Mysticism: ISN’T VERY ARROGANT TO STATE THAT RELIGIONISTS DON’T THINK? MANY RELIGIONISTS ARE KNOWN TO BE WRITERS, PHILOSOPHERS, RESEARCHERS AND SCIENTISTS EVEN.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Brian StewartNovember 23, 2009 at 1:10 AM
I never state that religionists don’t think. What I say in the book is that mystics call on people to believe and not question the tenets of religion. There is overwhelming evidence of that. You are right, there are indeed many religionists who used their intellect; one of them, Thomas of Aquinas, the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology, did so and he was one of the few religious commentators who subscribed to the philosophies of Aristotle instead of Plato. For this he was castigated and condemned in certain quarters. Similarly, the Muslim philosopher Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd (known in European literature as Averroes), Hillel, the Jewish philosopher noted for the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud, and many others from all denominations developed many philosophies around religion, the power of God and man’s destinies. My book deals with the imperative to ‘believe’, the injunction to ‘not question’ and the threat of sanction if you do, as a serious imposition on man’s right and responsibility to do exactly this. The notion that people should be prohibited from criticising religions, which is a recent development on the international front, is a serious threat to freedom and will no doubt develop into similar sanctions concerning criticising those in authority, i.e. political leaders. Freedom of the press will indeed be one of its casualties.
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