final

real name: Jodie Wims
user name: jodie_1219
email: jodie_1219@yahoo.com
Midterm grade: C

12. Mark Juergensmeyer explains what he learned during his visit to Iraq. He talks about terrorism and religion and how or why they are connected. He certainly does not have a biased opinion like one would see on the news here in the US. He has actually sat and talked with people on the other side of this war. What they told him was that this was God's war and they simply cannot lose.

He goes on to describe what is going on in the mind of terrorist and it comes down to pride. Pride and honor is something these men are willing to give their lives for. Many of them are angry about the US occupation in Iraq and feel that our government is trying to get rid of Islam. They of course, will not stand for this and are ready to go to extreme lengths to show their passion and faith is not something to take lightly.

The terrorists attacks were definitly a message to the government and whether or not the government will respond the way we hope is almost out of our reach. The only thing we can do is get involved and vote for the right people to represent us the way we want. Having people in office who dont have our best interest in mind is only hurting us.

13. There is evidence to support that Edgar Cayce was actually psychic. However there is also some evidence to support that he wasnt. Not all of his readings were accurate, so some could say that by chance, he was able to guess right on some but not all. If one were to take in all the evidence with an open mind, I think they would be swayed to believe. Although, I still think there would be some room for skeptism.

14. Proffesor Lane has done plenty of research and investigations on cults. He has found that most of the basis of these "religions" is lies and plagerism. He has found direct word for word plagerism (including incorrect grammar and typos) from one cult to another. His background checks have proved that these leaders are not who they say they are and are in fact living double lives.

Its hard to be open minded about something when time after time you have proven that its a hoax. To find out someone's dirty laundry and their real self can be somewhat dissapointing. Afterall these leaders are portraying themselves to be these great, enlightened beings that claim they want to help others. If one after another keeps proving to be the opposite, it would be hard for anyone to believe in any of these "religions".

15. The films reveal that Sai Baba was just good at putting on a show. there is no magical powers that allow him to perform miracles. He is simply good at gaining the trust of others by distracting them to see something other than what is actually there.

16.Thakar Singh believed that blindfolding kids would allow them to easily find their inner light. He believed this would help them with thier meditation which would eventually make them better, spirtiually enlightened people. THis of course cannot be proven, so his tactics seem odd if not abusive. These religious followers lack critical thinking skills because they are most likely missing something in their life. So something comes along and seems positive and true and they blindly latch on, hoping for a better life. They do not take the time to ask questions because they feel they must have good faith in order to be a good person.

17. John Polkinghorne has a unique way of thinking compared to other lectures from this class. He is involved in both science and religion and feels that they should both be acknowledged. He talks about how the life of animals comes together to work as a complex system and states that it couldnt have all occured just by chance. There had to be some plan or idea as to how would all come together. This, of course, leads to there being a God with such a complex design in mind that we cannot even begin to understand it fully but science can prove just how great of a design it actually is.

18. Nietzsche talks about religion and christianity as if it all just a bunch of nonsense. He criticizes Ernest Renan's writing: "Man is closest to the truth when he is most religious." Nietzsche calls this religious nonsense. He feels that for Christianity to be based on a Jew being the son of God makes the whole concept absurd. His disbelief in a God stems from what goes on here on earth. He feels if there was really a God, he wouldnt let certain things happen.

Bad things that happen to good people and sinners who get all the riches doesnt help Nietzsche to believe there is a god. He doesnt feel that God would be such a vengeful and jealous god if he were in fact the ultimate being. Nietzsche points are considerable. However, I dont agree with him and I think he is trying to put down people who believe in God.

19. James Watson has done extensive work with DNA and genetics. If certain physical traits can be passed on from parent to child through DNA then why not mental traits as well. A gene for mental disorders can be passed along. It doesnt mean that the person will have the disorder but the coding is there. Some people refuse to believe that are just made up of DNA because its too scientific. They want to believe in a soul and a more purposefullness rather than just scientific code.

This doesnt have to be a bad thing. Watson's research is leading to information on autism and could possibly find a cure or prevention. These findings are reached thanks to genetic coding. without that or other scientific methods we wouldnt have such medically advanced society. We now live longer and healthier lives thanks to a little thing called scientific research.

20. Intelligent design is regarded as junk science because there is no real evidence to support it. It basically calls for an intelligent creator (i.e. God) but there is no experiement or documentation supporting that there actually is one so it cannot be considered along with other realms of science which have extensive detailed data to support every claim made.

21. Fundamentalism is considered a mental disease because there is no rational thinking behind it. Those who support and teach creationism are not thinking for themselves or perhaps not thinking at all. Religion is something that people just believe in with no solid reasoning behind it. Faith is blindly believing in something with no questions asked. This is all according to the movie and not personal opinion.

22. The US government has brought on this war on terrorism. I feel that our government has its own alterior motives for occupying Iraq all this time and I dont think they are providing us with all the information we should have. The government acts on our behalf all the time. We really have no idea what kind of relationships they maintain with other countries or what promises they are or arent keeping to them.

I think other countries such as Iraq see all americans as evil or a threat to them because maybe thats the way our government is acting. They obviously wanted to send a strong message to us by the attacks of 9/11. Something is definietly going on with our government. I dont feel they are taking the correct actions and if people are trying to attack us so violently then we must be doing something wrong. I am not in favor of our troops being overseas and I think alot of reconciling needs to happen from our end if we ever want to see the end of this unecessary war.

23. The Beyond Belief session were definitely heated topics. Religion and science and where to draw the lines was an ongoing issue for this conference. I felt that everyone had strong points and voiced their opinions adequately but after such a long conference and so many speakers, only some remain memorable. I really liked Susan Neiman. she talks about having respect for something that is not fully understandable instead of disregarding it or being afraid of it. I feel if people took this sort of attitude then maybe there would be less conflict with americans and muslim culture.

Someone like Sam Harris would not take this approach. His thoughts on people who are religious is taken way too far. he thinks that religion should be something to fear because it usually makes people do crazy things because they feel so strongly about something. He is confusing passion with the kind of emotion that leads to terrorism. and to make a broad statement about all religious people is done with out clear thinking.

Ialso liked the speaker from session 2. He had a great mixture of science and religion together which is where i personally stand on the subject. He talked about how the bible can be a great reference as to how to live life but it doesnt state how it all works. So that's where science can come in and play a great part to add to but not take anything away from religion or God.
There was also another speaker who sort of made fun of the design of the universe and humans and calls it stupid. This is a bold statement to make but if you really think about it, it's halfway true. The way ou bodies are designed so that we constantly have to eat and get sleep doesnt seem that great. as we get older our bodies deteriorate and we become weaker. According to Tyson, this doesnt seem very intelligent. The universe is also questionable because our planet seems to be the only one to provide life. everything else has unstable atmosphere's and unlivable conditions. So one begins to wonder what is the planning in all that? What's the point in all the unending billions ofmiles of space if not to provide life? And what purpose does life have if we just start to shut down and requireso much maintenance.

Many valid points are brought up at this conference, however, I dont think any sort of conclusion was made or any minds swayed. People have thier opinions for what ever reason and only they can change inside themselves for the better or worse. Science and Religion will continue to compete against each other for as long as man has a mind to think and a voice to speak.

25. My favorite thing I learned this semester was about the different cults and how they are exposed as frauds. I found it so interesting to actually hear from people who actually fell into believing in them and then later realizing that they were tricked. It is sad that this still goes on but thats why critical thinking is so important to teach and to learn.