We are in the early stages of what I think historians will one day call religion's Evidential Reformation. Increasingly, most of us (the devout included) relate to scientific, historic and cross-cultural evidence as more authoritative than the dictates of an all-male ecclesiastical body or a literalist reading of Scripture.
A good example of this is a recent Christianity Today cover story: "The Search for the Historical Adam," which noted that a growing number of evangelical leaders are shedding a traditional reading of Genesis because of what's been revealed through genetic evidence. In the words of Francis Collins and Karl Giberson, "Literalist readings of Genesis imply that God specifically created Adam and Eve, and that all humans are descended from these original parents. Such readings, unfortunately, do not fit the evidence."
Just as Augustine reinterpreted Christianity in light of Plato in the fourth century, and Aquinas integrated Aristotle in the 13th, today there are dozens of theologians across the spectrum re-envisioning the Christian faith. Whose ideas are they integrating now? Darwin, Einstein, Hubble, Wilson and all who have contributed to an evidence-based understanding of physical, biological and cultural evolution.
What many find most inspiring is also the least disputable: what we now know (not merely believe) about big history, human nature and the vital, creative role of death at all levels of the cosmos.
Big history, also known as the epic of evolution or Great Story, is the 13.7 billion year science-based tale of cosmic genesis -- from the formation of galaxies and the origin of life, to the development of consciousness and culture, and onward to the emergence of ever-widening circles of care and concern. It is the first origin story in the history of humanity that is globally produced and derived entirely from evidence. Thanks to Bill Gates and David Christian's Big History Project, it will soon be taught in high schools around the world.
Through big history we discover that we are made of stardust and that we're related to everything. Indeed, we can think of our own species as the way the universe itself is awakening to the magnificence of its epic journey -- a tale of increasing complexity and interdependence. Big history helps us appreciate the role of science in eliciting global wisdom and the role of religion in fostering cooperation at scales larger than our biological instincts could bring about.
Moving from our outer to inner world, science offers a no less remarkable insight. Within us are instincts shaped by millions of years of evolution. Alas, those deep-rooted, compelling drives are now dangerously out of sync with modern times.
To be blunt, the very same instincts that enabled our ancestors to survive and reproduce now make many of us fat, some addicted and most of us frivolous in how we use our downtime.
Instincts can hardly be faulted, however. We are surrounded by "supernormal stimuli": processed foods, feel-good drugs and alcohol, Internet porn, romance novels, mind-numbing television, addictive gaming -- none of which our ancestors ever had to face.
What this means is that without an evolutionary grasp of why our instincts and emotions are the way they are, it isn't just difficult to wisely choose and live our priorities. It's practically impossible.
Finally, all religious traditions have offered beliefs that helped their adherents face the inevitability of death -- face it with trust. Thanks to science, we now have knowledge that does the same (and more!), while inviting the religious traditions to evolve.
Fundamentally, we learn (via many converging lines of evidence) that death is natural and generative at all levels of reality. Consider: without the death of ancient stars (which are cauldrons of chemical creation), the universe would support nothing more complex than the simplest gases: hydrogen and helium. Without the death of generation upon generation of simple forms of life, no descendants could have evolved eyes to see, colors to attract, emotions to feel. Without the death of fetal cells during the early stages of development, we would all be spheres. And of course, this: In a finite world, without the death of elders there would be no room for children.
Until we grasp that death is no less sacred than life, and that it plays a necessary role in an evolving cosmos, Christianity will be shackled by otherworldly notions of "the gospel," medical technologies will prolong physical and emotional suffering, and the medical industry will inadvertently underwrite the widening gap between rich and poor.
Few things are more important than transforming how we think about our inner and outer nature, and our mortality. Thus far, the Evidential Reformation has been centered in science. We desperately need our faith traditions to celebrate this momentous time. We need all the experience that the traditions can muster to guide us today. For in truth, evidence is modern-day scripture.
Follow Rev. Michael Dowd on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MBDowd
William Grassie: Big History: Engaging the New Narrative of Science
in the atmosphere or on earth
as free energy
while we were here and after we died
in addition to our bodily form
and we had to keep recurring until we
figured it out
and became pure
and made others see that we were to remain pure...
then our spirits
as energy or heat forces in the world
would be more concentrated
and more focussed..
more 'energetic..or energy rich'
which might lead to global warming...
as when molecules divide
and must remain in the same space
as they were as a singular compound
it becomes warmer.
This being a end to God's means...
it could be a good thing...
over time
using science to regulate
the physical changes...
technically the water should recede anyway
as spirits come out of there
and take up earthly form
to be purified.
with relatives of mine who, as spirits,
had achieved some degree of cleansing...
at spirit, from their time here on earth,
and their toiling...
and might even be there with the former occurence of my spirit
but due to our life experiences we would now have separated
from one spirit into two
having UNDERSTOOD and having WORKED so hard
to become a clear spiritual energy of God...
I find myself wandering back to where I lived as a child...
I visit the home of my relatives...
and feel as though I am there, as usual,
breathing the air and enjoying the open space and love and security that I owned there...
when I walk down the road towards homes of more distant relatives
I sometimes feel a pang greater than my own...
a few weeks ago it came to me that I may have become connected with a relative of mine
within my spirituality...who is long since gone...or maybe some energy or person who was connected to him when he was alive...
my mind wandered again...as it had long ago...to the possibility that we as families are given the responsiblity for souls under God...
if the soul does not complete its mission on earth...
the family, as it continues on,
will receive the soul from that branch of the family
throughout history
to allow it to finish its purification, individualisation,
and UNDERSTANDING
here on earth
then may I also look at the teaching that all men and women COME from Adam and Eve..
to perhaps mean
that all men and women are created through the image of Adam and Eve..
connected to them...
If we...with the eyes of God were to take away the bodily form of men and women...and go back to the deepest roots or memory...on our earth as we know it..of man and woman...
would we see Adam and Eve...
AT EVERYBODY?
In science is that considered to be light refraction...
when we look at one person and catch a glimpse of another
or have we progressed so quickly
due to having progressed so quickly
that we are truly
able to look through time
with our highly developed
fifth dimensional mind?
We both understand the necessity for a harmony between our irrational hemisphere and our rational side. One calls on rational analysis that has saved our species by allowing for the discovery of so much technology without which we would probably all perish at this stage of our evolution. And the other allows for intuition, art, creativity, etc. and allows for spirituality, belief if in nothing else perhaps than ourselves.
However, we have come to a point where Religion does not explain our world and it never will. It has accomplished its purpose, that of helping us out, ever so little, of the turmoil most of humanity was in before mass education and the advent of democratic politics. It continues to serve as a stepping stone, if not a crutch, for many developing countries and people. But if we are to advance into the next stage of evolution, we need a metaphorical metamorphosis and we need to shed our pupa of religion. We have gone from imposed religion to freedom of religion and now we need freedom from religion. This is not to say that we do not need spirituality or belief anymore, for they are our useful mystical and irrational drugs, but institutionalized religion is antiquated and obsolete.
In my book published on Amazon Kindle called "Religion Proof" (free sample to read by the way), I demonstrate that no one has ever communicated with a god, any god. No one can say they know a god, or what He/She/It wants or does; Principle of Inaccessism.
So, in all due respect, I doubt that a god is trying to communicate with us now that we have a so-called language of science. It would be so much easier for such a omnipotent being to just send us an E-mail or a phone call, don't you think, rather than play games with us through hints, and myths and clues for us to guess at?
Science has demonstrated that there has never been a Noachian flood, and if that were not enough, so has plain commun sense as described by Zimmerman back in the 19th century.
I do agree that we are star dust and that chemistry and math are the paths to a better understanding of the universe, but there is really no need to breath air into a dying superstition; we best let it die in peace and spend more time learning chemistry and math.
Meaning they want to live culturally christian, use Jesus as their moral guide, but thats about it.
Now my biggest argument with these friends of mine i usually me saying. Guys! just face it, your'e Atheists, cut the ties, it's ok, I celebrate Christmas just like the rest of the consumer world!
People think secularism is only tied to Atheism.
There are millions of religious naturalists in America today who don't know it simply because they've never heard the term. Many operate within organized religion and many others outside it.
Religious naturalists of all kinds value knowledge over beliefs. We see scientific, historic, and cross-cultural evidence as providing our best understanding of what's real and what's important. We value reality as sacred. Big integrity—that is, growing in right relationship to reality and helping others (and our species) do the same—is of utmost importance to us. Religious naturalists cherish community and it's artistic expressions. We sometimes value traditional language but don't interpret any of it literally. We translate all so-called supernatural language as poetry that points to inner dynamics or real-world processes.
Secular Jews, secular Christians, and secular versions of all other traditions are religious naturalists. So are many humanists, atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers. What unites us is our honoring of what’s real and our commitment to a just and thriving future for the larger body of life.
The **ONLY** connection between the science on that issue and religion is that some joker decided to refer to the most recent common male ancestor of humanity as "Adam", for which I could cheerfully strangle the fellow. Otherwise every single thing about that study simply flat out contradicts Christianity's version of events... taken strictly literally or not.
With no original sin the theological underpinning of the tale of Jesus needing to die on the cross is gone. The reasoning behind God needing to have his son sacrificed to himself to allow him to forgive people for being imperfect the way he made them in the first place was already ludicrous but if you take away the original sin part of the equation it just puts that last extra large nail in the coffin of the entire story.
Some people don't want to deal with that so simply squeeze their eyes shut, clamp hands firmly over ears, and refuse to acknowledge the evidence exists at all.
And some can't quite pull that off... and we get things like this article instead.
We don't need anyone's "faith traditions" to celebrate anything. We just need them to get out of the way and stop holding the rest of us back.
We are in the early stages of what I think historians will one day call religion's Evidential Reformation... WHAT CRAP!!!
Why do you attach the word "SCRIPTURES which implies religion" which is based in fantasy to science which has nothing to do with fantasy....except to prove fantasy wrong?
I'd say religious people have two choices in this regard. One, evolve into a religious person like yourself who makes Science fit with what you choose christianity to be, and two, not evolve and simply appear to be more and more extreme as everyone else moves on.
Though I do have a question, how can you be a Christian and not believe in Adam and Eve and Original Sin? What's the point in believing in the Abrahamic God if you don't believe that the descendants of Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, David, Abraham himself and his children, including Joseph is not a true story?
I think you fail to acknowledge the central purpose of Christianity. At it's heart, it's more than a moral guide based on an ancient text; it offers a relationship today with the living God and the opportunity of eternal life. I realize scientists (or you?) may not ever accept this as "evidence" because God doesn't work at your command in a laboratory. But that is what Christianity is.
I do find your article interesting though. I've often heard people say that Athiests follow the religion of Science. But this is the first time I've actually heard someone themself describe their own religion as Science.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPlaS_wGzx8
BBC Documentary: Science and Islam (Part 2): The Empire of Reason
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0FSgNE4Lxc
BBC Documentary: Science and Islam (part 3): The Power of Doubt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LjdnKE_i9E
Secondly, Tawheed (the worship of Allah alone) is the essence on which Islam is built.It rejects all types of myths and superstitions,since they are the greatest enemies of science.Tawheed refers all aspects of causality to Allah.Therefore, scholars should be able to investigate and discover these relationships, know them, and then put them to the use of humanity.
In summary,the unity of Islam allows a proper scientific perspective which promotes advancement and development in the fields of science and technology.Such understanding of reality and the relation between the human being and nature in addition to the role human should play in science is clearly illustrated in this quote from Dr. Mahathir Mohammed's speech at the Oxford Islamic Forum:
"They must bring back the spiritual values to a world that is fast becoming Godless and thoroughly materialistic,so arrogant that it thinks it knows all the answers to everything; a world which will develop the ultimate means of destruction and place it in the hands of irresponsible and insane individuals; a world tittering in the brink of a Man-made Apocalypse.
Presently, people want to create a world according to their wishes.They forget that for all their brilliance they cannot answer the question 'why'.They cannot answer why there is the way it does, why there is a universe, why matter acts in the way it does, why oxygen and hydrogen form water ?They may know how all those thing happen but never why.
Islam the the religion that can meet the needs of humanity and integrate and interact with the universe in a harmonious way? Muslims were able to acquire the qualities needed for scientific thinking and advancement for two main reasons: Firstly, the Glorious Qur'an and the Noble traditions of Prophet Muhammad urged the people to contemplate and study their own nature as well as themselves and the universe around them. “We will show them Our Signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient concerning your Lord that He is over all things a Witness? “(The Qur'an 41: 53)
, "Are those who know equal to those who do not know?" Only they will remember [who are] people of understanding. (The Qur'an 39:9)
Allah will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge by dergrees. And Allah is Acquainted with what you do. (The Qur'an 58:11)
Do those who disbelieve not see that the heavens and earth were a joined entity, then We separated them, and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe? (The Qur'an 21:30)
a matter of fact, this verse that talks about how the universe was created has the very information by which two physicists were awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize. However, these scientific facts had already been revealed to Prophet Mohammed more than 1400 years ago. >>> to be continued