Deism and Social Ethics: The Role of Religion in the Third MillenniumArena books, 2007 - 201 páginas Religion in many parts of the world, in both politics and personal life, for good or ill, is now exerting a greater influence than at any time in living memory. There is now not merely a cultural-religious confrontation between a worldwide Islam and what it sees as an affluent agnostic West, but the worrying rise of Christian fundamentalism in the most powerful nation on earth. And the latter has its distinctive political agenda. Part of this agenda entails a biased approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, but the most significant aspect of all religiously-inspired politics is self-righteousness, and the explosive mix which this creates. These are situations which could never have been anticipated a generation ago when it was assumed that secularism had displaced the beliefs of the past as any longer of political significance. The attitude of many thinking people, in Europe and elsewhere, is to regard religion with askance whilst looking towards the growth of a greater secularism in resolving difficult issues. But such an approach is not an option. Religion is a natural component of human nature and is unlikely to be eradicated through modernism. Nonetheless, it is necessary to distinguish between the benign and malign aspects of religion and those of the different churches. Through surveying the traditions of the major religions in today's world it is shown that those based on revelation too often tend towards a tenacity of belief which leads to irrationalism and then, in turn, to fanaticism. When this mutates into political power it creates a dangerous cocktail which may affect us all, as we have seen with 9/11, and later with the bombings in London, Madrid, Bali, and elsewhere. Such threats can only be met by reverting to the language of those who claim the authority of God. And that means confronting religion with religion. But such a challenge needs to come from an over-arching religion without falsehood, or from the rational belief system of deism which seeks to unify all those of goodwill under the umbrella of an ethical religious consciousness. This book therefore presents a vision for a regenerated deism for the 21st century in helping resolve the most difficult conflicts of our time. The futility of political confrontation, through a dualistic view of the world, must be met by a new moral order amongst majorities everywhere in bringing greater peace and security to our planet. |
Contenido
CHAPTER | 1 |
A natural component of human nature | 2 |
3 The fear of destiny | 3 |
Anxiety is no moral justification for religion | 4 |
5 The crisis of contemporary religion | 5 |
6 Religion must evolve with society | 8 |
The deist interpretation of faith | 9 |
Religion and the rationalists disappointment | 11 |
7 No one religion superior to the rest | 108 |
The White mans religion | 109 |
Conserving primitive cultures | 110 |
CHAPTER 9 | 111 |
Conventional religion has lost its credibility | 112 |
Failure of the churchgoer to extend his intellectual horizons | 113 |
Methodism and the retardation of social progress | 114 |
Religious thought has lagged behind secular thought | 115 |
The clandestine financing of religion | 12 |
The mendacious environment of churchgoing | 14 |
CHAPTER 2 | 17 |
Evils stemming from Revelation in todays world | 18 |
Some accepted definitions of deism | 19 |
4 The character of deism | 21 |
Common misinterpretations of deism | 22 |
6 A definitive interpretation of deism | 24 |
Towards the ethical life and a peaceful death | 26 |
Our first duty is salvation in the present world not the next | 28 |
CHAPTER 3 | 32 |
Proselytising amongst the committed and born again | 33 |
Proselytising amongst the lukewarm | 35 |
The resurgent evils of religious terrorism | 36 |
5 Christian fundamentalism versus that of Islam | 38 |
Increasing religiosity accompanies increasing terrorism | 39 |
7 The psychological damage of Americas fundamentalism | 41 |
Fortuitous role of the deist as peacemaker | 43 |
Confused attitude to religion in public life | 45 |
10A role for deism in public life | 46 |
A Moral Rearmament for social progress | 47 |
The Legacy of Deism 1 How deism is absurdly misapprehended | 51 |
Early history of deism | 52 |
3 The great age of English deism | 54 |
Deism coincided with the high point of British civilisation | 57 |
Causes for the demise of English deism | 58 |
6 War and its destruction of rational ideals | 61 |
English deism in France and Germany | 63 |
English deism in America | 66 |
CHAPTER 5 | 69 |
Need for a unifying world religious consciousness | 70 |
Ethics as an insoluble philosophical problem | 72 |
Practicality of the religious sense | 73 |
The need for sincerity | 74 |
The dangers of conviction | 75 |
Contemporary crisis of the churches | 76 |
10 The crisis of belief | 77 |
When is religion destroyed by disbelief? | 78 |
CHAPTER 6 | 79 |
Primitive religion or magic | 80 |
The rise of Christianity | 81 |
6 Integrity of the Church Triumphant | 82 |
As reflected in the understanding of humanity | 83 |
Psychological consequences of salvation through faith | 84 |
Questionable character of the reformers | 86 |
13The dictator of Heaven on earth | 87 |
The atomisation of religion | 89 |
16 Its contemporary sterility | 90 |
CHAPTER 7 | 91 |
3 Limitations of belief in a personal God | 92 |
4 Backwardness of Islamic social life | 93 |
6 The three reasons for this | 94 |
7 The threat to Islamic civilisation | 95 |
Religion responsible for these differences | 96 |
10 The nature of Confucianism | 97 |
Sanity of Confucianism contrasted with the dualism of the West | 98 |
A better approach to inventiveness | 99 |
A developing religion | 100 |
17 Women more liberated than in the West | 101 |
18 Healthiness of the Confucian soul | 102 |
CHAPTER 8 | 104 |
Our pagan ancestors respected the environment | 105 |
5 Its kindness to the animal kingdom | 106 |
Eastern view of Western religion | 107 |
How religious doctrines were imposed by law | 116 |
And passively accepted until the present day | 117 |
Religion is now too often only an aesthetic experience | 118 |
This compared with that in the classical world | 119 |
Modern Biblical teaching unconvincing | 120 |
CHAPTER 10 | 122 |
Applying truth to religion | 123 |
Fighting superstition and falsehood | 124 |
6 Bible abused as a work of revelation | 125 |
Bible not an ideal source for ethical teaching | 126 |
An example of this | 127 |
Bibles influence in promoting strife and cruelty | 129 |
CHAPTER 11 | 131 |
3 How the church has destroyed spontaneity between the sexes | 133 |
Sense of sin a poor guide to a fulfilled life | 134 |
Responsibility of the Christian preacher | 135 |
Pathological sexual guilt special to the Abrahamic religions | 137 |
Morality distinguished from Ethics | 138 |
Narrow interpretation of Christian morality | 139 |
10 Some sexual issues for consideration | 140 |
11 Issues not considered | 141 |
Some proposals on approaching sexual issues | 142 |
Utilising love in confronting racism | 144 |
Putting an end to secrecy and hypocrisy | 145 |
15 The Christian activists attitude to sex | 146 |
CHAPTER 12 | 148 |
Hellfire as the ultimate weapon | 149 |
4 The need for demonstrable truth | 150 |
6 Subjective truth is no truth | 151 |
Only in religion is it seen as necessary to deceive | 152 |
9 Harmful effects of this | 153 |
10 Adverse effects of the Bible on the unbeliever | 154 |
CHAPTER 13 | 156 |
2A churchmans dismissal of ethics | 157 |
4 And as a haven for the unfortunate | 158 |
5 Bible most significant as a study in resentment | 159 |
6 In this light it is a work of aesthetic truth | 160 |
And to deny the spiritual truths of other religions | 161 |
All religions must be subjected to sociological analysis | 162 |
Present diversity of religious belief | 163 |
CHAPTER 14 | 165 |
The paradox of religious appeal | 166 |
4 The need for faith and how it works | 167 |
Description of those without faith | 168 |
Faith without true religion is sterile | 169 |
Essential to a modern religious consciousness | 171 |
The impersonality of God | 172 |
He is not a mere intervener in fulfilling petty desires | 173 |
Foolish attempts at proving Gods existence | 174 |
CHAPTER 15 | 175 |
Bad arguments for its existence | 176 |
4 Heaven as a club for the select few | 177 |
5 Ethics of the saved and the damned | 178 |
A rational definition of immortality | 179 |
8 A definition of Heaven and Hell | 180 |
Forgiveness | 181 |
Prayer | 182 |
Theology must give way to philosophy | 183 |
Towards a new religious consciousness | 185 |
APPENDIX List of works and their authors published during the great era of English Deism between 16901740 | 189 |
193 | |
197 | |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Términos y frases comunes
18th century Abrahamic religions accepted achieved amongst Anglican approach Arab argument atheism attitude authority Bertrand Russell Bible cause CHAPTER Christian Christian fundamentalism Christopher Dawson church leaders churchmen civilisation clergy committed concerned conflict Confucianism congregation consciousness contemporary context cultures deism deist deistic deity demonstrable truth doctrines English deism enlightened environment eternal ethical values evil existence fact feelings firstly friends Gnostic God Delusion God's H.L. Mencken Hellfire human humankind idea immortality individual influence intellectual Islamic Jews Julian Huxley Kate Millett knowledge lives maintained majority marriage matters meaning merely mind modern moral movement nature nonetheless organised person philosophy political practical problems proselytising psychological puritanical purpose question rational realisation reality reason regard religious faith repressive response revelation Richard Dawkins sects sense sexual issues significant simply situation social society sociological spiritual teaching theologian theology thought true religion understanding West whilst William Sargant women