From: utzoo! utcsrgv!donald Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Religion and the Age of Unreason? Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.982 Posted: Sun Feb 6 15:25:40 1983 Received: Sun Feb 6 16:26:23 1983 Message-ID: <982@utcsrgv.UUCP> X-OldUsenet-Modified: added Message-ID; fixed Message-ID; added Subject; added Date; added Xref Subject: Religion and the Age of Unreason? Date: Sun Feb 6 15:25:40 1983 Xref: dummy dummy:1 It is appalling that in this day and age there are still people that believe in demonic possession. (let's exorcise them epileptics!) It is appalling that in this day and age there are still people that will go to a faith healer instead of a doctor or psychiatrist. (a healer will handle everything but the restoration of amputated limbs-- odd, ain't it?) I suppose it's no more surprising than UFO flaps, ESP, Scientology, or belief in astrology, but I find it mildly alarming. Being religious does not mean being superstitious, at least I hope not. Unfortunately, the Charismatic/Fundamentalist sects of Christianity seem to fall disturbingly close to the latter. Literal interpretations of Scripture, speaking in tongues, laying on of hands, prophecies, and the Apocalypse. The C/F sects emphasize emotional responses (not in itself bad I suppose), but do not encourage the application of reason. This leads to the uncritical acceptance of many phenomena as being miraculous. You'll find few Aquinases or Augustines among the C/F's. The will to believe swamps everything. Can any of these phenomena pass critical scientific tests any more than ESP can? I would tend to think not. This is the Year of Our Lord 1983. We have Oral Roberts and Ernest Angeley contemporary with quantum mechanics and molecular biology. Ye Gods! Flamingly, Don Chan, ...utcsrgv!donald