Different Takes on Religion

Instead of the typical dichotomy between theist and atheist, this post will discuss variation among theists. Theists have a wide range of beliefs some of which are supported by great philosophers.



The most obvious way to categorize the various beliefs is by the number of gods they believe in.



The simplest yet most prominent and "western" is Monotheism or the belief in a single god. Within this category fall the typical modern religions such as christianity or judaism.


Next, there are the Polytheists. Polytheists believe in multiple gods who usually have different roles and are prayed to for specific reasons. For example, the ancient Greeks would pray to the Aeries, the god of war, before entering battle. While polytheism does still show up in modern religion, it was also the category in which more archaic beliefs took form. Henotheism is a belief system in which the believer recognizes the existance of multiple gods, but is only loyal to a single god.



Another religion that doesnt fit into either monotheism nor polytheism is pantheism. Pantheism views god more as nature than as an independant entity which manipulates nature. According to this belief system, we are part of god just as a rock is a part of god. God is the substance which makes up everything in the universe.

Evolution and Intelligent Design

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the theory of evolution, and many of you may already know its counter argument of intelligent design. However, just to make sure everyone is on the same page, evolution is the theory that states that gradual changes over generations due to genetic mutations have accumulated causing variation and speciation, whereas intelligent design argues that each species was created or "designed" independently by god. Proponents of intelligent design would like it to be taught along with evolution in schools. Their basis for this is that evolution is "just a theory" and can thus have conflicting ideas taught with it. However, evolution is a scientific concept whereas intelligent design is a religious concept and should not be allowed in schools due to separation of church and state being in the Constitution. Practicing and believing in a relgion is perfectly fine, but enforcing it upon children in schools is not.

That being said, the idea of intelligent design is debased by numerous scientific findings. The most obvious evidence against intelligent design is vestigial structures. If each species were designed individually, why would we humans have a tailbone which is unnecessary and partially deleterious. Such structures provide clear evidence for evolution in that a structure that was characteristic of a former species no longer has a use but has not yet been fully written out of the genetic code. Als0, studies of DNA show that humans share a remarkable amount of DNA with many other mammals from those as developed as a chimpanzee to those as archaic as a rat. If god the omnipotent being were to design both rats and humans, surely there would be a superior way to make humans than to simply change rat DNA.

For a hillarious satire of intelligent design check out the flying spaghetti monster at http://www.venganza.org/

Thomas Aquinas

This post is primarily a response to an angry anonymous commentor, but it is also a look into the mind of a prominent theist by the name of Thomas Aquinas. Here are links to information about him that I will refer to throughtout this post Quinquae Viae /// Thomas Aquinas

So, Aquinas believed that there are two pathways to truth: natural revelation and supernatural revelation. Supernatural revelation can be broken down into three different categories: Holy Scripture, Magisterium, and Prophets. Natural revelation consists of information available to people through their human nature such as interacting with physical objects or other people. However, closer examination reveals that the categories Aquinas dubbed natural and supernatural revelation are one in the same. Holy scripture refers to the bible or other texts of a religious nature while magisterium is the authority of those high up in the religious hierarchy such as bishops and ministers. Prophets similarly are people such as Jesus or moses who have been historically documented to have existed as humans. Thus, all the categories of "supernatural revelation" are merely physical objects (the bible,) or people (jesus bishops) and would fall under the category of natural revelation which is knowledge learned through regular human experiences like interpersonnal communication and manipulating physical objects.

The fact that Aquinas could form a dichotomy out of a single thing shows a tremendous amount of cognitive dissonance. Furthermore, Aquinas is regarded as an empiricist yet his work the Quinquae Viae does not reflect this school of thought. Please read the Quinquae Viae and you will notice that while the argument is valid, the premises are not coming from experimental evidence. Thus this is inconsistent with the thought of an empiricist. Also, the premises are in no way backed up and the truth of a vast majority of them could be debated so the arguments made in the Quinquae Viae are simply unsound.

Richard Dawkins

For those of you who don't know him, Richard Dawkins is a proffesor as Oxford University and is considered the prophet of atheists. He is our leader in the search for truth. Richard Dawkins is to us as Jesus is to a christian. His words are the moral laws that we follow and defend.

Tuesday march 11th Richard Dawkins is coming to the Memorial Union to give a speech. It is a true opportunity for Theists and non-theists alike. If anyone can awaken the philisophical side of a brain it is him. I strongly reccomend that you come whether you agree with him or not simply because it is an enlightening experience. I believe that the admission is free, and if you would like to check the details, I have made flyers very visible on all of the Grainger Hall first floor bulletin boards.