A Janusis

Entries tagged as ‘religion’

Religion and the Dollar Bill

October 25, 2007 · 5 Comments

It seems to be that the more dollar bills there are, the less religious people become. Or so says a report I came across recently

A recent post on religion that I thought was light hearted managed to get itself quite a lot of attention, and not to mention hits. It led me to read up a bit more on the religiousness of people which then led me to an interesting report. The Pew Global Attitudes Project released a report on certain key issues, one of which included religion. The results of the report seem to show that the richer a country is, the less religious it is.

w-and-r.gif

Right up there, you see Africa, definitely poor and definitely religious, and right down there you see West Europe, richer and seemingly less religious. The graph is quite interesting really. It seems to show that the more self sufficient you are, the less interest you have in a higher power. Also, it is the older people that are more religious and the younger ones don’t seem to be as bothered about this religion thing.

It’d make an interesting discussion, but this time I leave the conclusions to you.

Categories: religion
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The Philosophical Question of Religion

October 17, 2007 · 15 Comments

A professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, the Almighty.
He asks one of his new students to stand and….

Prof.: so you believe in God?

Student: absolutely, sir.

Prof.: is God good?

Student: sure.

Prof.: is God all-powerful?

Student: yes.

Prof.: my brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill, but God didn’t. how is this God good then? Hmm?

Student: (student is silent)

Prof.: you can’t answer can you? Let’s start again, young fella.. is God good?

Student: yes.

Prof.: is Satan good?

Student: no.

Prof.: where does Satan come from?

Student: from….. God.

Prof.: that’s right.. tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student: yes.

Prof.: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything…. Correct?

Student: yes.

Prof.: so who created evil?

Student: (student does not answer)

Prof.: is there sickness, immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student: yes sir.

Prof.:
so, who created them?

Student: (student has no answer)

Prof.: science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me son… have you ever seen God?

Student: no, sir.

Prof.: tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student: no, sir.

Prof.: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? have
you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student: no, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Prof.: yet you still believe in him?

Student: yes.

Prof.: according to empirical, testable, demonstrable, protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student: nothing. i only have my faith.

Prof.: yes, faith, and that is the problem science has.

Student: professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Prof.: yes.

Student: and is there such a thing as cold?

Prof.: yes.

Student: no sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater becomes, very quite with this turned of events.)

Student: sir, you can have lots of heat even more heat, super heat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such a thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy…. cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre).

Student: what about darkness, professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Prof.: yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student: you’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. you can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light . . . . . but if you have no light constantly, you have
nothing and its called darkness isn’t it . . . , if it were you, would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Prof.: so what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof.: flawed? can you explain how?

Student: sir, you are working on the premise of duality, you argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. to view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorantof the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. . . . Now tell me, professor. . . . . . . . Do you teach us students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof.: if you are referring to the natural evolutionary processes, yes, of course, i do.

Student: have you ever observed evolution with our own eyes, sir?

Prof.: (the professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student: since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion sir? are you not a scientist but a preacher?

Narrator - class in an uproar

Student: is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

Prof.: (the class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?…… no one appears to have done so… so, according to the established rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable, protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.
With due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

Narrator: (the room is silent, the professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable. )

Prof.: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: that is it sir… the link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keep things moving & alive.

Categories: Philosophy · religion
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