[lit-ideas] Re: Free Stuff from Philosophers
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:29:33 -0800 (PST)
I think that I tend to agree with John. If anything, religion has been more
successful so far at uniting people of different races, countries, classes,
occupations, persuasions and so forth than rationalist philosophy. (Though the
latter had some international success also, notably participating in some
tournaments in the Middle East in the early Middle Ages, and some offshoots
made it to Russia and seemed rather promising for a while, but turned out to be
rather a disappointment.) In the case of Islam, this may be due to the fact
that Islam has a relatively modest doctrinal apparatus, the essential doctrine
being the belief that Allah is one and Mohammad his messenger. (There are other
theological issues but these are debatable.) If this basic tenet is agreed
upon, then one is permitted to be a Muslim and share the rights and
responsibilities that come with that. Other religions are also admitted as
being legitimate and to varying degress valid
(though the monotheistic more so than the polytheistic.) Philosophy has
been accepted also, although since Al-Ghazali Muslim scholars have
been suspicious of metaphysics, which the Western secular scholars also became
at a much later date. The idea of intrinsic human dignity as we understand it
today is derived from the monotheistic religions. (All right I'll stop here to
await R.P.'s intervention.)
O.K.
--- On Mon, 12/29/08, John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Free Stuff from Philosophers
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Monday, December 29, 2008, 5:34 AM
On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 5:45 AM, <wokshevs@xxxxxx> wrote:
Query: Is religion an institution that divides us from each other and occludes
our essential shared humanity and dignity, or does it harbour the possibility
of uniting us together, across political and ideological differences, in a kind
of cosmopolitan citizenship where we are all equal members of a Kingdom of
Ends?
Historically speaking, no religion exists that does not define itself in
contrast to others of various kinds, unbelievers, heretics, adherents of other
creeds, etc. No religion has ever united the whole of humanity across political
and ideological differences. That said, some religions, e.g. Buddhism,
Christianity, and Islam have shown themselves capable of creating common ground
among peoples of many different political and ideological persuasions. Whether
this is a glass half full or half empty, I leave as a question for further
discussion.
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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