by J Robbins

Created on: July 10, 2008   Last Updated: May 06, 2009

Commentary: Does Religion Hinder Independent Thinking?

Close your eyes after reading this paragraph. Keep them closed and think about the world you wish you could live in. Make it a perfect world for you, but be sure it's based on some type of reality that exists today. Think about how daily life would be structured. Think about the morals and values people in your world would follow. Don't forget health and children's issues or education - and don't open your eyes to read on before you have a full picture of your ideal world. Close your eyes now.

BACK TO THE REAL WORLD YOU LIVE IN
As wonderful as your perfectly envisioned world is, it's guaranteed to be rejected by the majority of people in the "real" world. Living in the "real" world shows us no individual person's ideals match the ideals of the majority of the people on the planet.

If you were to walk into an airport, supermarket, library, restaurant and ask the first 10 adults you see to perform this little exercise they'd probably describe similar characteristics in their ideal worlds. Most would have peace on earth, healthy and happy lives, children educated and raised with the same faith and beliefs as their own, etc.

Apologies to Shakespeare's Hamlet but - "there's the rub." Nearly everyone wishes s/he could live in a world defined by his or her own perspective. While all may wish for "peace on earth" the road to that goal differs in large measure based upon individual faiths and beliefs. And while religion is in frequent opposition to independent thinking the better question is: does it have to be that way?

WHAT DID HAWKING AND EINSTEIN SAY
Not surprisingly history provides us with a long list of scientists who were also devout in their religious beliefs. Two of the most renown are quoted below, and a list of preeminent scientists along with their religions can be found online here:

"One could imagine that God created the universe at the instant of the big bang, or even afterwards in just such a way as to make it look as though there had been a big bang, but it would be meaningless to suppose that it was created before the big bang. An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job!" [Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1988, pp. 8-9.]

"One can have the clearest and most complete knowledge of what is, and yet not be able to deduct from that what should be the goal of our human aspirations. Objective knowledge provides

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