I was at the local Socrates Cafe meeting in Montclair a few evenings ago (yes, after 4 years I’m back with them). That night, the group seemed to lack its usual enthusiasm for coming up with a multitude of topics for discussion, and then weaning them down through a balloting process. So I threw out an idea that had been rattling around in my head, about the nature of morality and ethical behavior in humans. I.e., is it more social or innate? Does morality originate within each of us (or many of us, or at least some of us) and then somehow get co-opted by the human collective (as laws, ethical notions, shared moral values)? Or does it somehow emerge from the group, and is then assumed by the individual through osmosis (at least in the better of us)? Given the lack of inspiration on anyone else’s part that night, my idea was quickly accepted.

Well, this turned out to be a good topic, as it inspired about 90 minutes of intense and wide-ranging discussion. I can’t say that I left the room with a conclusion; a lot of the discussion frankly veered off from the intended subject. But that’s OK, Socrates Cafe is all the more charming for its lack of academic discipline. What did interest me was the reaction that one of the men in the group had. This fellow, who I respect greatly, is in his late 50’s or early 60’s, and is employed as a bio scientist. I would describe him as “logical positivist” in outlook. He appears to believe that science is the best answer to humankind’s dilemma. He feels that notions of God or gods or spirits or inner spiritualities are hardly necessary. Science explains more and more of our reality, in a very definitive and useful fashion. There’s hardly anything left to the realm of mystery anymore.

So in response to my question,  »  continue reading …

I went to the local Socrates Cafe meeting the other night, for an interesting discussion about God. The topic for the evening, suggested by a young medical school student from the Middle East, was whether God exists. Yes, the young student made it clear that he comes from the Islamic faith tradition. However, the science and high-tech environment of western medicine was giving him some . . . well, perhaps not doubts about God, but some second thoughts anyway. He said that he was reading some books by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who of course goes totally nuclear against any notion of a transcendent creator and sustainer in the universe. So, the young fellow with the beard had come to the local half-assed western philosophers, to see what they had to say about it.

This was quite interesting and special. I myself have lived a sheltered life, relative to the Islamic world. I really haven’t known too many Muslims; and the few that I have known weren’t / aren’t very up-front about it. They are mostly just average Americans, trying to get by; their religious practice and heritage just happens to be Islam. This young doctor-to-be wasn’t really all that different. However, he certainly did care about God, and was open-minded enough to reach out beyond the counsels of the local mosque or imam to talk about “it” (i.e., the question of God’s existence).

The group was rather small, only myself, the moderator,  »  continue reading …