RE: From the Sun to the Earth; A Report on Weather in the Grand Solar Minimum, May 18, 2018 by Freddie Thornton
Honestly I have no idea who the majority of those philosophers are, I do not read a lot of philosophy, I think it.
Ideology is not in and of itself a dangerous thing, though I would say it is a limiting thing for it groups a set of ideas and limits you to those ideas. Ideology can spring from anywhere. One could argue that my ideas surrounding the self-identification with an ideology as being potentially bad, is, in and of itself, ideological.
Yes it does tend to cast things in black or white lies, totally ignoring the infinite variation of grey that unites these polarities. Its seductiveness comes through our tendency for tribalism in all things from nationalism to fashion. So few people actually think for themselves and instead rely on the herd mentality. Recently someone actually dared say to me, "I don't understand the science of climate change but I know it is man made." ~ Really? if you do not understand the science of a thing how can you know about that thing? Oh, yes, herd mentality.
I will read your post and comment on it there.
Not all people born to religion stay with the religion. The poorer the people the more children they will have. Highest birth rates are in poorer countries, who also have higher infant mortality rates. Religion is on the decline, churches struggle with maintaining their numbers. It is hard to say whether it will or won't as their are many factors to consider such as climate and the potential shutting down of our techno culture with a x-40 flare. If we survive technologically through this global cooling then I would argue religion will decline as more and more people seek to get away from unjust dogma and antiquated notions of what is righteous. Education and knowledge will assist in reducing religious congregations. If we lose technologically then we will see a rise in the popularity of religion, as well, we will see a rise in immorality as people struggle to survive by whatever means possible.
Who knows you may be right, but as for taming religion, I do not know if it is possible. many have tries to tame religion before and what happens is it tends to go underground.
How would you tame religion?
"Ideology is not in and of itself a dangerous thing, though I would say it is a limiting thing for it groups a set of ideas and limits you to those ideas. Ideology can spring from anywhere. One could argue that my ideas surrounding the self-identification with an ideology as being potentially bad, is, in and of itself, ideological."
It certainly can be. First of all, you have to define what you mean by the word. Does it mean a set of axioms that completely "enframes" (Heidegger's term) the way you think? If so, it's certainly a negative thing. Is it something you've set forth in a self-aware way to identify what it is you strive for while acknowledging the prejudices it may create for you? Maybe that's not such a bad thing. Surely a man with ideals is to be preferred over one without them.
"Yes it does tend to cast things in black or white lies, totally ignoring the infinite variation of grey that unites these polarities. Its seductiveness comes through our tendency for tribalism in all things from nationalism to fashion. So few people actually think for themselves and instead rely on the herd mentality. Recently someone actually dared say to me, "I don't understand the science of climate change but I know it is man made." ~ Really? if you do not understand the science of a thing how can you know about that thing? Oh, yes, herd mentality."
Yes. So much. People don't like to feel inferior. The herd mentality enables them to escape that without actually having to earn the right to talk about the ideas they're spouting.
"Not all people born to religion stay with the religion. The poorer the people the more children they will have. Highest birth rates are in poorer countries, who also have higher infant mortality rates. Religion is on the decline, churches struggle with maintaining their numbers. It is hard to say whether it will or won't as their are many factors to consider such as climate and the potential shutting down of our techno culture with a x-40 flare. If we survive technologically through this global cooling then I would argue religion will decline as more and more people seek to get away from unjust dogma and antiquated notions of what is righteous. Education and knowledge will assist in reducing religious congregations. If we lose technologically then we will see a rise in the popularity of religion, as well, we will see a rise in immorality as people struggle to survive by whatever means possible."
I'm not so sure that it is the case that congregations are still on the decline.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/245491/church-attendance-of-americans/
Only 27% of people in the US never attend church as of 2017. Not sure what the stats are for other countries. I consider Europe's numbers to be irrelevant because they are being displaced by Muslims, who, on the whole, tend to attend Mosque rather regularly.
And I'm not sure you're framing the issue correctly. I don't think people go to church in order to be indoctrinated. Some do, sure. Mostly, however, people attend religious services because it makes them feel connected to a social group, and to their community in general. Most of them believe in God and the Bible, sure, but, mostly, you're not dealing with fundamentalists when you're talking about church-goers in general. But churchgoers do have more children than those who don't. I'm having some difficulty finding relevant statistics, but based on what I've seen, it's quite common for churchgoers to have 3 children or more, and very uncommon for secular families to have more than 2 children. I don't see this as a problem provided the people going to church aren't being indocrinated to not approach issues rationally. I've attended several churches. Some of them are brainwashing facilities, but most of them are not. Most of them are social groups in which the pastor uses the Bible to talk about ethics from a fairly well-reasoned position. Remember: most pastors have college degrees in ministry, so they have had to actually pass college classes by showing that they are capable of expressing themselves in logical arguments. Churches have come a long way in the last few hundred years. They aren't without their problems, but I think they do more good than bad, overall.
"Who knows you may be right, but as for taming religion, I do not know if it is possible. many have tries to tame religion before and what happens is it tends to go underground.
How would you tame religion?"
Look, I used to be a religious zealot all the way up until my mid twenties. What helped me overcome that was reading philosophy and alternative interpretations of the Bible, as well as a critical analysis of Christian history, and engaging with my ideas about God on a personal, spiritual and intellectual level. Taming religion takes a long time, because it requires a lot of introspection on the part of the upcoming generation. It helps if there is literature out there providing alternatives to what they're being told their scriptures say. Believe it or not, even the Koran can be read in such a way that it leads someone to be non-dogmatic. But someone has to be out there making those arguments, and that has to be available to young people who know that something is wrong with what they're being taught. If you do that, over time, the more rational position will win. If you try to tame religion by force, you only make stronger in the long term, because you help create a narrative that serves the preacher.