Evolution and religion , a hundred years ago

[Japher]

"Intellectual" in the meaning of religion doesn't mean knowledge or lack thereof. It indicates the willingness to think about your religion, to think about what you really believe in.

Most theologians are deeply religious, but they also have a very intellectual approach to religion. Because they think about it by themselves. On the other hand, those whose religion is just to claim "Jesus is my saviour" as loudly as possible have a very shallow religion.

There is no such thing as a rational approach to religion. One cannot say Intellect and Religion are in anyway connected and ever hope to win that argument, because of the nature of "belief".

[Atahualpa]

American's aren't the only ones who love making sweeping generalizations.

hehe

However you put it though, that's the impression I get. Ok, I don't know so much about US TVs for example, but here we get lots of those cultural programs. Theaters and such, famous festivals, operas and it's quite present in the media. We got a german-french TV channel that is more into intellectualism (named ARTE), we got 3Sat, which is an austrian-german-swiss cooperation also heavy into Arts. There are literature prizes that are followed by on TV (e.g. the Bachmann prize, probably the most prestigious prize for german literature). I follow that stuff, others do as well.

Another reason why I think this could be is bigger urbanization. Cities generally generate more intellectualism than the countryside and I am sure the densely populated New England states are more intellectual than loosely populated parts of the country.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Japher
There is no such thing as a rational approach to religion. One cannot say Intellect and Religion are in anyway connected and ever hope to win that argument, because of the nature of "belief".

Thinking is not necessarily something rational (that's an enlightenment idea really). Exploring your own beliefs, exploring the religion you believe in, is not necessarily rational. But it acts as "thinking". And it can lead to an actual belief, rather than a shallow one, a spoon-fed one.

The shallowly religious Americans actually remind me of European football fans. They support a club and claim it at every opportunity, but their support goes barely beyond an initial gut instinct they have to repeat over and over.

[DinoDoc]

What an interesting thread? I'm shocked (Shocked I tell you.) no one has ever made a thread about evolution or religion on the OTF before.

[Japher]

Thinking is not necessarily something rational (that's an enlightenment idea really). Exploring your own beliefs, exploring the religion you believe in, is not necessarily rational. But it acts as "thinking". And it can lead to an actual belief, rather than a shallow one, a spoon-fed one.

That's fine, but that's not Intellectual, that's Analytical. If you want to redefine words for the sake of an argument than you will always win.

The shallowly religious Americans actually remind me of European football fans. They support a club and claim it at every opportunity, but their support goes barely beyond an initial gut instinct they have to repeat over and over.

My freshmen year roomate in college was a born again Baptist... talk about an *******, with shallow beliefs. However, he was born again because he questioned his belief.

However you put it though, that's the impression I get.

Fair enough.

Urbanization as a source of reduction in religious vigor is interesting, but I think it goes further than that. The ppl who live in urbanized areas are less religious because it confroms less to their lives, and it is therefor easier to not believe. Whereas in rural areas church is more of a social setting and a way of life.

And, if you ask me, ppl in rural areas are much nicer and at greater ease than those in urban settings.

[Atahualpa]

And, if you ask me, ppl in rural areas are much nicer and at greater ease than those in urban settings.

No way!! My intellectual city people are better than your hillbillies!!!

[Japher]

No way!! My intellectual city people are better than your hillbillies!!!

The only reason city folk go to church on Sunday is to repent for all the crap they did all week! Note; not all hillbillys are like you probably saw on Deliverance.

[Jon Miller]

while I admit that there are many shallowly relgiious in the US

there are more in many other nations

a lot of fundamentalists I know know the Bible better then a lot of theologians (because the theologians spend their time thinking their own ideas, instead of looking to what the Bible says)

their theology is generally much more complicated then "Jesus is my savior"

you guys (And particularly Spiffor, who has probably never known a fundamentalist) don't know a thing you are talking about, but are just badmouthing religious fundamentalists

often times they are very intellectual, knowing a lot about science/engineering/medicine/etc, just like other people

now their are certain groups, like southern baptists, who have the fundamentalist label, and have large groups of nonintellectual practitioners... but this does not mean that all fundamentalists are so simple

there are nonintellectual people in all nations, and in the US fundamentalism is not a synomyn for nonintellectual

some of the deepest in religion are fundamentalists, they deffinitely were deeper then the theologians I have known

Jon Miller
(Related to religious fundamentalists, and some would probably consider me one as well)

[Atahualpa]

got x-posted

[Boris Godunov]

Man evolved from a mollusc? News to biology...

[Atahualpa]

Indians

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Man evolved from a mollusc? News to biology...

Word up I be eating those clam tacos every night DONT GET IT TWISTED

[Atahualpa]

Ted Striker has lost his mind

How on earth can you.... eat clam tacos!!

[The diplomat]

Re: Evolution and religion , a hundred years ago

Originally posted by aneeshm
Instead of saying ( as the creationists do ) that man is supreme , therefore he could not have evolved from something "lower" , the Swami says that , as man is evolved from something "lower" , that something is also to be considered as much a work of God as man is . The positive attitude towards creation versus the negative one .

Creationists believe that God created all things in the universe. Therefore, all life, whether "lower" or "higher" is a work of God regardless of whether evolution occured or not. So, there is no need to introduce evolution in order to make Creation something positive. The Creation story in the Bible is already positive: God created the universe and all things in it, He created good things like plants and animals, and He created something really special called Man because we have free will and reason.

[Ted Striker]

Whatever diplomat you know you be hitting those skins everyone until four in the morning DONT GET IT TWISTED