce the population of the Earth to 100 million people.

I'm afraid we have to stick to science but regulate our conduct, meaning we got to STOP having so many children or else we are doomed to drown in our own shit.

 

[spidergoat]

So, learning leads to ignorance?

In a sense, yes. Study of the atom lead to the awareness of our ignorance about sub-atomic particles. The study of the sub-atomic lead to the awareness of our ignorance of the quantuum world. The more we learn, the more is revealed to learn, like peeling the layers of an infinitely large onion.

It has been science that has allowed the population of the Earth to explode in an exponential manner.

Maybe it only took agriculture to do this.

 

[spidergoat]

Islam is thus the only totally preserved and genuinely historical of all the religions; as such, it deserves pride of place as the sole reliable guide to pious living.

You know, most religions claim this as well. Islam also evolves, look at the hadiths, which I understand are later commentary. Christians claim the bible is the literal truth handed down from Jesus to the apostles, to the world. Buddhists believe the sutras were written by Buddha, and passed on unchanged to the present.

 

[Greco]

Maybe it only took agriculture to do this.

Agriculture without science to assist could not sustain our present population. Things such as fertilizers, pesticides, tractors, harvesters, combines are scientific inventions. Sorry but science is at fault for exploding populations and it's exploding populations that would doom us.

When God said to Adam be fruitful and multiply, he wasnt blessing him.

 

[Paula]

I am a practicing Catholic who has found a wonderful church but in my experience most of my Catholic friends (myself included) see most of the OT stories as symbolic, intended to teach a lesson. Jesus taught many lessons through parable and analogy.
Let's face it, no American Christians are sacrificing a prize bull on the family altar to ensure the harvest or selling their daughter into slavery because she has fornicated with a man from a different tribe.

I consider my church a tool to be used by me to get closer to God, not myself as a tool for my church to use to gain power. Jesus served the people. I am not Muslim but one could also make the argument that Mohammed served the people (if one knew what one was talking about!).

I think where humans go wrong in religion is when they confuse the hierarchy of the church with God Himself. My cousin is a brilliant scientist, a geneticist busy unlocking the human genetic code and I work in the biotech field along with several family members. I count among my relatives doctors, nurses, firefighters, soldiers and a brother who is a police sergeant. My father is an engineer. We are all well acquainted with the nuts and bolts of life. We are also all religious, although not all Catholic.

The human influence of Christianity does bungle Jesus' message quite frequently, sadly enough. In the gospel Jesus says specifically not to worry too much about what you eat or what you wear because things from the outside cannot corrupt your spirit but rather, it is that which comes from within and is sent out to the world that will corrupt.

Many scientists and theologians claim that science and religion are not incompatible and in the truest, non-evangelical form of both disciplines I believe this to be true. With or without God the world must work somehow. Similarly,with or without science we are capable of pondering the meaning of life.

Where we stumble is when too much emphasis is put on the rituals and practices and not enough on the universal messages contained in most religions: the messages of harmonic co-existence and constant self-improvement. I call this the "style over substance" form of religion.

 

[Q25]

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

The nineteenth century was the century of atheism. But with the arrival of the twentieth century, the whole course of history changed, with religion again becoming a major force in human life.

crap!
dont know what assbackwards wilderness hes living,in the modern civilized countrys the religions are dying.

The triumphs of science represented a cumulative process of increasing knowledge and a sequence of victories over ignorance and superstition;

aint that the truth.

The greatest menace is that of a third world war.

if you havent noticed the cold war has been over for a long while now.

One of the most serious problems produced by science is that of air pollution. Science produced technology, which in turn produced machines.

Ludites live,huh?
no one likes polution,but unless you want to go back to horse pulled buggies
or make the cars run on water ...

 

[Q25]

...Religion is not intended to control, but on the contrary, it's intended to offer ultimate freedom.

I guess your definition of freedom is different from mine

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Under God I pledge non-allegiance, to the political fuckstains, of the Hypocritical State of America, and to the dumbfuckness, for which Dubbya stands, one delusion, under theocracy, intolerable, with oppression and tyranny for all.
www.thewaronfaith.com

 

[Paula]

"in the modern civilized countrys the religions are dying"

Q25,

This is not technically true. Religious observance in the US has returned to the same levels of the 1960's, climbing after a steep drop-off in the 70's. 75% of Britions recently identified themselves as Christians for a BBC survey, altohugh regular observance is low in Britain.

Christianity is sweeping through Asia, Africa and Latin America along with Islam. Christianity doubled its numbers since 1985 while Islam grew by more than half. Considering that the world population took fifty years to grow from 3 billion to 6 billion and Christianity and Islam have grown collectively from 1.7 billion to 3.2 billion in a third of that time, I would say religion has become anything but irrelevant. Hinduism, with some 800 million followers, is not to be discounted.

I will be joining the war on faith as well, but from the other side of course!