From: Robert Owen (rowen@technologist.com)
Date: Mon Nov 01 1999 - 01:54:15 MST
Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
> Is religion the enemy of rationalism and
> science; or merely the enemy of atheism?
My historical view of the matter is that ecclesiastics,
being rather indolent as a whole, are not much
interested in exerting themselves to attack belief
systems per se ("science" and "rationalism" are
belief systems among other things) or even
atheists who keep a low profile.
Their real enemy, because it threatens their job
security, is DISBELIEF. After all, the Church had
no problem at all with Copernicus continuing his
work -- many clerics thought he was probably
right -- but if he published anything he was told
to express his views in terms of exploring astro-
nomical matters in the scholastic manner, arrived
at as an exercise in pure reason. They were quite
candid about their motivation -- a heliocentric
theory that was presented as "True" would no
doubt "threaten the faith of the innocent".
The current flap over the "origin of man" would
not have emerged at all, even among fundamen-
talist Christians, were it not perceived as a
deliberate attack on their belief system. Who
among them have the slightest interest in reading
Darwin or Genesis? Their leaders are functioning
as agitators -- it's a time-tested way of increas-
ing their hold on their flocks. They have identi-
fied the more militant evolutionists as the typical
external enemy who induces group cohesion and
the importance of submission to leadership.
What I'm emphasizing here is that the Great
Debate is not about the "Origin and Descent
of the Species" -- it's about power and control.
And the struggle is far from unilateral.
=======================
Robert M. Owen
Director
The Orion Institute
57 W. Morgan Street
Brevard, NC 28712-3659 USA
=======================
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