Last class period we talked about the many different English Deists. We first discussed Edward Herbert, who wrote The Truth. He presented the idea of Deism, and gave it its name. He also gave it the definition of being the belief that there is a God who should be worshiped that metes out all justice in this realm and the next, but he stated that everything else the church said was basically untrue and unimportant.
We also talked about John Locke, who among other things presented the idea of the tabula rasa. Basically he said that instead of being born with an innate sense of God and the universe, we are born as literal blank slates, and that all knowledge we gain is through sense and experience.
Then we moved on to Toland, who first used the term Pantheism, and gave it its definition: those who believe in no other eternal being but the universe. We also really liked Toland's recipe for subterfuge, the way that one would essentially worm their way into a topic that they were speaking "for," all the while making the counter argument for the topic stronger than the initial ideal that one is supposed to be speaking towards.
Lastly we discussed Aikenhead, a young aspiring scholar who was recorded to have been very open in a frank disbelief of Christianity. Among other things, he was recorded to have said that: the world's peoples are stupid for having believed Christianity for as long as it had; Jesus was nothing more than a manipulative person who learned "magic tricks" and got stupid people to believe him; and that Moses, if he did exist, was the better of the two peoples. Aikenhead was later executed for his heretic ways.
Fact Q1: How old was Aikenhead when he was executed?
Answer: 20
Thought Q2: Now knowing about Deism, how close is it to your own belief system? Will it make you reconsider your beliefs?
I enjoyed the talk we had on wednesday. Its interesting to read about John Locke after seeing Locke and seeing a resemblence in the two peoples ideas. The recipe for subterfuge also was very interesting. The most interesting part of the conversation though was Aikenheads execution. First it just bought into perspective the represhion that the catholic church gave to the people. I think it's ironic they killed someone for thinking differently then them. By killing them they were breaking one of the ten commandments and also taking on their own form of judgement which God says hes the only one who can judge people. His ideas were just logical, staying bound to this earth or even just trying to look at things in a different way. It makes me believe that the catholic church was more of a tyrant then a place that offered religious comfort.
ReplyDeleteFactual question- Why did the church kill aikenhead
Discussion Question-Do you think people are justified when they kill someone in the name of religion?