Perchance

This is sort of inspired by the "non-theist world" question, though the focus is the other way.

If and when religion someday gives up the ghost (sorry for the horrible pun), is there any facet of religion itself that you think is worth preserving? Obviously, I (and I'm assuming other people )would want my theist friends and family to survive, but what about what humankind has called faith for so many centuries?

I would argue for the preservation of mythology (and, if you extend religion to include religious art, for the survival of icons, paintings, statues, and other works of art that have a religious theme). I love stories. And I think it would be interesting to study mythology once the religious meaning was generally acknowledged not to be "Ultimate Truth" and see what gives it its power. Why has it survived so long?

-Perchance.

Gurdur

Once people no longer understand mythology, then not only do they lose a large part of what it means to be human, but also the songs of Leonard Cohen and Loreena McKennitt would no longer be comprehensible at all.
Not a good result.

Perchance

I've never heard Leonard Cohen. I would agree with you about Loreena McKennitt

In fact, to some extent I think this is already happening. I made a casual reference to Rumplestiltskin in front of my (18- to 19-year-old) students, and they honestly hadn't heard of him.

That really bothers me

-Perchance.

freemonkey

Oh, yes.

I so often find myself wishing that theists would understand their own religion's stories in the context of other traditions' mythologies.

AdamWho

I think that if the "god of the gaps" is finally done away with then there still will be deism. Mythology will not go away; we are creating new myths all the time (starwars, Tolkien, fantasy). Maybe the old stories will go away but any meaningful ideas they posses will be infused in new ones. People will still be psychological infants and will still need to cling to authority figures to give their life meaning.
Art will not go away, it will just be different, the old forms may pass, but the need for expression will remain, it never really had anything to do with religion anyway.

[ May 25, 2002: Message edited by: AdamWho ]</p>

Gurdur

You remind me of the teenager I once overheard in a bus saying, "Hey, you know Paul McCartney was in another band before Wings ?"


I am wondering whether I should ever talk to you again.

On another note, when I was lecturing in Germany, I used to like peppering my talks with jokes made on well-known passages in the Bible --- only to find out that the students just didn't get it.

For an officially Christian country, with two state-established general churches (the Micks and the Prodos), there is an abysmal ignorance about what people think they believe in.

Still, I suppose it could be far worse; I could be living in the USA, where everyone knows their Bible, so maybe I shouldn't complain.

___________

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/8441/ref=m_art_dp/102-9040832-3168913" target="_blank">Leonard Cohen</a>

Perchance

Sorry if that's a bad impression .

And thanks for the link.

-Perchance.

JL

I think the wonderment and awe, even a little humility, at nature (all the exists and occurs outside of man's control) that you see attributed to a god in nearly all religions is worth perserving.

As much as we might manipulate our environment it is but little weighed against the sum of the blind indifference that is existence.

In that sense I feel more spiritual (and less confused and conflicted) as an atheist because I know it lacks any semblence of consciousness, let alone morality.

Life is made more interesting I guess when viewed in reference to sort of cosmic machination.

Straight Hate

I don't know if there's any 'facet of relgion' that I'd like to preserve other than the mythological aspect of it. I grew up with the basic run-down of the Greek and Roman pantheons, but other than that, was never subjected to much mythology both at school *and* at home (for being fundies, my parents were strangely tight-lipped about the stories in the bible).

Upon discovering Norse Heathenism (Asatru), the religion of my ancestors, I've taken quite an interest in Teutonic/Germanic/Scandinavian mythology. I've also been reading into some of Joseph Campbell's work and, to say the least, I'm having a very good time! I'd love to see more focus put on mythology - if nothing else, they're good bedtime stories for wide-eyed little kids.

Perchance

JL,

That's an interesting response. I think awe and humility are also worth preserving- I can feel awe at sunsets, at flying geese, at wolves- as long as it doesn't turn into an "I'm so insignificant compared to the universe, I am so helpless, I am so worthless" attitude. That seems as if it might be one of the major contributing factors to religion in the first place.

As you say: It seems to comfort people to believe that some giant invisible person loves them. In that sense, it's odd that humanity hasn't created many comforting gods.

-Perchance.