The world holds two classes of men -- intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence.- TAD WILLIAMS, "And Ministers of Grace," part of the Warriors anthology (Canada, USA, Europe)
Only a few short stories into it, but thus far Warriors is a solid anthology. . . The Lawrence Block piece was particularly gripping.
8 commentaires:
Lawrence Block is a darn fine writer!
Clever quote, but clever doesn't make it so, and honestly, it kinda irritates me. ...case in point, I guess Einstein was an idiot... and I suppose Issac Newton didn't know anything either... at least according to the logic behind the quote. Darwin, also, was a theologian. When asked about famous scientists those are probably the first to come to mind, and all three of them were religious, maybe not your religion, or your beliefs, but religious all the same. So other than being a clever play on words, the quote is kinda worthless, if not flat out misleading and reinforcing contemporary ideas that really don't have much merit.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert
But I prefer:
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - also Albert.
That's a terrible quote, aspires to wit while really just being self-satisfied. And... well, wrong.
Ahh, inductive reasoning at work. While not universally true, it tends to lead us in the right direction. Thanks Tad.
Must have been a quiet day, then.
Oh and stupid authors who make stupid quotes about religion and intellect. Don't forget that kind of man. >.>
I guess this makes Williams clever and Tolkien an idiot then??
It is a lame quote, and not accurate, but to be generous towards him, perhaps what he was trying to say was that a belief in any particular religious worldview over others isn’t the most accurate view on reality.
For instance, Einstein wasn’t religious in any formal way, and resented people claiming him as being of their religion. As he wrote, “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.” Meaning he knew man wasn’t smart enough to figure it out, or even able to conceive what God may be.
He also wrote, “I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.”
Like any scientist, he rejected what wasn’t logical and refused to believe things simply on faith or because it was expected.
Darwin said the same: “How so many absurd rules of conduct, as well as so many absurd religious beliefs, have originated, we do not know; but it is worthy of remark that a belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life, while the brain is impressionable, appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct; and the very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independently of reason.”
Newton himself was very mystic in his outlook, even to a fault, but he still refused to believe in the Trinity. Just as Kepler used his own belief of God’s sacred geometry to discern the patterns of the planets, and yet at the same time had to keep religious zealots from burning his mother at the stake as a witch.
One has to be discerning in such matters, and such discernment is a mark of intelligence. In the same way, Einstein said the views of atheists are just as ridiculous as those of fundamentalists since neither can truly claim to know the ultimate truth.
“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”
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