送交者: gordon 于 2005-7-12, 09:01:16:
The recent London bombing led me to think seriously about faith. Those terrorists, led by their faith (at least in the name of their God), committed such horrible anti-humanitarian acts. Even though Muslim communities in London(in the whole Braitain I believe) strongly condenmed the muderous terrorist, who knows whether they are heros in the hearts of the majority of Muslims in the whole world.
I strongly sympathize with Britain. Obviously this attack is related to Britain's military presence in Iraq, but most Britons are against their government's sending troops to Iraq (and Tony Blair has met numerous difficlt and embarrasing situations ever since). This is a country whose people have principles(as shown in other issus like asylum-seeking). Another reason I like this country is that it is a liberal country. The US attacked Iraq (I do think the Sadam regime should be overthrown,for the sake of Iraqi people)in the excuses that Sadam regime was related to Al Qaeda, that Sadam was a threat to world peace with its large-scale desctruction weapsons( both proved wrong, Sadam regime was more a threat to its own people in my view), but most Americans support Bush. No wonder many commented this is a new Crusade. In America, there are more christians(in terms of percentage, for i was informed Britain has more non-Chiristians than Christians), and G.W.Bush is a fundamental Christian. I really don't know whether you Chtistians in Britain like Bush or not, but while the US has strategic interest in Iraq, Britain, which sent troops to Iraq probably on moral grounds(Sadam regime was a bad one, according to Blair, and I, and most others I blieve, agree), now it suffered the consequences of this faith-conflict.
Maybe you feel sad that there are not as many Christians as you wish in this country. Britain has a strong tradition the government has strong influence on Church( A king seperated Church of England from Pope, is it?), and people have enjoyed peace for several hundred years (except Northern Ireland). So Britain is probably the contry(still with the exception of N.Ireland)with least religious conflicts. Isn't this a good thing? By the way, the 2 Britons I admire most are Darwin and Russell (hehe, Churchill won the greatest person in Britain in a recent survery) who all had liberal ideas.
Now let me turn to the topic of science. Science is about facts, it is to explore the world, and it has no pre-existed assumptions. Scientific theories are based on what were observed in the past, but they must be able to predict future things. And scientific theories are temporary, best at the time, waiting to be replaced by better theories with more explanation and prediction power. They have their scope of application; theories of physcics wont be used to explain how the mind is working. So science never claims to be unchangeable truth. Anyway, I am not studying science, but I believe to have serious argument, one has to throw away assumptions. So when you say "Why did the God cost the death of his son?", this is not persuasive to me, for I don't believe in God. Yeah, I admit I don't fully understand Christianity. But you can try proving the existence of God without assumptions. Thomas spent decades proving this with logic, but his tomes I believe now most Chiristians never touch.
This afternoon I will have an interview with the President of British Association of International and Comparative Education. In her recent book "Education and conflict: complexity and Chaos", she put forward such conectps: positive/constructive conflict, interruptive democracy. The idea is that students should be exposed to, encounter, and experience diffrent opinions, then reach consensus through open discussion, negotiation and argumentation. I am afraid Christians and Muslims will find it hard to do this. This may be part of the reason why state schools should be secular ones. I feel it's a good thing China has an atheist tradtion. If there were big groups of stout believers and followers of different faiths, with such a big population, and generally a low education level, China would be trapped in religious conflicts.
In the present world, only Christianity and Islam are demanding faiths(Buddism is quite tolerant), and there are so many conflicts, so finding a way to make people live in peace with difference faiths is a big issue. Faith itself may not be the answer, for we need to choose a specific faith. Democracy, and tolerance may be the answer.
Actually Chiristianity is more tolerant today than in the past and I think this is good. I am glad to have Christian friends. As I have said, all the Christians I have met are very nice people. Even though we have different beliefs, we can still get along with each other; this is a sign civilisation is conquering.