by nicolaou 41 Replies latest social current
WireRider, arguably (but with my tongue very firmly in my cheek) I could claim to be giving religion an opportunity to big itself up in this topic! Why do you claim I'm trying to discredit it?
I asked for a positive accomplishment of religion, that's hardly being negative is it?
you said on this forum nic -
that is the key I think as the religion in question is Jehovahs witnesses - a tiny minority religion.
while I have your attention can I make one small point?
the most important thing a jw and an xjw can experience is that of challenging others' opinions. You have probably heard of the experiment in which a group of students were shown a series of lines drawn on a blackboard and were asked to say which was the longest. Most of the students were told to pick the second longest to test how group pressure impacts people. the second last student was told to pick the right answer. the last student was being tested to see if he/she would go with the crowd or go with the individual who had picked the right line.
this experiment was conducted in different ways. And what was found was that it only takes one to disagree with prevailing group pressure to embolden an individual person to be more likely to question authority and leave a high control group.
I think it is important to allow people here to challenge prevailing wisdom.
I noticed on another thread that the idea of not having anyone disagree with you was seen as keeping the thread on track. I may have been wrong in my assumptions but I don't think so.
True story, October 2015. We're not quite "Back to the Future", but soon! : )
, video in link
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hoverboard-duru-1.3270569
This past May, Montreal inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru broke the world record for the longest hoverboard flight.
Duru flew up to five metres above a lake for a distance of 275.9 metres aboard his homemade, propeller-powered hoverboard in a trip that lasted more than 1½ minutes.
Now, the 31-year-old Duru and his company, Omni Hoverboards, are working on a secret, next-generation version of the device. Watch as he takes CBC's Reg Sherren into the workshop where he is building it, and then to a Quebec lake where he puts the new prototype to the test for the first time.
Ruby I enjoyed your last comment, thank you.
you said on this forum nic -that is the key I think as the religion in question is Jehovahs witnesses - a tiny minority religion.
On this specific point though I have to disagree. The feelings of isolation and inferiority instilled in half the adherents of Islam is something I can only imagine. Actually no, I've read Hirsan Ali's Heretic so I have her insight as well.
And it's not just Islam and small Christian sects like JWs, Brethren or WBP. How do you suppose mainstream Christian denominations in America or Africa make their gay brothers and sisters feel? How accommodating of a members move to atheism are they?
Nic you would need to balance Hirsan Ali with Barbara Metcalf, Alison Shaw and Pnina Werbener amongst others - they have studied Islam in detail and indicate that Islam is mainly to do with empowering people. Hirsan is not objective (but this does not dismiss her view - only suggesting that she is being subjective) whereas the scholars I've mentioned above are objective.
Of course there are practices and beliefs in Islam that need to be refuted and if you are refuting those then fine.
In my back pocket I have a small device that enables me to communicate cheaply with friends and family around the world. It plays all the music I could ever want and helps me research any subject I have an interest in. It records sounds, images and video of the world around me (mostly cats) and let's me share these on social media networks that have connected the masses to each other in a way unimaginable just one generation ago.
On every practical and measurable level science is improving our lives.
WireRider: I don't understand why people insist on making the comparison (between science and religion). Is it judgmental or defensive?
Okay, fair question. For me it is judgemental. Not withstanding the good things that many religiously motivated people do I still judge religion and find that it is, on balance, a negative force. At the very least, this topic is demonstrating the difficulty of finding a positive accomplishment of religion.
Still waiting . .
But science is asserting we know things that we do not.
It is the exact opposite of that.
Both require a certain amount of "faith"
Faith has absolutely no place in science.
Religion is a science
Religion is the exact opposite of science.
if humans reach a point to control weather, terraform a planet, genetically manipulate the indigenous animals - does that make us God?
No-
Hirsan is not objective
She knows more about the reality of Islam than anybody. Just as I and others here know more about the reality of the Watchtower than any so-called scholar studying it "objectively".
If it wasn't for religion lots of people would have found their lives meaningless in different ways in 2015. That religion is not science is all this thread proves, which is not something that was in dispute anyway. You might as well ask how many fish the baker sold last year. When the answer comes back none you're inexplicably self satisfied as if you've proved something. When all you've proved is you've missed the point of bakers.
You might as well ask how many fish the baker sold last year
Fishmongers don't tell lies about bread.
They don't threaten vegans with eternal damnation. They don't sponsor schools to indoctrinate children about the necessity of fish eating.
Religion still has ambitions to do far more than offer solace to the needy.
