----- Original Message -----
From: "K.Feete" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Brin Listserve" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 11:47 PM
Subject: Re: Religious thinking (was RE: Authority of the marketplace? L3)
>
> Essentially what I was trying to say was that I think we are coming to
> the end of the "rational" age, and I use the smear quotes because I
> wonder if it was ever really rational. Many people, including some
> scientists, have a childlike faith in technology and science that only
> the fiercest of fundamentalists can rival.
Many environmentalists are really funny that way. They have a profound
distrust of many technologies. They see Frankenstein monsters in many new
technologies. They demand absolute poof of the absolute safety of many new
technologies. Yet, they think that developing some extraordinarily
difficult technologies is simply a matter of political will.
Most people that I know who have a childlike faith in technologies are
people of my parent's generation. You can understand why. Their lives were
transformed before their eyes in a way that mine wasn't and a way that
yours wasn't. All of a sudden, regular old working folks could afford
their own homes, cars, and maybe even a boat. More importantly, people who
lost several brothers/sisters to disease before they were twelve knew that
it was now much less likely that they would lose a child.
My mom is a perfect example. She is sure there is a pill for every ailment.
But, given where she came from, that is understandable.
Few people that I know in the scientific community have a childlike faith in
their own work or the work of their colleagues. Many have confidence in
their ability to work things out. While one may differ with that
confidence, I don't really consider it a childlike faith.
One other point about faith and reason. In Western Christianity, the most
definitive exposition on faith and reason was written Tommy Aquinas about
900 years ago. One interesting aspect of it is that he wrote a refutation
of the basic premise creationism way back then. :-)
If you want to find a mixture of logical rationalists mystics, get
acquainted with some Jesuits. They are an order that has a very strong
logical and mystical tradition. You should know by now that I have faith as
well as being a numbers/analysis guy. But, while I don't shy away from
discussing my faith, I don't feel like I need to convert anyone to my
particular understanding of Christianity.
>
> *However*, before I get my monitor fried here, there are plenty of
> wonderful things that have come out of the rational age. Technology is
> nice stuff. Without it I'd be half-dead from cow milking and looking
> forward to my own death in childbirth, and as for computers, well,
> obviously I'm a convert. But the belief that rationalism and technology
> can solve every problem is dying a natural death, as is the belief that
> capitalism creates its own morality, and people are looking somewhere
> else for to put their faith and draw their belief.
>
> My hope is that we can combine the best aspects of the two- the
> hardheaded practicality and skepticism of the scientific age and the
> genuine belief in something greater than ourselves to be served of the
> religious one- and create, if not a perfect society, than at least the
> next step upwards to a *good* one.
Well, you can look at Jesuit scientists to see what that is like. Or, you
can look at folks like me. Doesn't sound so wonderful now, right? <grin>
BTW, you seemed to diss the Christian concept of stewardship in another
post. If I get time, I'll give the long answer to that. But, the
stewardship sermons that I have heard in my church have been based on the
premise that we own absolutely nothing. We are just stewards of our own
homes and even our own clothes, they all belong to God. Indeed, one can
look at 2500 year old arguments that property is owned by God, that
"ownership" is just a maximum of a 50 year lease.
Dan M.
