Mole
Permabanned
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2008
- Messages
- 20,284
Faith and Reason
The doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church is offically based on Faith and Reason.
This would seem to be exemplory where Religion meets the Enlightenment on an equal footing.
But alas, as we look closer we find that Faith is a priori, that is, Faith is a gift from God. And then interestingly, reason has the role of making sure catholics don't believe anything unreasonable.
So in short, Faith and Reason are not on an equal footing, and Faith is privileged.
And so the struggle between Religion and the Enlightenment continues today, but at least peacefully.
There are logical thinkers adhering to various ideologies. Religions that have a history of philosophical writings and that attempt to create a complete sense of reality would have more appeal to a logical thinker. It is difficult to create a large-scale system of thought without some logical basis for organizing its ideas.
Some religions are specifically anti-logical and focus on present emotional responses as the source of insight and truth. They may rely on the more analytical works of other religions to create some of their underlying assumptions, but in the actual practice of the religion there is a fairly strong rejection of logical or analytical thought.
The religion that I was extensively steeped in for years was a newer one, but one that made an attempt at explaining every detail. They had extensive writings and commentaries that explained every single verse in the Bible referring back to the original Greek and Hebrew, etc. This did not produce a consistent logic, but does demonstrate that value is placed on being able to make a reasoned case for a conclusion.
The intermingling of reason and impulse can create a complex and unstable system. As a quick observation you can guesstimate how much a religion relies on logic in its method of dealing with conflict. If someone dissents in their beliefs, do they get out the writings and make a reasoned case, or do they socially and emotionally punish the person who is dissenting. The manipulation tactics that a person uses from inside a religion tells you the method of control place upon them to remain in the group. If the religion relies strongly on insider/outsider definitions that make outsiders dangerous, bad, dead inside, untrustworthy, then that system relies on coercion and not reason. If the person inside the religion is a great and wonderful person until they start talking about God, and then an arrogance and meanness overtakes them, that also tells you that their system is influenced by control tactics and not reason. The concept of God becomes a metaphor for that sense of social control and domination. If the topic of God lifts the person up to have a deeper sense of empathy, a greater compassion and comprehension of humanity, than that is also very telling because in that case God is a metaphor for, or even the original source of, insight.
The doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church is offically based on Faith and Reason.
This would seem to be exemplory where Religion meets the Enlightenment on an equal footing.
But alas, as we look closer we find that Faith is a priori, that is, Faith is a gift from God. And then interestingly, reason has the role of making sure catholics don't believe anything unreasonable.
So in short, Faith and Reason are not on an equal footing, and Faith is privileged.
And so the struggle between Religion and the Enlightenment continues today, but at least peacefully.