World Religions

Zooming in on Huston Smith 's Why Religions Matter : The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief

As a respected religious expert from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT , Huston Smith delved deep into the religious dimensions of human life in his book entitled Why Religion Matters : The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief (2001 . In this book , Smith posited the iniquities of modernity had disparaged religion . For example , both the higher education system in his view operated without a soul and the current legal system

he contended is amoral . This is primarily why he pushed that religion really matters because using it the human heart could seek its own answers to questions left unexplained by science and the modern worldview

At present , every social institution - media , government , education and science-- has its own worldviews . Institutions are called as such because there are lots of people involved and definitely it 's not easy for them to get along well . Also , wisdom is limited . The ideals of the United States are wonderful but there are many flaws in our national life . Does anyone think it doesn 't make mistakes and does bad things at times ? It 's the same with regard to religion

For example , according to Smith (2001 , the definitions of science and religion are inextricably bound to any position one encounters concerning the relationship between science and religion . There is no such thing as some neutral point of beginning from which we may compare alternative arguments , as these arguments necessarily concern not only the relationship between science and religion , but their essential identity as well

Undeniably , modern society has placed unfaltering trust in science and pushed religion to the periphery of life or excluded it . Definitely , it cannot meet the deepest needs of its members . That is why religion matters Smith (2001 ) insisted that it can meet those needs . He likened modern society to be slithering within a tunnel of its own making , with scientism (the mistaken view that science has all the answers ) as its floor , American higher education (locked onto scientism ) as its left wall , the media (which do not take religion seriously ) its ceiling , and law (which forces religion out of the public sector ) as its right wall Smith (2001 ) deemed in his book that people should allow science and religion their proper roles . And so to eclipse or overshadow or outrank the religious worldview with the scientific worldview , Smith suggested leaves us without orientation as to how to live our lives

Evaluation

Huston Smith (2001 ) had produced an academic , yet readable and almost short of being preachy style of exposition of what he perceived to be as the root of our spiritual crisis : the traditional , spiritual view of humanity and the cosmos has suffered a loss of plausibility under the assaults of modernity (with its scientific cosmology ) and a loss of moral authority under the assault of postmodernity 's fairness revolution ' modernity and postmodernity have their own problems - they...