BELIEVE IT OR NOT
Two separate New York Times stories converge an issue central to 6 billion people living on the planet today, and the billions who've come before us.
The first, titled "Religious Surge in once-Atheist China surprises Leaders" touches on how about 400 million of the billion plus Chinese are now openly discovering and/or re-discovering religion. And how that number is growing by leaps and bounds.
The second article is the cover story of this weekend's Sunday Magazine, titled "Why Do We Believe"?
For me, reading this piece first put the familiar issues and questions in the second in a whole different light.
The second article on China then becomes an example of why the most of the rest of the five billion other people behave in more or less the same way, from childhood to the grave.
Regardless of where one comes out on the question of religion, the New York Times cover story article is a must read.
It may even take a couple of reads to grasp it's many nuances.
Both are highly recommended for some thought-provoking Sunday reading.
Now add to that this study of religion linked to aggression and we're up for a great future...
Posted by: Niko | Sunday, March 04, 2007 at 09:16 AM
You gotta love it how they took a circle and come to such an obnoxious conclusion?
After a fruitless last century of disproving/proving God, mainly by Athiests, we enter a the new era with another point of senseless debate (or to me, very much an excuse) "Its difficult to live in a Thiest World". Ha !
That's like I remember going to India sometime back, most of the younger generation used to think that religion/God is just a hypothetical thing YET a fantastic concept to satisfy ourselves in times of difficulty.
and I was like ..great going so basically God doesn't exist but we should be beleiving in it? welcome to the new century of another directionless debate.
Posted by: Muneeb | Monday, March 05, 2007 at 04:59 AM
That sounds like there are some bright youngsters in India! Beliefs create very strong security, whether you believe in God (pick you flavour), science, natural spirits, yourself... From the point of understanding the world through the lens of your beliefs and hence feeling secure, *what* you believe in doesn't matter.
It shouldn't and need not be, but discussing beliefs is too often just what you say, directionless debate.
Posted by: Niko | Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 01:28 AM
I'm doing a psychology essay on the nature v. nurture elements involved in religious belief and between these two essays, Robert Sapolsky's speech to the ffrf (http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2003/april/index.php?ft=sapolsky) and Dawkin's God Delusion, I've got a ton of material.
Posted by: RyanW | Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 04:14 PM