Love Dawkin's voice on this!
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Average intelligence predicts athiesm rates.
"Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations". Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2008.03.004."using data from a U.S. study of 6,825 adolescents, the authors found that atheists scored 6 g-IQ points higher than those adhering to a religion.""Among the sample of 137 countries, only 23 (17%) had more than 20% of atheists, which constituted “virtually all the higher IQ countries.”"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2111174/Intelligent-people-less-likely-to-believe-in-God.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2111174/Intelligent-people-less-likely-to-believe-in-God.html
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Why does God allow natural disasters?
At the heart of Haiti's humanitarian crisis is an age old question for many religious people - how can God allow such terrible things to happen? Philosopher David Bain examines the arguments.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8467755.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8467755.stm
Thursday, 14 January 2010
An act of love or an act of murder?
"I asked myself what Tom would want. He wouldn't have wanted to live like this."
Frances Inglis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8459388.stm
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Religious Experience - another school's project
An excellent video from another school discussing the different views of religious experience.
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Religion and politics, compliment or contrast?
Religion seen an 'oddity' by ministers, Archbishop says
Government schemes de-normalised religion, Dr Williams said
The Archbishop of Canterbury has accused the government of treating religious faith as an "eccentricity" practised by "oddities".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8409310.stm
Government schemes de-normalised religion, Dr Williams said
The Archbishop of Canterbury has accused the government of treating religious faith as an "eccentricity" practised by "oddities".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8409310.stm
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Top 100 Global Thinkers
What makes a global thinker? Read through some of Foreign Policy's Top 100, paying particular attention to the placing of 17 and 18, then perhaps comment on what you think would make a top global thinker.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=0,17
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=0,17
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Ricky Gervais - An alternative to evolution
Apologies for the occassional bad language! Ricky Gervais suggests an alternative to the scientific evolution in this clip from his Animals show.
D Z Philips on God and Evil
Article by John Hick where he answers some of Phillips criticisms regarding God and Evil.
http://www.johnhick.org.uk/article18.html
http://www.johnhick.org.uk/article18.html
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Monday, 9 November 2009
Fact, Opinion and Climate Change
Are fact and opinion distinct? Andrew Brown's blog for the Guardian questions whether we can have individual morality in the face of environmental concerns. He states "It is not enough for us to do the right thing - others must as well." The discussion raises two important questions for me.
Firstly, how do we know what is the right thing? We can listen to advice from experts and scientists but still have very different approaches to how environmental concerns should be tackled. I remember clearly an argument with my brother in law about this issue. He felt strongly that the only way to slow the environmental damage we are doing to the globe would be a complete ban on private car use. I argued this was unrealistic and that people should each make their own small steps to add up to a bigger change. We both had our opinion; there is probably merit in both approaches but if Andrew Brown is right only a clear and universalised policy will work. Well reasoned opinions would not help if this policy could not be agreed.
My second question is how do you get others to accept your view as right? It must be presented as an undisputable fact - a skill politicians often choose to employ. But where then is the place for the free-will and rational thinking that many people consider make us human? If we all accept the views of a select minority as fact then we are in danger of becoming dehumanised.
So what is the solution? Are free thinking individuals immoral because they do not accept universal action imposed by authorities or should we feel compelled to act as one humanity by allowing governments and scientists to dictate our opinions based on scientific fact?
To read Andrew Brown's article in full go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/nov/06/religion-atheism
Firstly, how do we know what is the right thing? We can listen to advice from experts and scientists but still have very different approaches to how environmental concerns should be tackled. I remember clearly an argument with my brother in law about this issue. He felt strongly that the only way to slow the environmental damage we are doing to the globe would be a complete ban on private car use. I argued this was unrealistic and that people should each make their own small steps to add up to a bigger change. We both had our opinion; there is probably merit in both approaches but if Andrew Brown is right only a clear and universalised policy will work. Well reasoned opinions would not help if this policy could not be agreed.
My second question is how do you get others to accept your view as right? It must be presented as an undisputable fact - a skill politicians often choose to employ. But where then is the place for the free-will and rational thinking that many people consider make us human? If we all accept the views of a select minority as fact then we are in danger of becoming dehumanised.
So what is the solution? Are free thinking individuals immoral because they do not accept universal action imposed by authorities or should we feel compelled to act as one humanity by allowing governments and scientists to dictate our opinions based on scientific fact?
To read Andrew Brown's article in full go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/nov/06/religion-atheism
Friday, 6 November 2009
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