School Post - SSC251 #1
This evening was the start of my classes for the January Semester in UniSIM. The module that I attended earlier today was called Religion in Contemporary Societies. The main reason I chose this class was that I wanted to learn how the social sciences explain Religion. Being an atheist, I was actually hoping the module would explain scientifically on the non-existence of a higher power. Well I was a little disappointed. Because apparently according to my lecturer, most social scientists stop short of discussing the existence of god. Just a handful do, and these few do get into some kind of controversy somewhat. But throughout the 3 hour lecture that she gave, she did drop hints every now and then about the general consensus that social scientists have: There is no research method that can be used to measure qualitatively or quantitatively whether god does exist.
In tonight's lecture, the lecturer went from introducing the basic definition of what a religion is to the components of religion: Faith, Belief and Spirituality. Though not all things deemed spiritual are religious. She also mentioned the importance of Normative versus Academic understanding of religion. It is important that scholars of religion avoid evaluating or debating on the truth claims of any religion. The goal of a social scientist studying religion is to Observe, Describe, Explain and Interpret religious phenomena. The social scientist must also avoid being ethnocentric or religio-centric and always apply the theory of cultural relativism. This is the theory where all cultures (including religion) possesses differing views but each view must be respected accordingly. She also went through some of the reasons why people are religious and remain religious from perspectives of the various disciplines in the Social Sciences. The gist of it all, basically tolerance of the various views amongst those who believe or don't believe in religion.
Although I was disappointed a little, I did have a change in mindset after attending this lecture. Nope, I am still an atheist! I guess my goal now will be to understand what motivates people to remain within their religions. And what these religions offer to their followers that is so sacred (this word was used alot in the lecture!). Because apparently the theory of secularization states that as the years go by, human beings will be less religious and look to science for answers about the world. However the statistics taken in 2005 showed that only 11.92% of the world are non-religious and that 2.05% of people are atheist. So what about the other 86% of people living in this world? Why do they still believe in religion?
I think it will definitely be an interesting semester to come.
In tonight's lecture, the lecturer went from introducing the basic definition of what a religion is to the components of religion: Faith, Belief and Spirituality. Though not all things deemed spiritual are religious. She also mentioned the importance of Normative versus Academic understanding of religion. It is important that scholars of religion avoid evaluating or debating on the truth claims of any religion. The goal of a social scientist studying religion is to Observe, Describe, Explain and Interpret religious phenomena. The social scientist must also avoid being ethnocentric or religio-centric and always apply the theory of cultural relativism. This is the theory where all cultures (including religion) possesses differing views but each view must be respected accordingly. She also went through some of the reasons why people are religious and remain religious from perspectives of the various disciplines in the Social Sciences. The gist of it all, basically tolerance of the various views amongst those who believe or don't believe in religion.
Although I was disappointed a little, I did have a change in mindset after attending this lecture. Nope, I am still an atheist! I guess my goal now will be to understand what motivates people to remain within their religions. And what these religions offer to their followers that is so sacred (this word was used alot in the lecture!). Because apparently the theory of secularization states that as the years go by, human beings will be less religious and look to science for answers about the world. However the statistics taken in 2005 showed that only 11.92% of the world are non-religious and that 2.05% of people are atheist. So what about the other 86% of people living in this world? Why do they still believe in religion?
I think it will definitely be an interesting semester to come.