All Entries Tagged With: "religion"
Beyond Belief
Before my long holiday train ride, I took the time to download the recent Beyond Belief sessions to watch during the trip. (One of the few bonuses of riding Amtrak is outlets.) This is hardy stuff that would’ve made Carl Sagan proud – the meat and potatoes of existence. If you haven’t already, you simply must check it out. I recommend session 2.
If you’re unfamiliar with the project, here’s their website‘s description:
Just 40 years after a famous TIME magazine cover asked “Is God Dead?” the answer appears to be a resounding “No!” According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine, “God is Winning”. Religions are increasingly a geopolitical force to be reckoned with. Fundamentalist movements – some violent in the extreme – are growing. Science and religion are at odds in the classrooms and courtrooms. And a return to religious values is widely touted as an antidote to the alleged decline in public morality. After two centuries, could this be twilight for the Enlightenment project and the beginning of a new age of unreason? Will faith and dogma trump rational inquiry, or will it be possible to reconcile religious and scientific worldviews? Can evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience help us to better understand how we construct beliefs, and experience empathy, fear and awe? Can science help us create a new rational narrative as poetic and powerful as those that have traditionally sustained societies? Can we treat religion as a natural phenomenon? Can we be good without God? And if not God, then what?
This is a critical moment in the human situation, and The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center brought together an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers to explore answers to these questions. The conversation took place at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA from November 5-7, 2006.
Ann Druyan gave a particularly moving presentation. Here it is in three parts:
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Sagan on Rose.
Carl Sagan was a repeat guest on the Charlie Rose show. Together these two great communicators casually discussed Sagan’s life, work, and the status of science in America.
Fortunately, two interviews from the last two years of Sagan’s life are available to watch on Video.Google.
Or, if you prefer, you can check out the audio from these interviews on the Sounds of Sagan, on the sidebar.
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Thoughts on Sagan
A few years ago I was given Carl’s “A Demon Haunted World” for Christmas and it’s now one of my favorite books. As I was reading it I realized that there is still an enormous amount of superstition in the world and some of it may seem benign but it certainly doesn’t advance our understanding of the universe.
The last few years have driven home how religious extremism is dangerous and backwards. There’s no creativity or imagination in it. It’s a symptom of the fear and distrust that millions of people live with every day. It takes courage to speak out against religion and it’s excesses but Carl showed me that it has to be done. Religion is a sacred cow that needs to be challenged by all rational people.
Science isn’t perfect but it still offers the best way of explaining the world and our place in it. If there is an afterlife it’s in our hearts and minds, and that’s where Carl resides.
Timothy Hatt, Vancouver, B.C.
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On Faith.
When discussing Sagan it is easy to fall into the groove carved by his atheism. Many people point to him as the like-able friendly face of the belief that god does not exist.
Unlike modern atheists — Dawkins, Harris, and Dennet (for a brief example please look to Wired magazine) — Sagan’s skepticism about the existence of god did not leave him with ill feelings for religion. He believed that religion could be graceful and was once useful, but he was frustrated when religion put superstition before rational thought.
In his only fictional work, Contact, the action in the novel hangs on two beliefs. The first is that it is possible to teach science, skepticism, and rational thought through fiction. Second is the idea that, as human organizations both religion and science are flawed. Sagan saw that there is an unexplored space between faith and rational thought. As I read it Contact is an exercise in coming to terms with that gap.
The best example is the novel / movie in its entirety. However, since I don’t have the ability to post the entire film, this excerpt gets to the point — here we see rational thought break down and faith step in.
To hear Dr. Sagan speak briefly on religion, listen to the Peter Gzowski interview with Sagan, found in the Sounds of Sagan on the sidebar.
As a side I would also like to point out that the people who have contributed to Celebrating Sagan hold different takes on god and religion. I believe that it is a testament to Sagan’s vision that people who have oppositional beliefs can come together underneath the umbrage of his world view.
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