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People want gods or a god. why not pray to the universe and nature for giving us a planet that supports life. that seems more legitimate in so many ways.
Poe's Law: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."
Yep. Worshiping the sun itsself, and making gods that are the personifications of natural events.
Poe's Law: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."
(November 8, 2014 at 11:23 am)dyresand Wrote: People want gods or a god. why not pray to the universe and nature for giving us a planet that supports life. that seems more legitimate in so many ways.
I don't think that people necessarily "want" gods or a god. I think the main reason that most people believe in a god is because that's what they've been taught since childhood. They are given a conclusion, that a certain god exists and has X,Y, and Z qualities, and then they will twist everything else they learn to fit that conclusion.
If a person wanted to find a god, then that would mean they are looking for some truth about the universe, and the best way to search for truth is through science, but there is nothing in science (yet) that indicates the existence of gods. At the moment, the only honest answer one will find if they start searching for god is "I don't know."
If one wants to pray to the universe, they will essentially just be talking to themselves as with any other prayer. You can't communicate with something that isn't conscious. So while it may be a nicer idea than rolling the dice and praying to one of the usual gods, it is still ultimately a useless endeavor.
(November 8, 2014 at 11:23 am)dyresand Wrote: People want gods or a god. why not pray to the universe and nature for giving us a planet that supports life. that seems more legitimate in so many ways.
Why give the universe the credit? We exist today because our ancestors adapted to the conditions here. So be nice to the oldies instead.
November 10, 2014 at 10:19 am (This post was last modified: November 10, 2014 at 10:22 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Quote:
Two dissimilar arguments on nature and religion are here offered by McGrath (theology, Oxford) and Crosby (philosophy, Colorado State Univ.). McGrath claims that humanity's vanishing sense of marvel or enchantment in nature results from scientific rationalism. He maintains that religion, specifically evangelical Christianity, urges humanity to cherish its divine origins and see in the beauty of nature not God but signposts that point to a transcendence wherein we find God. Alongside this, however, McGrath sustains a running quarrel with Lynn White's 1967 article "On the Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis" and Darwinian Richard Dawkins, taking a chapter to prove Dawkins's "strident antireligious advocacy." Not a primer on how to become reenchanted with nature, McGrath's book stands in danger of merely offering a cadre of evangelical proofs against a small, specific scientific community that fails to see nature as God's art. On the other hand, Crosby (Specter of the Absurd: Sources and Criticisms of Modern Nihilism) takes an admittedly atheistic yet blithely optimistic stance. Relying upon philosophers like Alfred North Whitehead and William James, he espouses a literal religion of nature: "we need not go any further than nature to probe the depths of our existence and powers that sustain our being." Seeing nature as metaphysically ultimate, he offers a systematic religious naturalism devoid of God, prayer, or spirituality beyond that found in the beauty and inherent goodness of the earth. Since nature is metaphysically ultimate, Crosby must admit that both good and evil consequently reside there. Thus, humanity's task becomes one of aligning with the good and struggling against evil and how that is discerned, defined, or done is never clearly delineated. Both books are academic in tone and plainly intended for a scholarly audience. Recommended only where religious interest warrants. Sandra Collins, Duquesne Univ. Lib., Pittsburgh
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
B-mine. Perhaps you should give the book a read. If you wanted a religion of nature, you don't actually have to use any "god descriptors" commonly expressed (nor do we have to structure our prayers thusly - if we wished to "pray to nature"). There is simply nothing that a god adds to the religious picture that cannot be sourced elsewhere. Ironically, when it comes to religion, as in the natural world, god is not required (and further, neither are those concepts traditionally foisted upon gods).
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
(November 10, 2014 at 10:18 am)polar bear Wrote: would the universe answer my prayers any better than "god"? If so, I am game
A Christian friend of mine always says that God answers prayers in one of three ways: yes, no, and not yet. I always tell him that those are the same three responses I get when I pray to a doorknob.
(November 11, 2014 at 12:12 pm)JonDarbyXIII Wrote:
(November 10, 2014 at 10:18 am)polar bear Wrote: would the universe answer my prayers any better than "god"? If so, I am game
A Christian friend of mine always says that God answers prayers in one of three ways: yes, no, and not yet. I always tell him that those are the same three responses I get when I pray to a doorknob.
Except with the door knob you can see it feel it touch it.
also use it to slam doors in peoples faces.
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