Thinking Out Loud

Go to: Part 1 | Part 2 Why should we not ignore religion? We have witnessed an extreme of religious fundamentalism in the September 11 attacks. Why regard the extreme? How about the moderate ones? RD argues that the majority of people who directly influence social policies and political procedures can be regarded as religious moderates who promote religion as a way of life and when this 'way-of-life' contradicts with another, we see incursion or at least unrest. Religion without resilient obstructions thrives and develops into fundamentalism, where humans sacrifice themselves for martyrdom. Martyrdom is mainly made possible by turning impressionable young minds against other religions/beliefs and the most alarming issue raised by RD is the indoctrination of children. One of the traits of human evolution is the children look up to the adults to fashion their lives which becomes dangerous when parents (try to) force their religious ideals onto their children (see Exhibit B: Jesu...

Go to: Part 1 I found an article (in relation to TGD) criticising science with the advent of the atomic bomb. Well, allow me to retort: why was the a-bomb invented in the first place? Where did it start? Did it not start with the bloody crusade of this one guy with a funny moustache who wished to avenge those who killed Jesus? Call me crazy, I'm just clutching at straws here. Science at the hands of humans can be used for good and evil. I have never seen or heard of any instance when rationalists declared war in the name of atheism. Albert Einstein who did not "believe in a personal God" had said "I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings". God as a 'soul' to the universe makes sense to me. It would be reasonable to assign an 'animus' to lifeless entities such as the sky or nature that accompanies humans throughout their li...

'Why should I care' was the general attitude I shared with my friends and peers when it came to religion. "It is pointless" usually put a stop to any theological discussion that cropped up. I believed that God would mind his business and just leave me alone. And then I read "The God Delusion" (TGD) by Richard Dawkins (RD). As the book has been reviewed by many erudite scholars with a greater knowledge on the subject matter, I dare not presume to write one of my own. The following rather are my observations, proverbial lit bulbs to think of a lesser example and the effect the book had on me. First of all, I am of the opinion that instead of placing our trust in a priest or a theological scholar or RD himself, we should use the power of independent thought to find out the existence or non-existence of God. RD has printed his opinions and we may use TGD as a tool to seek out the truth ourselves. For example, as RD has pointed out, this higher power that is God ...

It was a mixture of emotions, more of a pleasant contradiction as I realised while reading " The God Delusion " by Richard Dawkins , I had "Thiruvasakam" by Ilaiyaraja playing in the background. The music was providing a beat (in my mind) to the words of Dawkins. I have heard that music brings people closer to God (the unspecified God; who knows what people really believe in) and I could not help but smile. Usually it is either a book or a song blaring from the earphones, but on this particular day I was engrossed in Dawkins's words about the ontological argument and this person sitting next to me proceeded to talk on her phone and as the conversation progressed she became excited and her voice levels grew to an alarming pitch. As Peter Finch said "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!", so I put on my earphones and chose random and what should play but Thiruvasakam (Thamizh hymns written by poet Manikkavasakar about world...

I first heard about "I Heard You Paint Houses" when Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese were planning to adapt the book into a movie called "The Irishman". Needless to say I was excited by the fact that De Niro and Scorsese were re-uniting after more than ten years (before they had collaborated to make "Casino" in 1995). One lazy Sunday afternoon I was browsing the web and decided to buy the book, on an impulse, from Book Depository . I have never heard of Charles Brandt before so I was not familiar with his style of writing. To say I was pleasantly surprised from page one would be an understatement. The book was never tedious as I had predicted (I had read a few non-fiction books before, and were not keen on them). The book reminded me of the time I watched " GoodFellas " for the first time (I could not watch any movies completely for a long time after GoodFellas because they could just not complete with it). I will say the same about I Heard You...