One more excerpt from Mere Science and Christian Faith, now available.
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| (To state what is perhaps obvious, this is ironic) |
“Religious institutions, since their founding millennia ago, have managed to keep secrets and to control what their flocks knew about the world, about other religions and about the inner workings of their own religion with relative ease. Today it is next to impossible.” Daniel Dennett (behind paywall)
But that strikes me as somewhat
simplistic. Studies also find a strong correlation between empathy and
religious belief—that is, believers tend to show higher levels of empathy. Can
God make himself known to people despite their technological distractions and
decreased empathy? Naturally. At the same time, some studies suggest that the
use of technology reduces empathy, and since emerging adults are digital
natives and use technology throughout the day, this is a particularly pertinent
issue. I’ve been persuaded that we grow in the virtues through practice, and
the virtue of empathy is something we must cultivate. Conversely, interacting
virtually and not in real relationships numbs our empathy. One can note the
division at Facebook specifically created to mitigate against cyberbullying by its one billion plus users. I
can affirm that the comments to my blogs can be highly negative—and almost
never informed by what I wrote—to a degree that never happens in my public
speaking.
In other words, if using technology
decreases our empathy, and empathy is correlated with faith, maybe technology
decreases our capacity for spiritual life. We need more studies on this, but I
can report anecdotally that the college students I teach and the emerging
adults that have been part of my ministries seem increasingly anxious, even
twitchy. They’re less present to one another and therefore diminished in their
ability to care. There seem to be correlations between screens and these
behaviors, and while I certainly have my intuitions, more scientific data would
be helpful. There’s also the simple issue of how we steward our time: If we
play hours of Grand Theft Auto, there’s less time to go to worship services,
undertake Bible studies, and take part in service projects.
2 comments:
“The way to solve the conflict between human values and technological needs is not to run away from technology. That’s impossible. The way to resolve the conflict is to break down the barrier of dualistic thought that prevent a real understanding of what technology is – not an exploitation of nature, but a fusion of nature and the human spirit into a new kind of creation that transcends both. When this transcendence occurs in such events as the first airplane flight across the ocean or the first footsteps on the moon, a kind of public recognition of the transcendent nature of technology occurs. But this transcendence should also occur at the individual level, on a personal basis, in one's own life, in a less dramatic way.”
Robert M. Pirsig
“The way to solve the conflict between human values and technological needs is not to run away from technology. That’s impossible. The way to resolve the conflict is to break down the barrier of dualistic thought that prevent a real understanding of what technology is – not an exploitation of nature, but a fusion of nature and the human spirit into a new kind of creation that transcends both. When this transcendence occurs in such events as the first airplane flight across the ocean or the first footsteps on the moon, a kind of public recognition of the transcendent nature of technology occurs. But this transcendence should also occur at the individual level, on a personal basis, in one's own life, in a less dramatic way.”
Robert M. Pirsig
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