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Hi Naut, just catching up
"
Today, openness and tolerance have reached self-destructive levels. We even tolerate utter nonsense, such as the claim, so fashionable in our post-modern age, that ‘everything is relative’, which is little more than a mindless, un-self-conscious nihilism." I whole-heartedly agree with you here. I believe that this idea is destructive to not only society but to the institution of marriage. You'v got to have some kind of standard, otherwise it all becomes unmanageable and energy is dissipated.
posted by
mneme
on February 16, 2009 at 1:39 PM
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Naut......
I am soory more are not reading this series......
As to the churches falling empty.....that may be very true in Europe.....and to a lesser degree in Canada...but I thing Christianity is doing jsut fine here in the US. MY church averages over 33,000 weekly attendance for the 4 days of services, Wed....Fri....Sat.... and 2 on Sunday.
And Christianity is growing very quickly, though under the radar in China, thousands of Chinese are coming into the fold.......
With Europe....religion is not the only thing dying, literally, it is an aging population being slowly replaced by the wave of immigrants from the Middle East.
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on February 8, 2009 at 9:13 AM
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"Western civilization is unconsciously suicidal"...
...is true, and not just in the religious/philosophical realm, but, it's not the intention of your post to address that.
I'm wondering if every religious and political system has within it the seeds of its own destruction, regardless of the amount of dissent it allows, because to stifle dissent is to encourage it.
Martyrdom can be a powerful narcotic for the faithful.
posted by
metalrat
on February 1, 2009 at 8:18 PM
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Nautikos
A wonderful interesting post that both touched on Christianity and philosophy. I was baptized a Catholic and now read philosophy some, and your words were a great help to me.
"So one might say that I am part of the ‘problem’, and that is in a certain sense true. But while a religious dissenter, I also belong to those who ‘believe’ in philosophy, something we ‘own’ as part of our heritage, as children of Western civilization. And we ‘owe’ this heritage to the Christian monks who kept the flame of Greek and Roman thought alive during the ‘Dark Ages’, and the church’s acceptance of Aristotle’s writings and those of others."
I think it common that a person at the age of 72 would have some reservations about the belief's he has held all his life, even Mother Theresa experienced that, but I do not believe for one second that Christianity will disappear ever.
So I thank you for the opportunity once again of making me think, and isn't it remarkable that my good and cherished friend the atheist, has made me appreciate once again, the Christianity and the Jesus, I believe in.
posted by
WileyJohn
on February 1, 2009 at 7:28 PM
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I read both of these blogs no not blogs articles together with real
interest and find it very difficult to argue with their content.
I am coming to the conclusion that we need to concern ourselves with God while we are here on earth and stop worrying about hell fire and damnation which to me is a form of brutal teaching to terrify people to stay within the power and control of the organized Church. That if we fill our hearts with love(not like or dislike) for the world then we can spread Peace and love around us. It really is true. You smile at a stranger and that smile grows all day long, from one to another. If you love yourself you will take care of yourself and then you start to take care of the world around you.
You are an awesome philosopher our friend.
posted by
Kabu
on February 1, 2009 at 7:27 PM
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While a lot of criticism of religion begins and ends with atrocity
it is the balanced view that the same thing that gave rise to Inquisitions and their ilk also gave us the things you name. Some people are inspired to light, some, to darkness.
The matter of concern here, as I see it, is that the belief-systems that believe everyone should and must conform to a single Right Way, the ones most intolerant of the least individual thought or personal interpretation, and the most vehement about having it all their own way, are on the one side of the coin, and on the other are the philosophical/religious belief-systems that generally hold that it is every individual's right and responsibility to discover and create their own relationship to the Divine, the Universe whatever it is they look to as greater than the self: in other words, spiritual free will.
All the energy which is defined as Holy War is concentrated and unified by the nature of the belief-system. And the belief-system that it is attacking is, by its nature, diffuse--unable and constitutionally disinclined to present any sort of unified front of defense.
Which is how, until this past US election, is how I have, loosely speaking, seen the Republicans vs Democrats.
So--what can we take from that experience, to give us some new strategies against the jihadist of the most intolerant, militant bent? Or the supremecist of any religion or society?
posted by
Ciel
on February 1, 2009 at 5:01 PM
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It is sure feeling like a Final Confrontation; a Clash of Civilizations. Though I'm sure that Jews in Nazi Germany felt the same foreboding, and the world emerged from that horror show a bit more enlightened. Mal
posted by
gapcohen
on February 1, 2009 at 2:57 PM
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Or we might see the emptiness of churches as an opportunity: to create a new humanitarian philosophy in which women are not seen as wombs that need to be controlled or, re-acquaint ourselves with a very old one: Buddhism.
posted by
auslander
on February 1, 2009 at 2:32 PM
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After reading your post, I became curious as to the number of and location of Muslim Mosques in my city. So, I Googled. I found a
lot of them here--many that claim to service thousands of worshippers. Probably most cities are similar. Very interesting. I do believe though, that the gathering together of Christian believers will not cease, anywhere, though they may dwindle in numbers and no longer meet in large cathedrals and grand church buildings.
posted by
TAPS.
on February 1, 2009 at 9:24 AM
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