Education

Hello World!

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

"I wish I could have that belief system. But I went to school soooo.... DAMN YOU LOGIC!!!"

This quote comes from a stand-up routine delivered by the young comedian Daniel Sloss. He is, I must stress, very funny, and the above line is his response to the idea of God and religion in general.

As a Christian you may think I might take immediate offence at such a comment. I don’t, as I believe this to be a throwaway line designed just for getting a laugh, rather than a method of communicating a controversial point of view. He is a comedian after all, so such an assumption is not too far-fetched.

So I am not here to badmouth Daniel. Why then have I highlighted this particular quote? Well, maybe I am not giving the world enough credit, but it seems to me this is a popular view. Education, I often hear, teaches us that religion can only be irrational and improvable, therefore should not be indulged, and consequently God cannot exist.

But wait a moment. I am certainly educated – I have a University degree, four A-levels and I write as a hobby. Here are some more people who were educated: Galileo, Pascal, Kepler, Faraday, Pasteur. All religious men.

So what exactly is the problem here? No atheist can seriously back up a claim that theists are all stupid. But has religion done enough to reconcile itself with the apparent juxtaposition of scientific knowledge? These questions set me in a slight quandary in terms of what this blog is setting out to do. I could rattle off example after example of how science can go hand-in-hand with Christian beliefs. But I cannot speak for every religion, and convincing you all to become Christians is not what I’m trying to do; I am, after all, not much of a preacher.

However, I am trying to find the common ground we can share in harmony. In education and science we do have this. We could debate religion endlessly, but we all know what 2+2 makes. My point here is that all of us, including the religious amongst us, have experienced the same education, give or take a few particular subjects our individual talents lean us towards or away from. If one of my atheist friends tells me the Universe began with a big bang, and was not set in motion by God, fine. In response my belief would be that God said, “Let there be light”, and (BANG!) there was light. Two opposing beliefs, yet neither of them refuting the scientific evidence we know about the origin of the Universe.

So let us not ridicule each other for our different beliefs, and certainly not base such ridicule on what we have learned. For each one of us on this planet, whether we are called Einstein or the class dunce, knows less than 1% of the world’s total knowledge. What evidence and information we all have yet to discover!

Reconciling one’s religious beliefs with scientific fact is a wonderfully exciting challenge, which I am enjoying immensely. But reconciliation should be happening between all of us, no matter what we believe. We know what we know, and should not assume our neighbour is uneducated simply because they follow a different religion, or football team, or method of cooking rice.

Instead of ridicule, I vote we show each other interest, and who knows what benefit we each might gain from a simple but regular exchange of ideas.

Thanks for listening, and take care.

Perspective

Hello World...

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

Recently I’ve been hoping I’m not the only one who thinks that sometimes people create their own problems simply by making mountains out of molehills. Perspective can be as important an attribute as honesty, wisdom, or faith. A week or two ago I read an article in the Huffington Post concerning a family’s complaint against a major supermarket. The family had purchased a cheese and onion pasty, and then discovered it had meat in it.

The family in question happens to be a Muslim family, and complained to the supermarket that it should not have been sold as a vegetarian product if it contained meat, pointing out that their religion only allows them to consume meat passed as halal. As an attempt at resolving the complaint, the supermarket offered the family a bottle of champagne, which irked them even more as their religion does not allow them to consume alcohol either. It was after these two incidents that the story made the press.

What struck me was the nature of the comments posted underneath by the readers of the post. Every single one seemed to be supporting the supermarket with comments suggesting the family should ‘go home’ and asking why they should be entitled to ‘have things their own way’ etc.

These were just the comments which were put politely. Reading through them, I found myself staring in disbelief at a level of bigotry I thought might have been on the wane in this country. They did, after all, buy a vegetarian pasty, which should not have meat in it. Had a vegetarian made this kind of complaint – the exact same problem, just for a different reason – then no one would have reacted so viciously.

On the other hand, should the manager of the supermarket be held in disdain by the family for offering champagne? Perhaps not everyone knows the ins and outs of each religious belief, and even if they do, I know a Muslim or too who will imbibe occasionally. A bottle of champagne is a generous offer, and one’s individual beliefs (after all, we all believe something slightly different to each other) cannot be know just from dealing with a small complaint.

Everyone involved in this, from the family to the commenters, need to just calm down a little. The family were perfectly entitled to complain that item they had bought was not that which was advertised. They may spend their money on what they wish. But they in turn should have realised that, even if the compensation offered was inappropriate, this did not mean they were being deliberately insulted. They should simply have asked for an equivalent which would not violate their beliefs.

It was discovered many centuries ago that the Earth and the solar system we live in do not form the centre of the universe. Neither are any of us as individuals the centre of the world. Those we encounter cannot fathom our every thought, stance, or next action. Putting ourselves in the position of someone else, whether it be a simple and valid complainant or someone just trying to do their job, we might find we ourselves make so much more progress towards living a happier, less angry life.

Thanks for listening, and take care.

Truth

Hello World!

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

“Science has never encountered a barrier, and the only grounds for supposing that reductionism will fail are pessimism on the part of scientists and fear in the minds of the religious” –Peter Atkins

Several of my contemporaries, especially those who know me well enough to be aware of my penchant for finding out about the format of the universe, have asked me how I reconcile science with my religious faith.

My response is to ask them how they think the two juxtapose in the first place. Why should we all take it for granted that you believe in either one or the other, just because great scientists such as Darwin and Galileo found religion, or other deeply ingrained accepted beliefs, to be their first enemy?

The fact of the matter is that we all apply a degree of faith to our lives. Dr Peter Atkins, whose quote above is taken from his book The Limitless Power of Science, is well-known for speaking Atheist views. No, this does not make him a bad person. But the above quote is interesting. Science has never encountered a barrier. Well, so far science may have successfully explained whatever it has set out to. But can science explain everything?

Even Dr Atkins would have to concede that there are many things we have not yet explained with science. Yet. But this is my point. Without any evidence to show that science could ‘explain everything’, even those things it has not yet explained, the affirmation that science can ‘explain everything’ is itself a statement of faith. Faith in the ‘limitless power of science’.

So how does science explain faith? Faith, that is, in anything? Is it a series of chemical reactions on the brain causing us to feel it? How does science explain that feeling? More chemical reactions? Love? Anger? Are we no more than organic robots?

These are questions on which many research hours are spent. But not just by scientists. Every day, thousands upon thousands of us try to work out how we feel. We ask ourselves if we have fallen in love with someone. We try to come to terms with a loss, reconcile a bad feeling, decide if we believe in a God or not.

If your beloved aunt were to bake a cake, how would science explain its existence? A mathematician would be able to calculate its mass, and the proportion of each ingredient. A physicist would be able to tell you how it goes from the sludgy mix we all love licking off the whisk to a fluffy gateau, just from being exposed to 160-degree heat. And a nutritionist would be able to tell you how many sit-ups you would need to do to offset the calories.

But would any of them be able to tell you why your aunt decided to make the cake? Or even which supermarket she bought the ingredients from? No. Well, not yet, Dr Atkins. Perhaps the science of reading minds will one day be possible. Until then, you may just have to have faith in science. Ironic?

However, there are and always will be extremes of belief. Working together though, we might just find out how the glorious power of curiosity and discovery we have can fit in with religion. The truth as we know it does not have to be destroyed by the truth we discover. I expect to touch on the subject of science many, many times in future posts. Scientific truth which I have no desire to refute and no business doing so. After all, scientist or bishop, atheist or believer, all we really want to know is the truth. With this common goal in mind, let us embark on the journey as a race thinking about what we might find, instead of focusing on putting each other down. Respect what we have each discovered, for denouncing each other’s findings as falsehoods can only delay the attainment of our goal.

Thanks for listening, and take care.

Now that winter has gone...

Hello World!

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

It has unfortunately been a while since my last update, as many of you will notice.  The only real reason for this is due to having been ‘under the weather’ – an interesting turn of phrase given the weather we have been having here in the UK.

It is fair to say that the winter has been unusually long – there were snowflakes falling over the Easter weekend – but what do we all think about the most during an unexpectedly long cold snap?  Most of us maybe complain about the temperature a bit and then just get on with the day.  Others grumble about the inaccuracy of the greenhouse effect and then just get on with the day.  Some just get on with the day.

I imagine though there are many who have relatives, friends or neighbours they are genuinely worried about.  Perhaps they cannot afford much heating, or suffer from illnesses or conditions exacerbated by cold weather.  Or maybe you know someone who has no fixed abode, and could be sleeping rough.  It is this latter category to which my thoughts turned this past winter.

I was asked an interesting yet not uncommon theoretical question several months ago: what would you do if you won 190 million pounds on the Euromillions?  This is of course the classic ‘desires versus responsibilities’ question.  I could think of a few things – start a trust fund for my niece and nephew, buy a nice house ready for when I start my own family, travel the world and witness where the good causes really are, etc.  But, I was asked, what would I do with my flat?  I said I would keep it, and employ someone to manage it to be used as a place for a homeless person to stay whilst getting back on their feet.

Of course, winning all that money probably won’t ever happen.  But just a few days after that conversation, the opportunity arose to volunteer at Reigate & Banstead’s winter night shelter, and I realised that one doesn’t need to give millions of pounds to help the needy – just a little time, patience, and any unique skills you feel you can bring.

What was special about the shelter was that the volunteers and the guests all came from various backgrounds.  And it was not just a religious thing – whilst many of us were regular attendees in local churches, I met people from 4 or 5 different ones, including Baptist and Roman Catholic, plus several volunteers with no religious belief at all, just the courage and conviction that they wished to help those less fortunate.

The guests themselves had widely varying histories, from harassment by the very ex-partner who threw them out in the first place, to rabbit-catching in the forest over the summer to get food, to an old familiar face in the shape of a former work colleague of mine.  But they all had one thing in common.  Whether they were in the situation they were in due to wrong decisions, addiction, crime or downright bad luck, all could in my mind have had more help to get their lives back on track.  It seems far too much time is spent judging instead of helping.  If you saw your friend sinking in quicksand, would you offer your hand to drag them out, or would you stand there chastising them for stepping into it in the first place?

As Christians we can quote James 2:14-17, “What good is it…if a man claims to have faith but no deeds?  Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or food.  If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well-fed”, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead.”

However, one does not have to believe in any God to acknowledge that the philosophy of the above passage rings true.  Wishing no ill on other is all very well, but what should we do?  I am not saying we should spoon-feed or take full responsibility for someone else.  But sometimes just a little helping hand, a small push in the right direction, can give someone immense encouragement, and be the catalyst to turn their life around – often unbeknownst to the original helper.

Let us all be that person.  And we may find an unexpected helping hand comes our way when we most need it, too.

Enjoy the warmer weather, thanks for listening, and take care.

Is it a Wonderful Life?

Hello World!

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

I realised a few years ago that I had not watched enough ‘classic’ films. Mystified whenever conversations turned to the merits of The Godfather, High Noon or Brief Encounter, I decided to put things right. Since then, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of cinematic gems from down the years, including It’s A Wonderful Life, which I saw recently.

This film must have been quite a revelation in its time, dealing with orthodox film themes such as greed, retribution and triumph over adversity alongside unusual ones like angels, time travel and alternative realities. Of course, the selling point of the film is that the central character, in despair after his nemesis exploits a stroke of misfortune, is stopped from thoughts of suicide by an angel who shows him what life would be like for his friends and family if he had never been born.

At the end, I was left thinking that such an exercise could do us all some good. Whether in good or bad ways, the stark reminder that our lives touch and influence so many others is an important thing to remember. What if I had never been born? Would I find as many people as James Stewart did whose lives would have been worse off in some way? Have I saved anyone from anything? Saved anyone’s life?

I don’t know. But, more importantly, what about those I have wronged? There must be plenty of those. Sure, there are those I have been openly mean to, or deceived. But also, how many have I come into just fleeting contact with, and upset somehow because I was in a bad mood, or did something clumsy or stupid which they had to bear the consequences of later?

OK, so maybe a full analysis with a bunch of people on two sides of a tipping scale could prove to be slightly depressing. But an example of each would be highly useful. None of us should forget the effects our actions have on those we know, those we love, those we hate, those we pass in the street, those we’ll never meet.

Does this mean we should look back on our lives and hate ourselves for hurting others? No, of course not. Perhaps the last person I hurt grew stronger because of it, and achieved something they otherwise would not have. And I’m certainly not suggesting that banging your head on something and then going to the shop next door with a look of thunder on your face will make anyone who sees you feel like topping themselves. It’s not all doom and gloom.

Let’s just be aware of one thing. That, as a philosopher once pointed out, we are not islands. We each interact with each other in ways we cannot necessarily foresee or observe. Let’s be aware of that – and let’s be thankful for the positives that those around us give to us too.

Thanks for listening, and take care.

Altruism

Hello World!

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

This week I was engaged in an interesting and profound conversation concerning altruism. That is, the concept of completely selfless acts.

In our most cynical moments we may all have claimed that there is no such thing as a completely selfless, or altruistic, act. Indeed, one famous episode of Friends has a character trying to prove that there is, and ultimately failing, the premise being that every time a good deed is done, the protagonist of the deed feels good about doing it, perhaps from receiving gratitude, and thus has benefited from it too.

Technically, this is of course totally true; receiving sincere thanks from someone you have helped means you have put some joy into someone else’s life, and because the joy spreads, you smile yourself, and you feel the uplifting effects of various endorphins and ‘feel-good’ chemicals which your body produces naturally.

But what does it matter? I say that asking whether there is any such thing as an altruistic good deed is the wrong question. A good deed is, after all, a good deed whether the perpetrator benefits from it or not. It is all too easy to vilify a celebrity for publicly giving to charity by claiming that person will gain from extra sponsorship and exposure. But whether they do or not, the charity still would benefit from money and opportunities which someone did not have to give them.

As a Christian, am I doing the good things I do because I feel I should set an example, or because I would feel guilty if I didn’t, or because it’s what I want to do? I don’t think any of those reasons would be wrong answers. All I know is that I am more at peace with myself than I ever was, and so I do not stress about it, I just do what I feel I need to do and let my contemporaries come to their own conclusions.

So let’s all try this with each other. If you see or hear of someone doing a seemingly selfless act, and have doubts as to whether they have an ulterior motive, let them be. So what if they do? Rejoice that someone else benefited. Be happy that some joy is being spread. If we were all able to find peace with each other’s good deeds, we might find that even if altruism doesn’t exist, we could redefine it, and reap the benefits as a race.

Thanks for listening, and take care.

Our essence, our soul

Hello World!

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

TV - both essential and yet pointless at the same time. I don’t really need it to survive, yet I always say I couldn’t live without it. The problem is that there are so many shows to choose from, one never knows what’s good and what isn’t. A difficult task when the schedule seems to be packed full of game shows, reality TV, and crime dramas.

However, in my efforts to watch more worthwhile programmes, I recently stumbled across Black Mirror. This was billed as an ‘intense satire’, and well-done parody being something I enjoy immensely, I decided to watch, and wasn’t let down. I shall try not to fill this post with too many spoilers, but the premise was that a young man had come to a tragic early end, leaving his wife alone and trying to come to terms. She discovers an app on Facebook which, using the deceased’s considerable social networking footprint, is able to ‘chat’ to her, taking on an approximation of his personality.

As the form of their communication develops into astonishing proportions, she realises that what she is talking to is not the man she loved at all, but just a reflection of the thoughts he left in the virtual ether.

What I enjoy about TV like this is the thoughts and questions it provokes. Our immediate instinct throughout a story such as that is to bemoan the amount of information we leave on the Internet. After all, although we know deep down that the apps which exist in this Black Mirror episode do not really exist, it all seems somehow realistic because of the amount of traffic we all know we put out there.

Is that a scary thought? Perhaps. But I was even more intrigued by the message at the end. It seems that, no matter how clever technology becomes, man-made intelligence cannot replace human personality. And that’s because no computer app can replicate the soul. If you don’t believe in a soul, then it’s whatever you call your essence, your sense of knowing you are you, and not just a mix of chemical reactions.

Such reactions would be the same all the time. Take a look at your favourite painting, for example – you love it, but does everyone? No. Each of us has an individual sense of aesthetics, a unique skill-set, a sense of perception which is a once-only occurrence. Each of us feels everything – pain, pleasure, guilt, elation, pride, loyalty, or anything under the sun – in a totally different way to our neighbour.

So, what do we call this unique sense of individuality, the nagging feeling that within our shells we are more than just moving parts, the inability to imagine what it’s like to simply not exist?

That’s a question I’ll leave you all to answer for yourselves.

Thanks for listening, and take care.

Human Nature

Hello, World.

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

As you can probably tell from my thumbnail, I’m a fan of science-fiction. I’m always mindful of the second part of that particular phrase, ‘fiction’. For various reasons which I will share in future posts, I do not believe there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. However, this does not stop shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek being entertaining, not least because the ultimate test of an imagination is to use completely invented settings and mechanics.

Also, even if a setting doesn’t exist, this does not mean that human nature is abandoned. I was having a conversation recently with a fellow Star Trek fan about the various alien races depicted in it, and how one can always predict how each will react according to the pigeon hole in which they belong.

For those of you who have never seen it, or only briefly watched, the main characteristics are as follows. There are the warlike yet honourable Klingons, the closed-off yet scientific Vulcans, the ruthless yet efficient Cardassians, the greedy yet commercially savvy Ferengi, and the mistrusting yet genius Romulans.

Each of these races, as you can see, has distinct positives and negatives to their character. This in itself is highly reflective of human nature, as we all have those as individuals, but take a closer look and we can see that the human race is capable of excelling in all the fields which those fictional aliens do. But what is there to stop us falling into their bad habits too? Someone who is a commercial success could indeed be greedy with it – you may all be thinking of some examples of that as you read this – so it’s clear that as well as signposts, these alien characteristics are also warnings.

There is, however, one alien race I have left out. Star Trek does no more than touch on the subject of religion throughout its incarnations, but the Bajorans are a big exception to this trend. Not only do they have a strong faith in their deities, who within the series are aliens living in the nearby cosmos who are capable of influencing events on a non-physical basis, but they see evidence of their work all the time.

Faith is the bond, the glue, which holds us as humans together. This does not have to be faith in the same God, or any god at all. But no matter how good or bad at martial arts, science, organisation or business one might be, faith in righteousness is something each and every one of us is capable of.

This intrinsic aspect of our human nature is what protects from falling into the traps that are greed, mistrust, war, and I’ll leave you to fill in the rest. We all have this in common. So let’s support each other, helping rather than judging, and see how close we can get to fulfilling our potential.

Thanks for listening, and take care.

New Year, New Perspectives

Hello World!

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

I was recently asked the shortest possible question, yet one which can sometimes be the hardest to answer: why? Why, they asked, am I looking for what makes us the same, when we are all inherently different? Should our differences not be celebrated, and therefore highlighted rather than swept under the carpet?

My answer, of course, is absolutely. What makes this less simple though is that differences often are not celebrated but picked out and picked on. Two football supporters, for example, may have lots in common in that they like and know a lot about football, they could share thoughtful and insightful opinion on the best tactics, who might win the league, who’s best for their national teams...yet they might focus only on the fact they support different teams. The existence of different teams and their supports is not in itself a bad thing – without this variety, football would not exist – yet it is too often seen as a reason for mistrust.

The same can be said about our faith and belief systems. The world’s major religions all hold true to their teachings of certain mutual principles. Those who do not believe in religion might also teach those same principles in the form of their personal morals.

If we judge each other for believing something different, we can only be hypocritical when we do so. Because each and every one of us holds different beliefs, no matter how slight. We may ourselves believe something different from one day to the next, or finish a conversation with a new perspective to that with which we started it, due to something we heard during it.

So with a New Year having begun in earnest, let’s make a resolution to each other. Just a short, two-word resolution: to listen. Listen to what we have to say and identify with the many aspects of our diverse lives which we share.

We may find we finish 2013 with more friends than we began with.

Thanks for listening, take care.