TruthBook Religious News Blog

Elizabeth Scarinci
3/19/09

This page one of three. Please click on "external source" for complete article.

The steeple of the Congregational Church of Middlebury is the most defining characteristic of the town's skyline. But despite the steeples that dominate many Vermont towns, religion is a declining landmark of the state. The most recent American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), released March 9, showed that a record 34 percent of Vermonters claim no religious affiliation, making Vermont the most secular state in the country, followed by New Hampshire and Maine.

The Program on Public Values at Trinity College recently conducted the last of three surveys from 1990 to 2008. On a national level, Americans who claim no religion almost doubled from 1990 to 2008. In 1990, 8.2 percent claimed no religion, which spiked to 14.2 percent in 2001 and is now at 15 percent. The number of people answering "None" grew in every state.

Vermont's status as the leader of "Nones" is an issue that Vermonters themselves can unfurl. Professor Larry Yarbrough, chair of the Religion department at the College, speculates that part of the reason is that Vermonters are independent and freethinking.

"For the most part, they are not susceptible to be led one way or another, and that definitely comes in [to play]," Yarbrough said.

Anne Brown, communication director of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, said that religious institutions could be better communicating their missions and relating them better to Vermonters' lives.

"I think this is a response to the failure of the institutional religious bodies to respond in a creative and helpful way to the search for meaning," Brown said. "We have often been more focused on maintaining tradition than on meeting people where they are with something that works for them."

Yarbrough said he would be interested in a survey that asked the people who claim no religion if they were spiritual but just did not associate with an organized religion. He speculates that many Vermonters who find themselves spiritual would say that they can encounter God in nature.

Labels: ARIS, Elizabeth Scarinci, nature, religion, Vermont

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Science was once part of religious study

Jerry Bergman
Mennonite Sunday school teacher

Many people today are unaware that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all historically have taught that God has given his people two books, his word, the Bible, and his works, the book of nature. It is for this reason that for centuries clergy were required to study science as part of their seminary training. This is also why many scientists – until recently – were originally trained as clergy and later became scientists. Examples include Charles Darwin, Rev. Adam Segwick, a prominent geologist “who interpreted all sciences as aids to religion” and Rev. Jon Henslow who devoted his life to observing nature “for evidence of divine handiwork.”

This history explains why all branches of science were once called – not science, a word coined relatively recently – but natural theology. Old book lovers soon learn that when looking for old, pre-1900, books on chemistry physics, or biology, they often contain the words “Natural Theology” in the title.

In fact, our modern university system was originally established to train pastors. Only much later did theology – once called “queen of the sciences” – break off into a separate area of study. The language that science uses today to name everything from animals to body parts, as anyone who has studied biology or anatomy knows, is Greek and Latin. This is just one legacy of the ecclesiastical past of science. Even today the No. 1 reason people give for their belief in God is the existence of the wonders and beauty of the natural world, especially the living world.

Some people feel closer to God when communing with nature, leisurely strolling in a forest, or even resting by a stream or river enjoying the sounds of nature. This is a major reason why modern science was birthed in Christian Europe. Cathedrals were designed to imitate an old growth forest, and stained-glass windows designed not only to tell a biblical story but also to mimic the sun shinning through the trees as well.

This other book is important because the dominant reason, even today, why people hold to theism is the argument best articulated by William Paley in his 1802 book appropriately titled “Natural Theology.” Paley argued that if one came across a watch lying on the road, he would conclude that the watch had an intelligent designer. Likewise, one who studies science is led to ask the same question: Who is the intelligent designer of the universe and the life in it? Paley’s book of science argued in over 400 pages that, after studying the wonders of creation, one could only conclude that, like the watch, it must have had an intelligent watchmaker to explain its origin.

Likewise, the living creation must also have a creator behind it. Thomas Aquinas, often regarded as the greatest Christian philosopher who ever lived, eloquently argued that wherever complex design exists there must have been an intelligent designer. Life, the most specified complex machine in the universe, likewise must have had an intelligent designer. The key is not complexity, but specified complexity. A junkyard is complex, as is a modern jet airplane, but only the airplane is complexity specified for a purpose, to rapidly carry passengers in the air from one point to another.

And it is for this reason why ministers throughout history have preached from the book of nature, called science today, and should continue to do so.

As studying an artist’s art works is an important way to learn about the artist as a person, so, too, studying the works of God is an important way to learn about the Creator.

As Proverbs 3:19 says “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath He established the heavens.” Likewise, we can better understand the Lord by understanding the products of his wisdom.

Labels: God, Jerry Bergman, natural theology, nature, religion, science

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Monday, August 04, 2008

Nature or nurture? Religion is the natural state, atheism is learned according to psychologist

Babies are hard-wired to believe in God, and atheism has to be learned, according to an Oxford University psychologist. Dr Olivera Petrovich told a University of Western Sydney conference on the psychology of religion that even pre-school children constructed theological concepts as part of their understanding of the physical world.

Psychologists have debated whether belief in God or atheism was the natural human state. According to Dr Petrovich, an expert in psychology of religion, belief in God is not taught but develops naturally. She told The Age newspaper that belief in God emerged as a result of other psychological development connected with understanding causation.

It was hard-wired into the human psyche, but it was important not to build too much into the concept of God. “It’s the concept of God as creator, primarily,” she said.

Dr Petrovich said her findings were based on several studies, particularly one of Japanese children aged four to six, and another of 400 British children aged five to seven from seven different faiths. “Atheism is definitely an acquired position,” she said.

Dr Petrovich is partly funded by the Templeton Foundation, which is devoted to making a connection between “faith and science” – in other words, in progressing religion at the expense of science.

NSS Chief Executive Keith Porteous Wood commented: "We will be hearing a lot more from Dr Petrovich on such matters if she attains her ambition for “a proper, funded post in academic psychology of religion within a psychology department”. The most enthusiasm I found on the web for her research was in a curious website called Science and Spirit - exploring things that matter

I note Dr Petrovich was described as a "member of the Faculty of Theology at Wolfson College, Oxford University” on a web page describing her credentials in relation to the conference in Australia.

Labels: atheism, Dr Olivera Petrovich, God, John Templeton Foundation, nature, religion

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Some 24,000 sun worshippers gather for ancient festival

SALISBURY PLAIN, England (AFP) -

More than 24,000 people from druids to fans heading for a nearby music festival hailed the sun rising on the longest day of the year Thursday at the ancient Stonehenge monument.

At 4:58 am, following an all-night party on Salisbury Plain, dawn broke on the summer solstice over 5,000-year-old stone circle, one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world.

Revellers wearing antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves huddled at the Heelstone -- a twisted, pockmarked pillar at the edge of the monument -- to cheer the rising sun.

"There was a very good atmosphere but sunrise was not very spectacular this year because of the cloud," said a spokeswoman for English Heritage.

A spokeswoman for the Druid Network said: "The Summer Solstice is a way of attuning ourselves back into the cycles of nature, connecting with the land and the turning of the seasonal tides."

Every June 21, the event draws together druids, revellers, hippies, New Age travellers and others simply wishing to experience the mystical annual event at the prehistoric monument.
When the sun rises over the Heel Stone to the sound of beating drums, some chant, some cheer, others meditate and the odd character has been known to cavort naked.

Although Stonehenge is open to the public all year round, restrictions were set up during the 1980s following violent clashes between the police and revellers at the summer solstice.

The stones stand between nine and 18 feet high and are arranged in concentric circles.
Historians estimate they were erected sometime between 3000 BC and 1600 BC.

The monument became a World Heritage Site in 1986 and despite years of research and study, the reason behind its construction remains a mystery.

Another all-night Summer Solstice party took place at the complex of ancient stones in Avebury, 25 miles north of Stonehenge.

Labels: nature, Stonehenge, Summer Solstice