Dear Fred,
There is truth in what you say: "
But it is proportionately more
significant that "the fundies" spurn science -- whether
"hard" or "soft" -- whenever it contradicts their religious
beliefs.
Alternatively, I agree with Aquinas that
frank contradiction between terrestrial truth and God's Truth cannot exist.
"Arguing
against those who said that natural philosophy was contrary to the Christian
faith, (Aquinas) writes in his treatise "Faith, Reason and Theology that
"even though the natural light of the human mind is inadequate to make
known what is revealed by faith, nevertheless what is divinely taught to us by
faith cannot be contrary to what we are endowed with by nature. One or the
other would have to be false, and since we have both of them from God, he would
be the cause of our error, which is impossible." "Aladdin's
Lamp: How Greek Science Came to Europe Through the Islamic World" by
John Freely http://www.amazon.com/Aladdins-Lamp-Science-Through-Islamic/dp/0307277836/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327882581&sr=8-1
Although there is plenty of nonsensical
psychological pseudo-science, it is a signal achievement of the 20th century
that modern psychology limned the existence of "the personal shadow,"
"the group shadow" and "projection psychology."
These are realities.
Best Pax Posts On Psychological Projection And "The Shadow"
Best Pax Posts On Psychological Projection And "The Shadow"
And "fundamentalists" deny these realities, in large part because they are committed to the Old Testament's Thunder Sky God who, as you know, is not the only God in the Old Testament. (Old Testament prophets spent a hugely disproportionate amount of time/energy railing against the atavistic faithlessness of their fellow Jews.)
"The fundies" deny the realities of "shadow" and "projection" because they are
determined NOT to undergo the spiritual turmoil and metanoia that would deprive
them of their self-arrogated status as American "exceptionalists" and "smiters sitting at God right hand " who have carte blanche to whoop any "darkie's" ass whenever "the spirit moves them."
"The Deadly Oppression Of Black People: Best Pax Posts"
Have you read any de
Chardin? http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/09/scientific-research-as-adoration-pierre.html
To everyone's astonishment, Pope Benedict
dedicated a recent "homily" to
him. http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin.html
I don't think de Chardin is
"absolutely" right. (I don't believe we can often determine what is
absolutely right, and when we do, it's mostly in small things.)
I do believe that de Chardin's religious
metaphors are better-suited to life as now lived, which is not to say that the
essence of the human condition has changed.
It is to say that we are very different
people than we were as recently as John Wayne, not to mention the
superstition-saturated, pre-scientific, patriarchal, largely-illiterate people
of agricultural (and nomadic) bible times.
Over the last couple of nights, I watched
"The Searchers" - perhaps The Duke's best-known film - and was
astonished by how many of the suppositions that Americans held about
"cowboys," "Indians," and "manliness" have
changed since the film was made in 1956. (That "The Searchers" was directed by John Ford is even more flabbergasting.)
I encourage you to watch this film and see if
you don't feel more sympathy for the Indians than for the white guys - even
though Ford's intent was antipodal.
I recently had similar
reaction to Disney's "Johnny Tremain." Watch the prolonged scene in
which "buckskin-camouflaged" Minute Men, hidden in hedge-rows, pick
off marching "red coats" one by one. (The "stupid" "red coats" were dressed in red to make sure that combatants were readily distinguishable from civilians - perhaps the high-water mark of "moral" war-making. And we gringos see fit to laugh at them.)
"Why I Consider Friend Fred's View Of Native Americans Wrong"
I watched "Johnny Tremain" with my Danny and all I
could see were terrorists detonating roadside explosives.
When "the fundies" acknowledge
the reality of anthropogenic global warming and "shadow/projection psychology," then we'll discuss "the
details."
Pax on both houses
Alan
PS Other interesting bits from
Aquinas:
"The good is to
be done and pursued and evil is to be avoided" is not very helpful for
making actual choices. Therefore, Aquinas believes that one needs one's reason
to be perfected by the virtues, especially prudence, in order to discover
precepts of the Natural Law that are more proximate to the choices that one has
to make on a day to day basis. http://www.aquinasonline.com/Topics/natlaw.html
"The only-begotten
Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so
that he, made man, might make men gods." (This process has been given the
name "theosis." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosis)
On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 11:38 AM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
I generally have at least 2 or 3 insights before breakfast, and another dozen during the afternoon.
Today, I'm realizing that the Baptist/fundie/literalist contempt for science might actually be a necessary rebuke of the social sciences which are faux from top to bottom. The puke of modern psychology and sociology, the utter masquerade of certainty and spurious statistics causes a worldwide stench and our Baptist/fundi/literalists cousins cry in horror -- unfortunately they are a bit misdirected when they crash into real science
But think on how much you and I and and they might agree on a critique of social science.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
My blog is Fred Owens
send mail to:
Fred Owens
35 West Main St Suite B #391
Ventura CA 93001
No comments:
Post a Comment