POLITICS: Religion and Agriculture

[Guest guest]

>Long story short: agricultural practice, the sciences,

>and the development of studies relates directly to

>what our religion says about the world.

>

>JK

>

>PS--It is funny if you think about it...Scholars say

>Religion fulfills three roles. To define

>Truth/Values. To instill Purpose. To define Reality.

>Secular Society does the same. Therefore, by

>definition, Secularism is the newest development of

>Religion--with Man as God.

Actually I was thinking about the latest religious

developments, which have been to renounce stuff

like plate techtonics and dinosaur fossils because

they don't jibe with a literal interpretation of Scripture.

As for " science " being " religion " ... the major difference

is that science allows (and at it's best, encourages)

self-criticism. That is, if someone says " I am wonderful

and I have discovered cold fusion " ... a lot of OTHER scientists

might shoot said person down, when they can't replicate

the experiment. But if the new Pope says " birth control is

bad " ... no one can shoot him down, because it is not allowed.

Criticizing Moses or the Pharoah or any other religious leader

was similarly not allowed in any other major religion, except

Buddhism (again, at it's best).

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

Heidi & JK,

>>

>>JK

>>

>>PS--It is funny if you think about it...Scholars say

>>Religion fulfills three roles. To define

>>Truth/Values. To instill Purpose. To define Reality.

>>Secular Society does the same. Therefore, by

>>definition, Secularism is the newest development of

>>Religion--with Man as God.

>>

>>

>

>

>Actually I was thinking about the latest religious

>developments, which have been to renounce stuff

>like plate techtonics and dinosaur fossils because

>they don't jibe with a literal interpretation of Scripture.

>

Thanks to HTG for remembering the POLITICS tag before did. :-)

Isn't it true that deism - the belief that God began the universe and

let it evolve - came out of the Enlightenment and scientific

developments of the day? I wonder if that isn't an oddity of the

grain/brain thingy. And what does it mean when we seem to be more

willing now to refute the evidence of science for belief in some

scripture? Is it gluten overload?

We go to a state park sometimes that has dinosaur tracks in the river

bed. BTW, much of Texas used to be part of the sea and we find fossils

all the time everywhere, which is great fun for the kids. Anyway,

Creationists have built a " Creation Evidence Museum " right outside the

gate to the other park. I have never seen a soul at the creation park,

but many people frequent the one with the tracks that the kids can see,

camping and hiking trails. Unfortunately, once they were uncovered

years ago, these tracks have been subjected to the forces of erosion and

won't be visible too much longer. I wonder if folks will deny they ever

existed once they vanish?

Deanna

[Guest guest]

>Isn't it true that deism - the belief that God began the universe and

>let it evolve - came out of the Enlightenment and scientific

>developments of the day? I wonder if that isn't an oddity of the

>grain/brain thingy. And what does it mean when we seem to be more

>willing now to refute the evidence of science for belief in some

>scripture? Is it gluten overload?

A lot of Aspies go into religion in a big way ... they especially like

ritual and rules (they go into historical re-enactments for the same

reasons). I think the Egyptians are a great case in point ... I mean

they build these HUGE pyramids, because there is this tiny little

hole in the pyramid pointing to a certain star. So the pharoah's soul

can escape and get to the star. Further, the PICTURES on the walls

keep souls alive. So if you want to murder someone in the afterlife,

you erase their picture on the wall. And you paint pictures of

servants etc. so they'll have servants.

OK, now you can see this as nice symbolism, but for them,

it WASN'T symbolic. They believed it. Thousands of them believed

it, enough to make whole " cities of the dead " ... towns whose

only economy was tending to dead people. It's basically a case

of mass delusion ... very exact, organized delusion, with tons

of science involved.

It's also worth mentioning that most of the " tribal " religions

rely on drugs or dancing or pain or fasting to induce " altered states "

whereby the person can see the " other world " . Stuff like peyote

is an intregal part of the religion. There is some of that in Western

religions too, but it probably isn't needed so much, because at

least some of the adherents are already in an altered state.

I'm not saying that *truth* doesn't come out of altered states ...

it certainly does in my case, I can really do great programming

under the influence of gluten! And a lot of writers did great

work under the influence of opium or alcohol. But ... it's still

an altered state. The thing about wheat is, you don't KNOW it's

an altered state because you live in that state all the time.

I had a roommate who was schizophrenic once, and she

lived in a world of angels and demons, all the time.

Anyway, I think in terms of mental states, there isn't much

difference between an Aspie scientist looking into the nature

of a neutron in an particle accelerator, or a holy man gleaning

details about the nature of God from a holy book. In those

cases, the Creationists have it right ... both are working

from " faith " in that no one can see what the heck they

are working with. (except, of course, the scientist can

do experiments on neutrons, but doing experiments on

God is frowned upon).

>We go to a state park sometimes that has dinosaur tracks in the river

>bed. BTW, much of Texas used to be part of the sea and we find fossils

>all the time everywhere, which is great fun for the kids. Anyway,

>Creationists have built a " Creation Evidence Museum " right outside the

>gate to the other park. I have never seen a soul at the creation park,

>but many people frequent the one with the tracks that the kids can see,

>camping and hiking trails. Unfortunately, once they were uncovered

>years ago, these tracks have been subjected to the forces of erosion and

>won't be visible too much longer. I wonder if folks will deny they ever

>existed once they vanish?

Wow. That is so neat to have that! It is sad they don't keep them covered

so they don't erode though. When I was a kid we went to the La Brea

tar pits, saw the saber tooth tiger skeletons and mammoth bones. I do

think it's interesting that the church has veered away from " discovering

truth about the creator by studying the creation " to " study the book " .

Part of it might be the success of Luthor ... in the early days of the

church, mere mortals weren't supposed to study scripture, only the

priesthood, who then interpreted it. So mere mortal scientists had

to content themselves with studying dandelions and fossils.

Heidi Jean