NEW! Tutorial - Discussion Group: Thursday, 15th May 7pm
(Introductory session ): £5.00
SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION IN THE SCIENTIFIC AGE
Has science made spirituality irrelevant and irrational?
Tutored / Chaired by Murray L. McAllister (B.A (Hons.) M.A PGCE)
Outline:
Since the age of Enlightenment in Europe (late 17th Century onwards) there has been freedom to challenge religious thinking and religious beliefs, and greater freedom for scientific research and discovery. This has led to the current age of materialism and empirical reasoning, in which nothing can be accepted as truly existent unless it can be proven to exist by being experienced by the senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing or sight - and demonstrated by repeatable scientific experiments.
Consequently, spirituality, metaphysics and religious thinking have been marginalised by mainstream science and dismissed as, at best unprovable - and therefore of little relevance to humanity, and at worst delusion, 'wishful thinking' - and, in the case of the extreme New Atheist movement, it is actually considered to be a form of mental illness (?!)
Expressions such as 'the God of the gaps' (a mocking term, which considers a continued belief in a God in an age when the material universe is being explained by science, to be a desperate attempt to hang on to supernatural beliefs for as long as there is anything left that science cannot explain) are used by mainstream science to show that spirituality / religion is a fading and irrelevant belief - which has no place in the modern world...
Many people find this scientific dismissal of their inherent spirituality quite intimidating - and it causes them self-doubt and insecurity - and a reluctance to be open about their sense of spirituality and religious belief.
Is materialist, empirical science correct? Is spirituality an outdated belief in superstition and simply a psychological / delusional comfort?
Or can empirical science be challenged? Can spirituality / religious belief be validated in this modern, scientific age..? My studies and research tell me that the answer to both of these questions is yes. This tutor group aims to discuss the issues and to offer rational, reasonable and logical responses to scientific scepticism.
I hope to see you there..!
Murray
(Introductory session ): £5.00
SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION IN THE SCIENTIFIC AGE
Has science made spirituality irrelevant and irrational?
Tutored / Chaired by Murray L. McAllister (B.A (Hons.) M.A PGCE)
Outline:
Since the age of Enlightenment in Europe (late 17th Century onwards) there has been freedom to challenge religious thinking and religious beliefs, and greater freedom for scientific research and discovery. This has led to the current age of materialism and empirical reasoning, in which nothing can be accepted as truly existent unless it can be proven to exist by being experienced by the senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing or sight - and demonstrated by repeatable scientific experiments.
Consequently, spirituality, metaphysics and religious thinking have been marginalised by mainstream science and dismissed as, at best unprovable - and therefore of little relevance to humanity, and at worst delusion, 'wishful thinking' - and, in the case of the extreme New Atheist movement, it is actually considered to be a form of mental illness (?!)
Expressions such as 'the God of the gaps' (a mocking term, which considers a continued belief in a God in an age when the material universe is being explained by science, to be a desperate attempt to hang on to supernatural beliefs for as long as there is anything left that science cannot explain) are used by mainstream science to show that spirituality / religion is a fading and irrelevant belief - which has no place in the modern world...
Many people find this scientific dismissal of their inherent spirituality quite intimidating - and it causes them self-doubt and insecurity - and a reluctance to be open about their sense of spirituality and religious belief.
Is materialist, empirical science correct? Is spirituality an outdated belief in superstition and simply a psychological / delusional comfort?
Or can empirical science be challenged? Can spirituality / religious belief be validated in this modern, scientific age..? My studies and research tell me that the answer to both of these questions is yes. This tutor group aims to discuss the issues and to offer rational, reasonable and logical responses to scientific scepticism.
I hope to see you there..!
Murray
