Would you believe it?
| AN OUTSIDERS VIEW |
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| Ken Fuller |
With the holidays, I thought I might touch upon religion, even if in an unconventional manner, but — would you believe it? — inspiration failed to arrive until Dec. 23. It came in an e-mail from a friend, providing a link to Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief, Jonathan Miller’s 2004 three-part series for BBC4, now available on YouTube.
Miller begins by tracing the origins of belief in the supernatural. This was rather more than a case of primitive societies ascribing that which could not be explained to various gods, for from the word go religion has been used to underpin the power and influence of rulers. Thus, in the words of one of the contributors, in a society devoted to ancestor-worship the prestige of various “dead old men” was invoked to bolster that of certain “live old men.”.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/
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