Date: 3 August 2007 (Fri)
Time: 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Venue: Hong Kong Christian Institute, 10/F, 11 Mong Kok Road, Mong Kok, Kowloon (map: http://ssshk.tripod.com/id2.html )
Content: Building Your Own Theology (BYOT) course; Session 5: Ultimate Reality---Creating an Honest God
Leader: Marc Wathen
Language: English (with Cantonese interpretation if necessary)
Fee: Free of charge
Reading material: http://ssshk.jconserv.net/viewtopic.php?t=159
簡介：
「建立你自己的神學」(Building Your Own Theology) 課程旨在以開放的態度探討宗教信仰的各個課題，以幫助學員建立他們的個人信念系統：一套貫穿人生的基礎宗教及價值信念。
<<四份一是無神論者>>
VS
<<At last count, 19% of Unitarian Universalists said that they did not believe in any type of god.>>
<<Eighty-one percent of Unitarian Universalists believe in God, and 19 percent do not believe in God.>>—AGNOSTIC 呢？？？
<<人本主義者>> 在UU 中包含了 Religious humanist，即一人可同時為基徒和人本主義者
正如UU說<<Universalists who do not identify primarily as Christians connect with these sources. >>
According to wiki, the organization (worldwide) consist of:
Humanist - 54%
Agnostic - 33%
Earth-centered Part of so call 'New Age movement'- 31%
Atheist - 18%
Buddhist - 16.5%
Christian - 13.1%
Pagan - Part of so call 'New Age movement' 13.1%
Then again, some will not be able to see the difference and lump everyone togather as New Age
Suppose to pick Chinese male over 30yr in HK with income over HKD10k/yr for study. You take your sample within only within this group and compare the non-theist with the theist in the group.
It is a small pool with selected features.
But if the effect is universal, it should not matter. It will only matter only if
a) It has a different effect on male over female
b) It has a different effect in HK over other region
c) etc...
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Think of it this way, you are measuring the weight of a set of balls in HK and comparing their weight with respect to each other. take your sample within only within this group and compare the non-theist with the theist in the group.
If someone said "but you are only measuring it in HK and hence not accurate!" He is implying that the gavitational force operating differntly in differnt region of the world!
(Note: Even if the person measure it on Mars, the COMPARATIVE weight will be the same because the example here happen to be univeral in the universe.)
What you need is a double blind study. When the old lady do nor 拜神, you will probably find that she will behave the same. (Something the US moral study is showing)
On the other hand, we need a statistic pool to allow for error. We DID see old lady who worship some kind of God get into crime...
We can have a meta study. (Such as the one with religion negatively correlated with IQ/Education)
That is why I would say it is inconclusive that religion did bad. But it certainly against objective data that it did good.
If you truely believe it is a <<是不可爭的事實>>, please provide your data (should be simple if it is that obvious). You even have The Templeton Fund Foundation (more money than Nobel Prize) as your financial backup.
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Statistic (done correctly), is just detail recorded observation with some critical thinking.
In a sense, when UU speak of "spiritual", it has an assumption of dualism. Meanwhile, our neroscience has pointed a strong indication that we are monist. That there is not "spirit" operating behind the "body". Without a spirit, a person can't reallly grow spiritually.
A person can, however, be more mature, having more critical thinking skills, gather more information, cherish memories...etc
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Pick, for example <找尋人生意義, 為何而活> can be a philosophical problem. Many solution to the problem drew no reference to religion.
<人從何來> Is a SCIENTIFIC problem. We know evolution is the path (hence no defining line between human and other creatures, any 'scientific' religion will have to account for the human-ish ape and the ape-ish human.). We suspect about abiogensis. We can approximate the age of this universe. We postulated the BIg Bang. We are currently working on multiverse hypothesis...etc
<死後歸宿> assume a dualist position. If we are a monist, we vanish with our body, much like the software of a computer 'vanish' with the computer.
Rather, if you have your brain split in 2, and one side believe in one religion while the other believe in another, where will 'you' be going after death? (A neroscientist once joke about it from a real case in his expereiment)
Modern time, Israel -Palestine crisis? The Ireland civil war? Anti-science, etc...
<<4. 猶太教及基督教的教訓指導我們以愛人如己去回應神的愛;>>
Everyone with or without religion has that. In fact, many has had that much earlier that Judaism and Christanity.
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Sorry to say, there are some like Grandhi (Hindu) that deserve respect, but there are other like Joshua (Christian) that deserve to be condemned.
Sometimes, it is only right to call a horse a horse.
2007/4/9 23:02
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