Class session: Tuesday, October 27
Guest Summarizer: Declan Kelsey
The discussion began with a comment on Rumi, and the de-Islamification of his poetry. This led to conversation regarding appropriation of tradition with the intent of relating to a larger demographic, specifically that of European-Christians. This then sparked a conversation about the nature of secularism and Christianity, and the intertwinedness of the two. The secularization of Christianity has been influenced, and in its turn influenced the theory of separation of church and state, which we discussed both in theory and in practice to be vague. We concluded that keeping the establishment of religion and the government separate is a generally good idea, but that policing religious values from government is not only impractical and impossible, but bound to result in unethical and potentially genocidal policy, citing examples of the Soviet Union and Communist China. Ideas about the state of religion also circulated, whether or not religion as a whole is “dying” in practice, or whether it is the same as it has always been. This in turn led to further discussion about whether religion should be retired from public and political life, whether that was for the benefit or detriment of society, and whether or not religion was retreating at all. The conclusions reached were not concrete, as it depends largely on the religion in question and a specific region of the world, but the general consensus was that Christianity, particularly in Europe is on a decline, existing now only in the established state churches and culture, but not a major part of public life, and in the case of the Czech Republic and Northern Europe, a relatively taboo thing to even discuss in public. The discussion ended on the debate between religion and science, whether the two were mutually exclusive, and whether or not science is truly a suitable replacement for religion. Once again, the conclusions reached were not ironclad. There are many religious people who support and ascribe to science and the scientific method, and many scientists who not only believe in a god but are deeply religious.
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