bedou
03-05-2007, 08:46 PM
The front page article in the NY Times Magazine this past weekend was an article dealing with the evolution of religion, specifically tracing (or at least trying to) the belief in God.
Reading through, it subhaanAllaah really is amazing how they will come up with every possible excuse to blind themselves from what is the most obvious conclusion:
Call it God; call it superstition; call it, as Atran does, “belief in hope beyond reason” — whatever you call it, there seems an inherent human drive to believe in something transcendent, unfathomable and otherworldly, something beyond the reach or understanding of science. “Why do we cross our fingers during turbulence, even the most atheistic among us?” asked Atran when we spoke at his Upper West Side pied-à-terre in January. Atran, who is 55, is an anthropologist at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, with joint appointments at the University of Michigan and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. His research interests include cognitive science and evolutionary biology, and sometimes he presents students with a wooden box that he pretends is an African relic. “If you have negative sentiments toward religion,” he tells them, “the box will destroy whatever you put inside it.” Many of his students say they doubt the existence of God, but in this demonstration they act as if they believe in something. Put your pencil into the magic box, he tells them, and the nonbelievers do so blithely. Put in your driver’s license, he says, and most do, but only after significant hesitation. And when he tells them to put in their hands, few will.
Fitra is smacking them in the face, but nope, that can't be true :)
It reminded me of sitting in a Philosophy of Religion class (*ducks and hides*), and the Professor uttering something that caused a synapse in my brain to misfire and wake up:
"Monotheism is an evolution of Polytheism" (in the words of Ustaadh Yasir, "Say what????").
Alhamdulillaah for Islam.
They don't allow outside links on the forum, but those who want to read it, can check out the NYTimes online, and click on The Times Magazine.
Reading through, it subhaanAllaah really is amazing how they will come up with every possible excuse to blind themselves from what is the most obvious conclusion:
Call it God; call it superstition; call it, as Atran does, “belief in hope beyond reason” — whatever you call it, there seems an inherent human drive to believe in something transcendent, unfathomable and otherworldly, something beyond the reach or understanding of science. “Why do we cross our fingers during turbulence, even the most atheistic among us?” asked Atran when we spoke at his Upper West Side pied-à-terre in January. Atran, who is 55, is an anthropologist at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, with joint appointments at the University of Michigan and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. His research interests include cognitive science and evolutionary biology, and sometimes he presents students with a wooden box that he pretends is an African relic. “If you have negative sentiments toward religion,” he tells them, “the box will destroy whatever you put inside it.” Many of his students say they doubt the existence of God, but in this demonstration they act as if they believe in something. Put your pencil into the magic box, he tells them, and the nonbelievers do so blithely. Put in your driver’s license, he says, and most do, but only after significant hesitation. And when he tells them to put in their hands, few will.
Fitra is smacking them in the face, but nope, that can't be true :)
It reminded me of sitting in a Philosophy of Religion class (*ducks and hides*), and the Professor uttering something that caused a synapse in my brain to misfire and wake up:
"Monotheism is an evolution of Polytheism" (in the words of Ustaadh Yasir, "Say what????").
Alhamdulillaah for Islam.
They don't allow outside links on the forum, but those who want to read it, can check out the NYTimes online, and click on The Times Magazine.