| Does the science make Allah/God obsolete as a result of reason and inquiry ? The knowledge that we have gained through modern science, does it make belief in a fictional and concocted Intelligence behind the cosmos, more incredible than ever ? And, yes, science does make Allah/God obsolete, not only as a matter of intellectual sensibility but also at the level of our deeper senses. Of course, not just science itself but a rational "scientific mentality" that often accompanies it, along with the power, control, comfort, and convenience provided by modern technology, it has helped to push the concept of the fictional Allah/God into the hazy twilight of agnosticism. Superficially it may seem that the advances of science have made Allah/God obsolete by providing natural and rational explanations for phenomena that were once thought to be the result of so-called fictional divine activity. These advances have been the continuation of the Enlightenment, liberation from the religious superstitions begun by Greeks thousands of years ago in Athens. Enlightened Greek philosophers were followed by many liberal and secular scholars of Renaissance who "de-divinized (by excluding the idea of an Allah/God)" Nature to a degree unparalleled in the ancient world. Summarizing an established tradition 750 years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas taught that the wise governor ordinarily governs by delegation to competent subordinates. In the case of Nature, the fictional Allah/God's governs by means of the regularities built into the natures of things; what religious nonsense, indeed…. ! In short, the Nature we know from modern science embodies and reflects material properties and a depth of intelligibility, surely far beyond the wildest imaginings of the Greek philosophers of 4000 years ago. One must view all these extremely complex, elegant, and intelligible laws, entities, properties, and relations evolved in the universe as " facts" in need of further exploration and rest assured that the philosophical explanation is the honorable responsibility of human intelligence ; on the other hand, leaving all this to the religious and superstitious nonsense will be, indeed, "an abdication of human reason and intelligence." Fortunately, except for the nonsense of postmodernism, the modern mood of inquiry is not different. In terms of modern sensibilities, the intellectual culture of the Europe and the Europeanized West is dominated by a scientific mentality that seeks to explain qualitative and holistic realities through quantitative and reductive, as well as by explanation of the workings of parts in relation to the whole. This is not just the unlimited application of the "scientific mentality" called the scientism, but this is essentially an ethical philosophical belief, a secular faith that the scientific methods and scientific explanations can lead us to grasp all aspects of reality and nothing less. Of course, such attitude, of necessity, is accompanied by agnosticism or atheism. In terms of popular sentiment, scientific attitude, though not in itself sufficient, seems to have carried the day. Most people therefore intuitively accept the notion that human nature and human experience, though not reducible to what is scientifically knowable, gives a world of feelings, opinions, and personal values that we can better channel with the help of the science of mind and behaviour. The increase in leisure and health brought about by our increasing mastery over Nature has certainly resulted, despite the evil of religion, in an increase in wisdom and the contemplation of the great, the rational, and the reasonable. On the other hand, our technology-based leisure doesn't really result in loud hedonism, consumerism, and mind-numbing mass entertainment. In this milieu, many may, still, claim belief in a fictional Allah/God, however, the course of their lives reflect de facto agnosticism which would be expected and justifiably so in their everyday experiences and priorities. In all our scientific "knowledge" of the inner workings of things, and our technology-based comforts and distractions, there would always be a definite place for the voice of conscience, whereas, in a practical and existential sense, science and technology seem to have pushed belief in a fictional Allah/God toward obsolescence, and rightly so. In our innermost being, we moderns remain inquisitive. Sooner or later we will achieve an existential enlightenment, and recognize in our lives something solemn, ordered, not in need of any fiction of divine, not any more. The fact that we can recognize disorder, brokenness and evil in the religious milieu which occur within a larger framework of human order, reason and ethics, it is surely a sign of our essentially human conscience. Yet brokenness and disorder are things painfully religious, and the human soul by its very nature seeks something more than the mere fiction of religion, it seeks a deeper understanding, a deeper humanism, a lasting sense of ethics and morality based on historical human experience. Consideration of the order and reason in nature can lead us to a scientific and humanist paradise of the philosophers, sure, but consideration of the religious evil and wickedness leads us into the religious hell and beyond. ................... In the greater interest of civilization, all articles in the series may be reproduced or published in any language. Article 2: |
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Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
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Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
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MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
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Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
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Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
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Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
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MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
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German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
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-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
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