Throughout the 20th
Century science and religion were seen as opposite ends of the spectrum but
as we’ve entered this new century the lines seem to be blurring and some of
our past certainty is eroding. Compass has assembled a group of Australian
contemporary thinkers to tell us how they make sense of it all.
So which contemporary
thinkers did Compass assemble to make sense of this issue?
1. Australia’s leading
Christian-basher,
Phillip Adams.
2. Another prominent
atheist, Peter Slezak.
3. Author
Sarah MacDonald, who proclaimed on the programme: “I'm definitely not
religious now. And I swing I suppose still a little towards atheism, but
much more a spiritual life. So I'm not definite in what I believe in still.”
4. Spirituality writer
David Tacey.
Because this is the
ABC it was necessary to start with some ritual Bush-bashing. Here’s
presenter Geraldine Doogue:
But if Americans value
their earthly existence, many firmly say they’re doing God’s will.
In concluding his 2003 State of the Union Address George Bush said: “The
Liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world, it is God’s gift to
humanity.”
Many would argue the way religion’s been harnessed to the cause of war makes
the idea of abandoning God more and more attractive.
To quote English Biologist Richard Dawkins, one of science’s most outspoken
sceptics – “In a world without religion there would have been no Crusades;
no Inquisition; no anti-Semitic pogroms… no Northern Ireland” and, by
inference, no September 11.
Then onto a long
litany of religion-bashing, orchestrated by Phillip Adams:
I would submit that
thousands of years of religion have been a catastrophic failure. 160 million
people died in the last century in wars and genocides. Religion played a
huge part in much of that….But the fact of the matter remains that within
the last century religion did not help, and very probably detonated and
intensified a great many of those horrendous conflicts….I think that often
happens and it is not admitted to. That people who devote their life to
faith then have the rug pulled from beneath them and are left much more
devastated than someone like myself or you who don't expect it in the first
place.
Australia
has some excellent thinkers who could speak profoundly on science and
religion. None was featured. The programme was a disgrace. Presenter
Geraldine Doogue should be feeling ashamed.
January
20th, 2004
