Category: Religion
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The Nature of Creative Intelligence
The religious powers-that-be describe the qualities and characteristics of their particular deities in various ways. For example, the supreme being of Islam, Allah, and the ‘Father God’ of Christianity are loving, fair and merciful, but mete out stern justice to non-believers in the afterlife. These beliefs are a matter of faith and rely solely on…
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Science and Christianity
Christianity has always had an uneasy relationship with science. Many scientific discoveries have appeared to question the very basis of this religion. The problem for Christians is that some of the statements in the Bible are just plain WRONG. For example, at the time the Genesis creation stories were written, the Hebrews believed that the…
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Where are you at?
In his best-selling book, Further Along the Road Less Travelled, M. Scott Peck pointed out that we are not all at the same place in terms of our spiritual growth. He identified four ‘stages’ of growth. If you had to pick one which most accurately describes you, which would it be? Stage One Stage One…
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Buddhism, Animals and the Environment
I was first attracted to Buddhism because it seemed to me to be more eco-friendly than other traditions. It seemed more enlightened than Christianity, Islam and Judaism! But recent investigations have made me wonder if this is really true as we shall see. In ancient times when the world’s major religions were created they had…
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Is G_d an information field?
Before Einstein, the world was thought to be a collection of atoms and molecules behaving according to certain inviolable ‘laws’. Space was exactly that – empty space, nothing there. Now we know that matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration and even space is not really empty: it is an inexhaustible potential that…
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Warnings from history
Religions get interpreted by their followers in many ways. Some have been very positive (such as affirmations of love, compassion and forgiveness), but they have also been used to justify violence and repression. In the past few years Muslim suicide bombers, for instance, have frequently set out to kill innocent people with the words of…
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Religious texts
There are many wonderful religious writings. Most were written in allegorical style and were never meant to be taken literally (although some people do); others are reasonably accurate records of events as far as we can tell. Some reflect the best information available at the time of writing, but were subsequently proven to be untrue.…
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How to spot a fake prophet
Teachers, philosophers and prophets Throughout history, humanity has benefited from the leadership and inspiration of many great teachers. but all too often their followers made a god of the prophet, created a mythology, established dogma, and lost the original message. Once a religion is established, it becomes possible for an elite ‘priesthood’ to control their…
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Anatomy of a religion
All religions have certain things in common: They separate ‘us’ from ‘them,’ believers and non-believers, members and non-members. They lay down set beliefs, creeds and rites of practices. Usually they insist that followers subscribe to the whole package. They usually expect followers to contribute financially. An appointed ‘priesthood’ or ‘clergy’ sporting special robes and/or role…
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Where should we look for the secret of life?
‘We shall not cease from exploration And the end of our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.’ (T.S.Eliot) There’s an old Eastern story: Long ago, four senior gods met to decide where to hide the greatest secret of life. They knew they needed a…