Christopher Owens
ENGCMP 0200
6 April 2009
In modern science there is the suggestion that every thought humankind has ever had has been guided by the invisible hand of mathematics, and that every emotion experienced has been little more than the sum of probabilities and chaotic systems of the brain. The extent of this implication is such that much of the evidence presented is directly contradictory to the widely accepted notion of free will. Well known biologist Lee Silver even says, “Many people think that free will is the only philosophic alternative to a deterministic view of human mentality. But an understanding of brain biology, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory indicates otherwise […] As a philosophical concept, free will is like an onion whose skin has been completely peeled away: at its core, it ceases to exist” (59). That is, the causal relationship between physical biology and mental function is inverted from what is oft assumed; metaphorically, evidence indicates our brains are more marionettes than puppeteers.
With such scientific support, it is easy to understand how Silver is an (albeit reserved) atheist, and he is not alone. As such information spreads and technology is further developed, there will be a significant decline in religious belief. The future global population will naturally progress from creationist beliefs toward a positivist, reductionist outlook, where atheism is the norm and spirituality is unrelated to anything supernatural. That said, it is necessary to look at the historical and pre-historical changes of religion with respect to the social changes to predict future development.
The earliest mythical story across most of the continents, the mother-earth type, was the focus of agricultural and gathering communities. In this period, societies were if not technically matriarchal, were matrifocal, emphasizing the stereotypically feminine attributes of farm life. Additionally, fertility and the moments of birth were especially sacred as life was easily lost at this point in history, logically giving the process of pregnancy and birth, the creation of life, a high value (Lundskow 58). Sociologically, when mere subsistence required the entirety of one’s existence, religion reflected values corresponding to this lifestyle.
After this period, more competitive cultures developed and militaristic societies, with competitive and warring gods were largely successful. Having traditionally masculine societal characteristics, male gods effectively replaced the previously Gaia-type goddesses. The corresponding aim for humanity changed also, corroboration for a causal link, “this transition and its attendant beliefs reflect a new orientation to the natural world in that humans are no longer continuous with nature, but rather, are able to intentionally utilize the environment according to human design” (62).
Additionally this period was the beginning of true polytheism, as understanding of concepts of earth and sky began to be specialized into the specific attributes that composed them. This was again of societal benefit, those with specific knowledge of these things would obviously were at advantage compared with those that did not and this was reflected in the large-scale of religious details. The Titans of Greco-Roman mythology are the paradigm of this first generation of polytheistic deities. While there are several deities, all corresponding to the natural, they rest on an equal plane- none of them exerts command over any other. However, this would change, yet another aspect of the ever more sophisticated human life would be included. Finding the Titans insufficient, the Pantheon was created, and along with it the very human concept of hierarchy was instilled in the gods (65). Thus in a few thousand years there was a definite shift from cooperative and matrifocal society to hierarchical and patriarchal society and the religions of these societies can be ultimately described as adaptive, changing with the sociological evolution of man.
The next significant development in religion from a sociological perspective is the development of monotheistic religion. As humanity progressed and developed more scientifically and technologically, there was correspondingly less mystery involving the natural and proportionally more ethical dilemma. Rather than survival people needed purpose, needed meaning for their lives. Essentially every monotheistic religion involves an all-powerful figure with a plan for humanity, obviously filling this void. The first monotheistic religion, Zoroasterism, introduces the concepts of absolute good and evil, which would remain in the later Judaism and the currently popular Christianity (70). Also emphasized is the tenet of faith, rewarded or the lack there of punished by a positive or negative afterlife.
Monotheistic religion clearly satisfies the abstract and philosophical voids that currently lay outside the bounds of today’s science, but for how long? How long until society rejects all claims of anything supernatural and matures into something more sophisticated? According to Silver, approximately 90 percent of Americans currently believe in a higher power and 84 percent believe in an afterlife, yet the percentages for those educated in science are markedly lower (Silver 29). There is an obvious correlation between the level of education in science and religiosity. Thus, it is logical to speculate that the concepts of science and the notions of religion are mutually exclusive, that the information given by the two are conflicting. As progressively more people are exposed to commonly assumed scientific truths (namely Darwinism), the number of people that believe in supernatural power will presumably decline over time.
In fact, several acclaimed sociologists adopted this view that secularization and modernization (internal secularization) would contribute to religious decline. “O’Dea suggests that secularization consists of two related transformations in human thinking: ‘the desacralization of the attitude of persons and things […] and the rationalization of thought’ ” (Roberts 306). Thomas O’Dea concluded that religion would decline in part because of the attempted rationalization of religion, positing that this would put religion in direct competition with science, which can be experienced directly through the senses rather than requiring faith. [Weber argument?]
[Statistical argument]
This model produces an important question. If such a societal evolution could occur, why hasn’t it occurred already? The resolution to such uncertainty lies within Silver’s text. The necessary evidence to contradict traditional religious belief is only just becoming available. Technologies with true capacity to emulate the human ‘soul’ with genuine emotions, such as Aibo and Qrio, are just at the horizon, technologies that would make man, not God, a creator of a species (Silver 57). The majority has yet to be exposed to either the information or the physical evidence required to create a significantly profound cognitive dissonance to reject conflicting idea of faith. In this faith in religions is rejected because evidence that can be experienced with the senses trumps hopeful confidence in the supernatural, from a positivist perspective.
Even within the recent period, Christianity has been transformed from fundamentalism and its literal interpretation of the Bible to a more modest metaphorical interpretation after many events were proven to be scientifically ridiculous to the Pope accepting the validity of Darwinism in a desperate attempt to incorporate science into the faith. However, the Pope refused to bend on the key concepts of Christianity, though are equally scientifically impossible as other parables (29). The age of humanity worshipping gods is coming to an end, and the worship of logic and science and positivism is reaching a golden age.
Essentially, notice that in the past, higher orders of religious thought have always displaced lower, less explanative ones. For example, the nature gods of indigenous peoples were replaced by a somewhat more complex system, polytheism (as with the Romans). When the tales of these gods were no longer sufficient, people adopted a monotheistic system, which also provided moral clarity for actions. The final step in global maturation no longer seems to require gods at all, as humanity is sufficiently advanced to explain any natural phenomena rationally, and many questions about afterlife, free will and soul seemingly diffused.
Silver, Lee M. Challenging Nature: The Clash Between Biotechnology and Spirituality. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006.
Lundskow, George. The Sociology of Religion: A Substantive and Transdisciplinary Approach. Los Angeles, California: Pine Forge Press, 2008.
Roberts, Keith A. Religion in Sociological Perspective. Belmont, California: The Wadsworth Publishing Inc., 1990.
Weber, Max. The Sociology of Religion. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1961. – didn’t use yet
The Association of Religious Data Archives – didn’t use yet
No comments:
Post a Comment