Clipmarks | Antara's 'faith' clips

Fideism

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:37:09 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: I only learned about this "school of thought" recently Just passin on a link

Clip Source: plato.stanford.edu

Fideism

“Fideism” is the name given to that school of thought—to which Tertullian himself is frequently said to have subscribed—which answers that faith is in some sense independent of—if not outright adversarial toward—reason. In contrast to the more rationalistic tradition of natural theology, with its arguments for the existence of God, fideism holds that reason is unnecessary and inappropriate for the exercise and justification of religious belief. The term itself derives from fides, the Latin word for faith, and can be rendered literally as faith-ism. “Fideism” is thus to be understood not as a synonym for “religious belief,” but as denoting a particular philosophical account of faith's appropriate jurisdiction vis-a-vis that of reason.

2.2 The Usual Suspects

2.2.1 Pascal
2.2.2 Kierkegaard
2.2.3 James
2.2.4 Wittgenstein

Tags: faith, reason, religion, philosophy

Does this explain Religion?

Tue, 27 May 2008 14:28:06 GMT

clipped by: Antara

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Religion is a product of evolution, software suggests

God may work in mysterious ways, but a simple computer program may explain how religion evolved

By distilling religious belief into a genetic predisposition to pass along unverifiable information, the program predicts that religion will flourish. However, religion only takes hold if non-believers help believers out – perhaps because they are impressed by their devotion.

"If a person is willing to sacrifice for an abstract god then people feel like they are willing to sacrifice for the community," says James Dow, an evolutionary anthropologist at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, US, who wrote the program – called Evogod (download the code here).

Dow is by no means the first scientist to take a stab at explaining how religion emerged. Theories on the evolution of religion tend toward two camps. One argues that religion is a mental artefact, co-opted from brain functions that evolved for other tasks.

Tags: religion, faith, science, evolution, questions, computers

The Dawn of the Apatheist

Thu, 08 May 2008 18:01:28 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Article by Jonathan Rauch......food for thought

Clip Source: www.theatlantic.com

The greatest development in modern religion is not a religion at all—it's an attitude best described as "apatheism"

It came to me recently in a blinding vision that I am an apatheist. Well, "blinding vision" may be an overstatement. "Wine-induced haze" might be more strictly accurate. This was after a couple of glasses of Merlot, when someone asked me about my religion. "Atheist," I was about to say, but I stopped myself. "I used to call myself an atheist," I said, "and I still don't believe in God, but the larger truth is that it has been years since I really cared one way or another. I'm"—that was when it hit me—"an ... apatheist!"

That got a chuckle, but the point was serious. Apatheism—a disinclination to care all that much about one's own religion, and an even stronger disinclination to care about other people's—may or may not be something new in the world, but its modern flowering, particularly in ostensibly pious America, is worth getting excited about.

Tags: religion, atheists, faith, who really cares, lol

If God is Dead, Who get His house?

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:57:31 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: By Sean McManus via Sam Harris.org

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

It seems unlikely that many of the 850 or so people at the Society for Ethical Culture on a recent Saturday night believed that God was still extant. But evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and possibly the most famous atheist in the world, was not taking any chances. He gave a PowerPoint presentation driving home that religion does not meet any of the standards of basic scientific inquiry, before casually flicking away a few of His last crutches. Doesn’t God provide people some solace? asked an audience member. “Isn’t that a little childish?” Dawkins replied. “Just because something is comforting doesn’t mean it’s true.” Then someone asked about death, and Dawkins quoted Mark Twain: “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born.”

The room erupted in loud applause. God had definitely left the building—if he were ever here at all.

Tags: atheism, richard dawkins, faith, religion, samharris.org

For those touched most by 9/11, a turning point in faith

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:14:39 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: rest of article:

Brian Jordan, a Franciscan priest who ministered to rescue and recovery workers, says there were no atheists at Ground Zero — suddenly everyone had a spiritual life, no matter how tortured or confused.

Jay Rosenbaum, a Long Island rabbi, says he was almost overwhelmed when he arrived at Ground Zero on Sept. 12. But later, he conducted a simple prayer service in vestments that included a hard hat, combat boots and a prayer shawl. “Our mission is to look not only at the devastation there,” he said in his impromptu sermon, pointing to the shell of one tower, “but the devotion here” — the dusty, exhausted, rescue workers around him.

“It was one of the most affirming moments of my life,” he says now. “I felt this was something I was worthy of doing.”

To others, 9/11 seems to belie the notion of an all-loving, all-powerful God. Sam Harris began writing The End of Faith, his best-selling attack on religion, the day after the attacks.

Jonathan Miller, who wrote

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — The pope’s pilgrimage to the site of the World Trade Center revives a question asked by many of those traumatized by the terrorist attacks, including the faithful, the faithless and those in between: Where was God on Sept. 11, 2001?

On Sunday, two dozen 9/11 survivors, victims’ relatives and rescue workers will accompany Benedict XVI to Ground Zero, “the scene of incredible violence and pain” — in the words of the prayer the pope will recite in the pit where the twin towers stood.

PHOTOS: How 9/11 tested their faith

Many whose lives were changed that day are still coming to terms spiritually with 9/11. Some have taken comfort from their faith; others have found it lacking. Some have a stronger faith, a different faith or no faith at all.

Tags: 9/11, faith, sam harris.org

Your Nose, Your Brain, Your Faith

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:02:56 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Sam Harris article....very interesting!

Rest of article:

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/my-nose-my-brain-my-faith/

Clip Source: www.samharris.org

By DAVID VAN BIEMA
Jan. 10, 2008

Your nose is one of the less complicated parts of your body, and yet we credit it with considerable intelligence in the area of truth vs. falsehood. We “sniff out a lie.” We say “something smells fishy.” Now studies suggest that something more than metaphor may be at work here--specifically, brain science. The same research may also shed unexpected light on religious faith.

Believing or disbelieving something is always as much about feeling as fact. Sam Harris, a doctoral candidate at UCLA, wanted to see what that means in physiological terms. To many readers, Harris is best known for his antireligious book The End of Faith. But he is also a neuroscientist. In a study reported in the Annals of Neurology, Harris presented 14 people with 360 statements designed to elicit belief, disbelief or uncertainty. He tracked their brain response with a functional magnetic resonance imager (fMRI) and got some very revealing results.

Tags: sam harris, neuroscience, faith, religion