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[Phys-L] Re: THE WEDGE STRATEGY of The ID Movement



I would think that both humanism and religion can have a tempering
effect, but when they are abused, the effect can be the opposite.

Let us take some examples. The Japanese official religion is Shinto
which does not emphasize an afterlife, yet Japanese airmen could pilot
planes on suicide missions. Russian soldiers fought bravely to the
death despite the official emphasis on atheism. Judaism has no
official afterlife, and many Jews do not believe in one, yet this did
not stop them from fighting or even committing suicide when the
occasion warranted. So atheism and a sense of mortality does not stop
violence. OTOH the current fad for suicide bombers actually goes
against the restriction against suicide in Islam. On the flip side of
the coin there are many very humanistic people both of a religious
persuasion or not. Many of the founders of our country were often
vaguely religious, but not adherents to strict theology. Einstein who
was fairly pacifistic would also be in this mold. OTOH Gandi and
Mother Teresa were very much adherents to their religions and are
superb examples of theistic humanism.

Incidentally Hitler was actually religious, but Stalin was not. I
think these two examples balance quite nicely.

So in the end, fanaticism can win out. Patriotic notions can and are
exploited by cynical or ignorant politicians. But those who take
humanistic or religious philosophy seriously can be agents for peace.

Among the religious peacemakers would be the previous Pope Benedict
who worked tirelessly and fruitlessly to stop the WWI. His ideas for
peace only took root after the war.

One of the difficulties we have in the modern era is the competition
ideology. The social scientists have found that people are actually
more attuned to cooperation than competition. Our country emphasizes
competition over cooperation. The Japanese may actually go too far in
the opposite direction. The communistic ideology actually had a
point, but went too far in trying to force people into one type of
behavior. Isn't it curious that we try to force the people of Iraq to
cooperate, and then turn around and accuse people of being unpatriotic
if they oppose the war.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX



Robert--your political leanings are showing! But certainly today's
mass
murders are using religious excuses and religious enticements to get
people
to strap bombs to their bodies. But..when has it not been so?
Nothing is
new other than the tactics of terrorism and nothing has
fundamentally
changed in this country from when Europeans waged war on the
natives, to
when they waged war on the 'homeland', to when we waged war on each
other,
to when we returned to waging war on Europe, to when we waged war on
Asians,
etc., etc. And of course turn everything around (Europe waging war
on
America, etc.)--there are no clear-cut heroes or demons here (well
maybe
Hitler but the rest of Europe was largely responsible for his rise).

It is my humble opinion that we would all be much more careful of
our lives
and in doing so of every other person's life if we really could
grasp that
these few decades of existence are all there is! No umpteen
virgins, no
golden castles, no fairy-tale endings. What you have is what you
get--so
make the best of it--and to do that, you need to treat the people
around you
with dignity and respect.

Rick

*********************************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
********************************************************

********************************************************

Bob this movement exist, it's called Humanism. And the notion that
we need
theism to have civilized behavior is like saying we need Hitler for
good
government. Seems to me that that those countries with the least
religious
influence are by far the most civilized. The decent of the United
States
into
promoting and committing torture and mass murder has coincided with
the
increased
influence of religion in Government.

Bob Zannelli


_http://www.americanhumanist.org/index.html_
(http://www.americanhumanist.org/index.html)