Christianity has, within it's very first book Genesis, stigmatized knowledge itself as something terrible.
quote:
Genesis 3:4 - "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it [the fruit of the tree] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil..." (NRSV)
Eating of the fruit caused, of course, God's wrath, in turn causing mortality, evil and a whole host of other nastiness. All of which are not up for debate and are stipulated here to be known consequences within the context of the Bible itself.
In practical terms, the consequences of this tale have lead to various problems that are all but unavoidable. The most important of these consequences are as follows:
1) That knowledge itself, for humans, can and should only be obtained through proper channels. Those channels being, namely, God and God's vicars (Pope, priest, minister, pastor etc.)
1.a) As a corollary, all knowledge derived from other sources (namely our senses, either terrestrial or modified via technology) must not be trusted. Only God's word is real in the sense that God could change anything at any time.
2) It is therefore the position of creationists (and other Christians of the same ilk) that the whole of reality must be bound within the Bible. It is thus acceptable, within the faith, to deny any scientific finding that cannot be easily proof-texted.
3) The most important consequence is that Christians desire to stand in the way of science and scientists because their knowledge is somehow inferior to God's.
This, to me, is evil incarnate. If the world can be a better place, and science has the tools to make it so, then there should be no leap of faith that is required of any individual to stand on the side of progress (progress in this sense can be synonymous with "good," so there is an appropriate juxtaposition).
My position is largely in the realm of theory, but I believe it is important to consider whether religion itself is causing humanity to stagnate at a time when anything BUT stagnation is what we need.
This arguement thus asks the question: "Does religion make good people do bad things?" In this case "bad things" refers to standing in the way of progress.
Edited by Cocytus, : My arguement was omni-directional, unfocused and not to the point. The admin pointed this out, it is now fixed.
Edited by Cocytus, : No reason given.
Edited by Cocytus, : No reason given.
Edited by Cocytus, : No reason given.
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