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Old 01-22-2011, 05:14 PM
 
Location: East Coast U.S.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dusty Rhodes View Post
I have long suspected that Religion is an anchor to any civilization, it keeps them in their place, a static existence, and impedes any forward progress. I also suspect that any glowing triumphs mankind has achieved has been done in spite of religion. It is man kinds ability to rise above superstition that affords us our achievements. An anchor is not necessarily a good thing, a ship that stays chained to a rock or the sea floor, does not go anywhere. Our religions anchor tells us "NO, don't move, don't learn!!" It is time to cast off the chains of spiritual and intellectual slavery.
A lot would depend upon which religion you're referring to. If, by extension, you would include Christianity (although I don't personally view Christianity as a religion even though it's generally accepted as such) I would have to take exception to your anchor analogy. The enlightenment period, which ushered in basically all of our modern technological advancements, occurred in the western 'Christian dominated' societies.

It seems to me that the great anchor to technological advancement these days would be the environmental movement - which many happen to regard as a religion BTW. Also, I believe the great enemy of science would be those scientists dogmatically predisposed towards the existence or non-existence of God to the extent that they would be inclined to ignore scientific evidence or indicators that may appear to militate against their preferred world view.
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Old 01-22-2011, 05:35 PM
 
Location: Sierra Nevada Land, CA
9,455 posts, read 12,507,029 times
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Default Food for thought

If there is no God. If there is no spiritual world. If all that we have is this life and then nothing: yes, then religion is bunk.

OTOH

Does religion hold back progress? Doesn't seem to be the case in North America, which is pretty darn religious.
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Old 01-22-2011, 06:37 PM
 
Location: NC, USA
7,084 posts, read 14,827,673 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by no kudzu View Post
an anchor also holds you down in a storm, keeps you from getting whiped around in a storm. I've often been told that is the whole purpose of religion and tradition.

I personally am against organized religion but I don't think the anchor analogy can be considered without the other side to the argument.
Actually, that's what I'm giving, religion has been doing its' best to convince mankind that it is necessary. It doesn't anchor us as in being well rooted, in spite of what it tries to tell us. It is chaining us to the rocks of ignorance and not allowing us to explore other options. It was the church that controlled education for 15 hundred years. It taught only what it wanted us to know, or actually believe, a lot of what they taught was not knowledge, it was propaganda.
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Old 01-22-2011, 08:24 PM
 
16,294 posts, read 28,470,166 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr5150 View Post
If there is no God. If there is no spiritual world. If all that we have is this life and then nothing: yes, then religion is bunk.

OTOH

Does religion hold back progress? Doesn't seem to be the case in North America, which is pretty darn religious.
Religion has suppressed science for centuries. Some of the more notable are Copernicus and his findings that the earth is not the center of the universe, and Galileo was even convicted of heresy for supporting the theory, and the science was suppressed by the catholic church.

You really need to pay attention to factual history, it will prevent you from making such ignorant statements.

If not for religion we might be centuries ahead of where we are, cures for cancer, colonies on other planets, instead of being stuck trying to get a 2000 year old fairy tale out of the way of progress.
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Old 01-22-2011, 09:15 PM
 
Location: Sierra Nevada Land, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Asheville Native View Post
If not for religion we might be centuries ahead of where we are, cures for cancer, colonies on other planets, instead of being stuck trying to get a 2000 year old fairy tale out of the way of progress.
Yea the Romans were "this close" to perfecting space travel. Give me a break.

Perhaps it was the destruction of civilization by barbarians set us back a tad. And guess who preserved what little was left of knowledge and books between 500AD and 1400AD? Anyone, anyone?

Talk about ignorance!
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Old 01-22-2011, 09:33 PM
 
16,294 posts, read 28,470,166 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr5150 View Post
Yea the Romans were "this close" to perfecting space travel. Give me a break.

Perhaps it was the destruction of civilization by barbarians set us back a tad. And guess who preserved what little was left of knowledge and books between 500AD and 1400AD? Anyone, anyone?

Talk about ignorance!
Copernicus and Galileo where just a couple of examples that came to mind which you completely ignored and skipped right over the suppression of knowledge by the church. A common flaw of those supporting superstition, to deny or ignore inconvenient truths.

Hell, it's going on in Texas and other states in the buy bull belt today as bible thumpers demand that utter nonsense be taught to our children as science.
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Old 01-23-2011, 02:08 AM
 
Location: The Netherlands
8,568 posts, read 16,206,905 times
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Originally Posted by Asheville Native
Quote:
Actually, that's what I'm giving, religion has been doing its' best to convince mankind that it is necessary. It doesn't anchor us as in being well rooted, in spite of what it tries to tell us. It is chaining us to the rocks of ignorance and not allowing us to explore other options. It was the church that controlled education for 15 hundred years.
I disagree, religion didn't do anything; it was the religious leaders.
It wasn't Jesus who feared science or believed that science would replace religion, but the religious Christians.

I like to believe that Jesus, like me would understand that science is just knowledge and that the difference between science and religion (or art) isn't knowledge (read: facts), but wisdom.
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Old 01-23-2011, 03:39 AM
 
Location: S. Wales.
50,083 posts, read 20,576,462 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr5150 View Post
If there is no God. If there is no spiritual world. If all that we have is this life and then nothing: yes, then religion is bunk.

OTOH

Does religion hold back progress? Doesn't seem to be the case in North America, which is pretty darn religious.
That is a good point. In fact NO religions seem to hold back technological progress, especially if it's a case of developing nuclear weapons. It is more in the matter of thought that it is always tending to 'anchor the ship'.
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Old 01-23-2011, 08:56 PM
 
912 posts, read 825,553 times
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Most of the great artists in the romantic era believed that God himself hand picked them to do his creating....thats one of the reasons great art and music today is basically for the birds by comparison.
The talent is always here, but the attitude in self worth , self alliance with God is NOT.

hence the music and art is seldom God based in creative genius and it shows...you guys gotta wake up.......or would you prefer listening to the....

Stones ?
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Old 01-23-2011, 09:22 PM
 
30,876 posts, read 36,854,288 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Asheville Native View Post
Religion has suppressed science for centuries.
I think this is more a function of thought monopolies than religion itself. Any paradigm that dominates too heavily becomes subject to arrogance and corruption and eventually falls, as was the case with religion in the Western World.

Now, science has become it's own kind of religion and is the dominant paradigm in the West. But science is subject to politics and has also become arrogant and corrupt (as there's lots of falsified science out there). It just hasn't fallen yet, but it will, eventually.

I'm always amazed at how humans want one paradigm to explain everything. This mindset of "it's either this OR that" with nothing in-between or anything new is kind of exhausting. I believe the Buddhists call this kind of thinking "duality"....and the world is full of it, unforunately (Democrat or Republican, scientific or religious, right or wrong, etc).
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