Do you think our "Age of Reason" is under threat from religion?

Question

Do you think that science, knowledge and education are coming under threat from the superstitious/religious? Do you think that the rational will soon lose ground to the irrational? What do you think you can do to defend an age of logic and reason in the face of a tide of superstition and irrationality?

Connie D provides an excellent example of what I'm referring to. Disturbing.

Answer 1

I do think that reason and enlightenment are threatened by the ascendancy of religion in the United
States. No only are they threatened, the very concept of being educated, enlightened and knowledgable is being de-valued and the concept of enlightenement in general is no longer highly regarded as a worthwhile value.

It is becoming the norm for 'faith' and 'belief' to be more highly regarded than 'curiosity', 'inquisitiveness' and 'determiniation'.

The attitude expressed by Connie D is in esscence the epitiome of the problem. the idea that our time on this earth is akin to a lay-over on a longer flight serves to completely-de-value our existence. Why worry about anything when you get everything you want when you die?

Why seek answers, why work to help the environment, why bother trying to better the world or better yourself or question your exiostence when you think that your real life begins when you die? This line of thinking not only serves to restrict us from achieving our full potential in life, but also cheapens the worth of our lives while providing people with a means to be irresponsible towards their brothers and sisters, and even nature itself. For instance evangelical christians are in denial about global warming because they think that god wouldnt create a planet that humans could drain of its rescources.

This reckless disregard of the facts is damning our future generations to a difficult and hazardous existence. The same goes for the efforts to restrict the teaching of evolution and expand the role of religion in public education.

This expansion of ignorance will retard the uptake of knowledge and further hinder the creative and inquisitive drive of our children, all this in an environment where the media and television already hinder it.

The best thing we can do at the moment is to teach our children to think for themselves. Children who are tought to question, to think, and to add as many experiences as they can to their lives will hopefully develop a love for life and a zest for it. They will learn that life is precious and that it is worth protecting, and that knolwedge, understanding and reason are more important than the fairy tales of religion.

They will learn that the planet is our provider and must be protected in order that it may provide for future generations of mankind.

To the poster immediately below me.

I absolutely do not think for a second that humanity as a collective race should strive to be like the amish, the very notion of such a thing is shameful.

Humanity should use its technology to ease the suffering on this pl;anet. that means employing stem cell research to cure diseases, that means studting how the brain interacts with muscles to produce ever more refined and complex artificial limbs so amputees can hope to lead nrmal lives, that means studying how the nervous system interactswith the spine and muscles so crippled people can walk again.

We should strive to end sickness, disease and hunger, not strive for the ridiculous self-impsed ignorance of the amish. To outright deny the whole of humanity from ever achieving anything significant for the so called pleasures of a simple lfe that the amish supposedly posesses is a silly notion at best.

If yu were to replace all of american history with an 'amish-ized' version , there would have been no moon walk, or space exploration, there would have been no cure for small pox, it is unlikely that this coultry would ever have spread across the continent, or even rebelled from england for that matter.

If you can comprehend how much we would have lost by adhereing to a strict amish lifestyle as a nation, than you should be able to comprehand how much we would not gain should we do so from now on forth.

Answer 2

Yes, reason is under attack from religion, but no, it is not some new thing that started happening recently. When Hypatia was murdered by a Christian mob in 415 C.E., it was the end of Alexandria as a city of scholars and learning, but it didn't stop there. Science, philosophy, and human advancement were halted in the West for over a thousand years, continuing on only in the non-Christian areas of the Middle East. Science continued to progress there until the rise of Islam, now it has reversed course and is marching back toward the stone age.
Our advancement since the Renaissance and the Enlightenment have happened despite religion, and the degree to which they have succeeded is proportional to the loss of control of the church over our society.

Answer 3

I think religion is threatened by an age of reason. But the age of reason began long ago with the colleges and universities begun by churches that taught people to reason. The irony is that it will always come full circle. I personally have no intention nor even desire to defend logic and reason. They do not need a defense and will stand on their own merits. I am a Christian and know nothing of superstition and/or irrationality. God don't make junk.

Answer 4

Perhaps. But only time will tell if our faith in science is justified. Science is a two edged sword - has given us the ability to live longer, healthier, easier, more enlightened lives; has given us the ability to too easily destroy all life on the planet, in so many different ways (nuclear, biological, even from pollution & climate change). Perhaps, ironically, the age of reason is more under threat as a result of its own success than from religion. Disregarding the need to defend against the threat of alien invasion, and considering the effect we are having on the planet, wouldn't we be better off as a species living as the Amish, instead of striving towards life as The Jetsons ?

Answer 5

I will not defend reason or logic because that is not Gods way. Logic and reason tell us that we are in control of things when if you look at your life you will see you really aren't. When you realize that truth then you will see the real truth that you are not in control, and you are in need of a Savior who will sustain you in this world and bring you into another that is far better than this one ever could be. This place is only temporary why spend so much effort trying to prove that is the most important? Is it really? You are born, you live to prove that this place is worth something and you die. Where is the hope? Where is the value in that thinking? That you will leave some sort of mark here? What does that matter when this world is gone?

Answer 6

Yes the age of reason is under threat. The republican party has become blatently anti-intellectual and anti-science. The fact is, to quote colbert, reality has a well known liberal bias.

Look at how many places still argue for the teaching of intelligent design or creationism in schools. It is ridiculous to pass those things off as part of education.

The best thing to do is to be a critical thinker and be well informed politically and educationally.

Answer 7

No. It is the other way round. Religion is under threat from logic and reason.

Religion is losing too, as can be seen by all the 'new' religious theories expound nothing new but simply try to discredit science, logic and reason. Clearly religion is on the run.

Answer 8

Yes, but Reason has always been under threat from religion. As we make more advancements in bettering our knowledge and understanding of the world around us, the god of the gaps will soon dissipate, and such dogmatic religion will dwindle under the resulting (and just) scrutiny.

Answer 9

I think it is evenly matched at this point. Religious views used to rule this country, then science/logic/etc have been gaining that ground.

At the moment, I think religious age is on the downslope trying to delay its slide and science and logic is on the upslope, still having to gain every inch it can.

Sooner or later though, logic will be the predominant thinking.....if it isn't already that is. lol

Answer 10

The Dark Ages will return if the religionists get their way.

The Dark Ages was the last time that religion had total control over the population because anyone who said anything contrary to the bible was instantly a heretic. That's why religionists hate science - science prevents us returning to the Dark Ages