Vicars and the Other Thing
Hello eReader…
I keep meaning to write something else on this blog but Life keeps getting in the way.
However, I've just been cobbling together something in response to a BBC programme called 'Sunday' which I thought might interest one, or possibly two, other people.
So I'm just copying it below.
Any interest?
Best wishes to all my reader….
Hello, 'Sunday'...
If I heard you right this morning.... you are putting together a programme based around the antipathy between personal individuation and traditional religion.
The issue here is one education, it seems to me. Christianity (and Islam and Judaism, more or less) is a religion of Belief, not of Understanding. In medieval times, the masses were coerced into religion, and did not have the education or critical faculties to question what they were being told or threatened with.
Over the last hundred years or so, people have become far better informed about the world in general, and have had their ability to think critically sharply developed. Thus, people are no longer satisfied with being told what's what by a bloke in a purple frock; especially when there is no rational explanation supplied for any of the doctrines or dogmas. Hence the rise of Richard Dawkins.
However, education, which encourages individuation (think for yourself; nullius in verba; etc) does not automatically turn people into atheists. The religious impulse, as someone has called it, or the philosophical impulse if you like, will not go away. Hence, many people find themselves in a limbo: religion is more baffling than satisfying; Dawkins can't explain Life; philosophers churn out garbled nonsense... What's a chap to do?
The obvious thing for many is to look for a system that relies not upon Belief, but on Understanding. This is found in the philosophies of Yoga and Buddhism. Thus Buddhism is expanding in the UK (even among prisoners, I believe) while the C of E finds its attendances continually falling and Catholics can't fill their seminaries.
All that is being 'lost' by individuation is the slavish obedience that The Church has become used to over the centuries. The solution would be for The Church to become more 'explanatory' rather than exhortatory. But this won't happen, I don't think, because The Church doesn't actually seem to understand what it's talking about. I saw Dawkins and the Archbishop of Canterbury in casual debate once, and Dawkins won hands down as Mr Williams lost himself and his listeners in a fog of verbiage.
Meanwhile, those of us who have chosen Understanding over Belief are happy bunnies. The universe does make sense after all (and, rather to my surprise, and as a result of what I've learned via the path of Understanding, so does Christianity, deep deep down).. but to become a happy bunny you need to work at it, and take personal responsibility for your own thinking and understanding, rather than being spoonfed paradoxical medieval pap by well-meaning but puzzled clerics (or rationally-challenged scientists, if it comes to that).
Society is, I think, moving from the need (if there ever was one) for 'vicars' and towards the more meaningful condition of personal individuated quest and understanding. The Church will continue to slowly fade away until its clerics understand this, and make it their business to address the issue by personally pursuing Understanding as well as devotion and Belief. Personally, I can't see this happening for a number of reasons. But I hope I'm absolutely wrong.
Please forward a copy of this note to Mr Williams if you have his address! I wish him well!
I look forward to your programme.
All best wishes to all at 'Sunday'.
Chas Griffin
Chas Griffin
CEO, MD, Janitor, Third Leaf Books
www.thirdleafbooks.co.uk
I keep meaning to write something else on this blog but Life keeps getting in the way.
However, I've just been cobbling together something in response to a BBC programme called 'Sunday' which I thought might interest one, or possibly two, other people.
So I'm just copying it below.
Any interest?
Best wishes to all my reader….
Hello, 'Sunday'...
If I heard you right this morning.... you are putting together a programme based around the antipathy between personal individuation and traditional religion.
The issue here is one education, it seems to me. Christianity (and Islam and Judaism, more or less) is a religion of Belief, not of Understanding. In medieval times, the masses were coerced into religion, and did not have the education or critical faculties to question what they were being told or threatened with.
Over the last hundred years or so, people have become far better informed about the world in general, and have had their ability to think critically sharply developed. Thus, people are no longer satisfied with being told what's what by a bloke in a purple frock; especially when there is no rational explanation supplied for any of the doctrines or dogmas. Hence the rise of Richard Dawkins.
However, education, which encourages individuation (think for yourself; nullius in verba; etc) does not automatically turn people into atheists. The religious impulse, as someone has called it, or the philosophical impulse if you like, will not go away. Hence, many people find themselves in a limbo: religion is more baffling than satisfying; Dawkins can't explain Life; philosophers churn out garbled nonsense... What's a chap to do?
The obvious thing for many is to look for a system that relies not upon Belief, but on Understanding. This is found in the philosophies of Yoga and Buddhism. Thus Buddhism is expanding in the UK (even among prisoners, I believe) while the C of E finds its attendances continually falling and Catholics can't fill their seminaries.
All that is being 'lost' by individuation is the slavish obedience that The Church has become used to over the centuries. The solution would be for The Church to become more 'explanatory' rather than exhortatory. But this won't happen, I don't think, because The Church doesn't actually seem to understand what it's talking about. I saw Dawkins and the Archbishop of Canterbury in casual debate once, and Dawkins won hands down as Mr Williams lost himself and his listeners in a fog of verbiage.
Meanwhile, those of us who have chosen Understanding over Belief are happy bunnies. The universe does make sense after all (and, rather to my surprise, and as a result of what I've learned via the path of Understanding, so does Christianity, deep deep down).. but to become a happy bunny you need to work at it, and take personal responsibility for your own thinking and understanding, rather than being spoonfed paradoxical medieval pap by well-meaning but puzzled clerics (or rationally-challenged scientists, if it comes to that).
Society is, I think, moving from the need (if there ever was one) for 'vicars' and towards the more meaningful condition of personal individuated quest and understanding. The Church will continue to slowly fade away until its clerics understand this, and make it their business to address the issue by personally pursuing Understanding as well as devotion and Belief. Personally, I can't see this happening for a number of reasons. But I hope I'm absolutely wrong.
Please forward a copy of this note to Mr Williams if you have his address! I wish him well!
I look forward to your programme.
All best wishes to all at 'Sunday'.
Chas Griffin
Chas Griffin
CEO, MD, Janitor, Third Leaf Books
www.thirdleafbooks.co.uk
posted by Chas Griffin at 11:08 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home