Civilization... (Main Forum)

by Brian Coyne , LINDEN, NSW, Sunday, April 29, 2012, 10:30 (389 days ago) @ Ynot

I missed watching the "Civilisation: Is the West History?" program on SBS the other night because of Murdoch's appearance at the Leveson Inquiry. I've just caught up with the Civilisation program this morning. It's focus this week was Medicine. But not just in the positive sense of the civilising effect it had on the world and in increasing life expectancy. It was also an examination of the negative side of medical science that nearly exterminated the parts of the world that were believed to be racially or genetically inferior. I found myself asking myself: how close, at the beginning of the 20th Century, did our civilisation come to believing in Eugenics and what would civilisation look like today if we had?

Mulling on the present crisis in Catholicism I find myself asking how is it that a tiny minority can end up dictating the belief agenda for a vast majority? Niall Ferguson in the Civilisation program names the Herero and Namaqua Genocide in German South-West Africa (present day Namibia) as the first genocide in modern history before the word was even invented. [Wikipedia HERE has more information if you've not previously known about it.] It again raises the question as to why small minorities can decide the fate of entire communities and nations basically on the certitude of some belief that they can read "God's Plan for humankind" better than anyone else?

WATCH THE PROGRAM:
http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/285/Civilisation-Is-The-West-History

[image] Brian Coyne
[Editor & Publisher]

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Complete thread:

Thinking erodes religious belief. - Helen, 2012-04-27, 18:27
- Thinking erodes religious belief. - curlie que, 2012-04-27, 19:49
- Thinking erodes religious belief. - Roy, 2012-04-28, 11:34
  - Thinking erodes religious belief. - Helen, 2012-04-28, 11:56
    - Thinking erodes religious belief. - judith, 2012-04-28, 12:00
    - Thinking erodes religious belief. - gemstones, 2012-04-28, 12:17
      - Thinking erodes religious belief. - Roy, 2012-04-28, 12:26
      - Thinking erodes religious belief. - Roy, 2012-04-28, 12:41
- Thinking erodes religious belief. - Francis, 2012-04-28, 15:13
  - When it all gets too hard it's time for an Hootenanny - Roy, 2012-04-28, 16:37
    - Here's Roy's video of the Hootenanny. On ya Roy. - Oh Yet We Trust, 2012-04-28, 17:38
      - Here's Roy's video of the Hootenanny. On ya Roy. - Macbee, 2012-04-28, 22:12
  - Thinking erodes religious belief. - judith, 2012-04-28, 17:18
- Thinking certainly erodes religious fundamentalism... - Brian Coyne, 2012-04-28, 17:29
  - Thinking certainly erodes religious fundamentalism... - Helen, 2012-04-28, 19:00
  - Thinking certainly erodes religious fundamentalism... - desi, 2012-04-28, 20:30
    - Thinking certainly erodes religious fundamentalism... - Brian Coyne, 2012-04-28, 20:53
      - Thinking certainly erodes religious fundamentalism, let alone having opinions! - desi, 2012-04-28, 21:39
        Thinking certainly erodes religious fundamentalism, let alone having opinions! - Brian Coyne, 2012-04-28, 23:07
        Thinking certainly erodes religious fundamentalism, let alone having opinions! - desi, 2012-04-28, 23:20
        Thinking certainly erodes religious fundamentalism, let alone having opinions! - Roy, 2012-04-29, 10:08
    - Bring out Ockham's Razor - Ynot, 2012-04-29, 08:59
      - Civilization... - Brian Coyne, 2012-04-29, 10:30
      - Bring out Ockham's Razor - desi, 2012-04-29, 10:33

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