On 7 April 2007 Stephen Black wrote, quoting Steven Weinberg: >"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good > things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do > evil things, that takes religion."
My view on religious belief, broadly speaking, is similar to Weinberg's, but that is not one of his most perceptive utterances. It is massively refuted by the history of the twentieth century. If I need to give any clues for what I have in mind, try reading Arthur Koestler on his early political experiences. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/koestler.htm Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org/ ---------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 07 Apr 2007 22:30:31 -0400 Author: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Not another post on religion! > Yes indeed. But I'll keep it short. > > I recommend the essay "Confessions of a Lonely Atheist" by the Pulitzer- > prize winning science journalist Natalie Angier, who covers much of the > territory of our recent thread. > > http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20010114mag-atheism.html > > I also recommend this quote from the Nobel-prize winning physicist Steven > Weinberg, one of the people Angier mentions in her essay: > > "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things > and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, > that takes religion." > > Steven Weinberg, New York Times, April 20, 1999 > http://tinyurl.com/2mf9u6 > > Stephen > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. > Department of Psychology > Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 2600 College St. > Sherbrooke QC J1M 0C8 > Canada > > Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy > TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at > http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
