Belief
Does God exist? If there is a God, or any gods, what are they like? Did they create the world or
humanity? Are they a source for morality? It is possible to categorize views about deities in a variety
of ways. One common procedure is to classify views about the existence of deities. This classification
system categorizes view about deities as:
Theism — The belief that gods or deities exist and interact with the universe. Atheism — An absence
of belief in a single god, all gods, or a belief that gods do not exist at all.
Deism — The belief that a god or gods exists, but does not interact with the universe.
Agnosticism — The belief that there is no way to know about gods or deities.
Design and belief in God
What is design?
Any complex mechanism is designed for a
purpose. Design involves things working
together according to a plan to produce
something that was intended.
If you look at a car you can see that the
fuel powers an engine which turns a shaft
which turns the wheels and so makes a
self-propelled vehicle to allow people further and more easily. A look at any part of a car makes you
think that the car has been designed.
Laws of science
The universe works according to laws. The laws of gravity, electricity, magnetism, motion, bonding,
gases, etc. all involve complex things working together. Since the effect of all those laws working
together is so complex, some belief that proves that has been designed.
DNA
DNA is made up of two strands that form a ladder-like structure called a double helix. The DNA
molecule replicates by unzipping and using each strand as a template for successive strands. These
new DNA strands are then passed on to daughter cells during cell division. Again, a complex subject
matter and therefore a possible argument. The structure of DNA and its formation of templates seem
to indicate a design or blueprint for the structure of organisms.
Evolution
Some also see evidence of design in the process of evolution where complex life forms develop from
simple ones.
Beauty of nature
Some see evidence of design in the beauties of nature. Sunsets, mountains, and oceans appear to
have beauty that an artist would have to spend a long time designing.
Why this may support belief in God
Using the appearance of design to lead to belief in God is often called the Argument of design. It
goes like this:
Anything that has been designed needs a designer.
There is plenty of evidence that the world has been designed.
If the world has been designed, the world must have a designer.
The only possible designer of something as beautiful and complex as the world would be God.
Therefore the appearance of design in the world proves that God exists.
This argument shows how the appearance of design in the world can lead people who are not sure
about God to believe that he exists; and how it will yield extra reasons for believing in God to those
who already believe.
Causation and belief in God
causation
This is the process by which one thing
causes another. It is often known as cause
and effect.
Cause and effect seem to be a basic
feature in the world. Whatever we do has
an effect. If I do my homework, I will have
the effect of pleasing my parents and
teachers. If I don’t do my homework, I will
annoy my parents and teachers.
Modern science has developed through
looking at causes and effects and in particular looking for single causes of an effect. Just as my
parents’ happiness may be caused by other things than me doing my homework, so the increase of
someone’s heart rate may be caused by other things than exercise. So when a scientist tries to
discover the cause of increase in heart rate, she tries to reduce all the variables (for example, arrival
of girl/boyfriend) so that a single cause can be identified. Science seems to show us that, when
investigated sufficiently, any effect has a cause and any cause has an effect.
Today, the big-bang theory of the universe points to an event that started the universe. It says that
originally all the matter of the universe was compressed together, and an explosion of energy caused
it to spread out and form the universe as we know it today.
So, if the universe began, it must have had a cause. The argument then is that this cause must be an
uncaused, changeless, timeless, and immaterial being.
“It must be uncaused because we know that there cannot be an infinite regress of causes. It must be
timeless, or eternal, and changeless, because it was the creator of time (at least causally before it
created time). In addition, because it also created space, it must transcend space and therefore be
immaterial rather than physical in nature. This further implies that this being is separate from its
creation, not a part of it.”
Summary
The appearance of causation in
the world is often called the First
Cause Argument and goes like
this:
If we look at things in the world
we see that they have a cause, for
example, ice is caused by the
temperature falling and water
becoming solid.
Anything caused to exist must be
caused to exist by something else
because to cause your own
existence, you would have to exist
before you exist, which is nonsense.
You cannot keep going back with causes because in causal chain you have to have a beginning, for
example, you have to have water to produce ice. So if the universe has no First Cause, then there
would be no universe, but as there is a universe, there must be a First Cause.
The only possible First Cause of the universe is God, so God must exist.
This argument makes people think that the universe, the world and humans must have come from
somewhere, they must have had a cause. As God is (to them) the only logical cause of the universe, it
makes them think that God must exist, or it supports their belief in God if they already belief.
The search for meaning and purpose
Most people, at some point in their lives, ask the questions:
Why are we here?
Where are we going?
What’s the purpose of our life on earth?
These questions are the start of a search for the meaning and
purpose of life. Very often this search leads people to think that
this life cannot be all there is. They begin to think that the
purpose of this life involves the existence of life after death.
They may come to believe this because one of the purposes of
life for many people is justice – the idea that the good are
rewarded and the evil punished. Obviously this does not happen in this life where the good often
seem to be punished by illness and disaster, whereas the evil sometimes seem to get all the good
things of life. This leads people to think (or hope) that there must be a life after death where the
good are rewarded and the evil punished.
Only God could provide an afterlife and decide who should be rewarded and who should be
punished. Therefore, the search for meaning and purpose has led them to believe that God must
exist.
The search may also lead people to believe that this life is a preparation for a future life with God.
They may then think that the purpose of life is to follow a particular religion, which will lead them to
believe that God exists.
Occurrence of religion and belief in God
When someone sees so many people believing in (some sort of) religion, they begin to think religion
must be true. After all, if billions of people pray to a God, go into special buildings to worship this or
these God(s), follow strict, complicated and hard rules as part of their religion, there must be
something making them do it. There is the feeling that so many people cannot be wrong. If so many
hold a certain opinion, it must be right.
If the person then studies religion, they are likely to be impressed by the fact that, although there are
differences between religions, there are many similarities. Most religions believe in one God, life
after death, the need to follow certain moral rules, the need to pray and worship God.
The similarities may lead the person to think that there must be one force behind all the religions,
with some different interpretations. This force could only be God, and so, if religion comes from God
and leads to God, God must exist.
"The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is
also" Mark Twain
Non-religious explanation of the world
Science explains how the world came into being this way:
Matter is eternal, it can neither be created nor destroyed it only can be changed (scientists call this
the law of thermo-dynamics).
About 15 billion years ago, the matter of the universe became so compressed that it produced a huge
explosion (the Big Bang).
As the matter of the universe flew away from the explosion, the forces of gravity and other laws of
science joined some of the matter into stars, and, about five billion years ago, the solar system was
formed.
The combination of gases on the earth’s surface produced primitive life forms, like amoeba.
The genetic structure of these life forms produces changes (mutations),
Any change that is better suited to living in the
environment will survive and reproduce.
Over millions of years life forms were produced
leading to vegetation, then invertebrate animals,
then vertebrates and finally, about 2,5 million years
ago, humans evolved.
The evidence for the theory of evolution is the fossil
record (the evidence from fossils of life developing
from simple to complex), and the similarities
between life forms being discovered through genetic
research. (about 50 % of human DNA is the same as
that of a cabbage).
Science can explain where the world came from and
where humans came from without any reference to
God. If God exists, he must have made the world and
he must be the only explanation of the world. The
scientific explanation of the world and humans
without any reference to God is could be proof that
God does not exist.
Assignment Column
If so many people believe in God, he must exist. But then again, most people once believed the earth
was flat…
What do your parents believe? What do you believe? Are there any special rules you follow? If you
don’t believe in God, what do you believe? Do you believe anything?
Write a column for a magazine, about your own culture and beliefs. (about 500 words)
The argument of design, the evidence of causation, the meaning and purpose of life must be
featured in your column.
Spirituality in art
How does contemporary art address the idea of spirituality? How do artists working today reveal and
question commonly held assumptions about faith, belief, meditation, and religious symbols?
Beryl Korot
While quilting, actress and host S. Epatha Merkerson
evokes the theme as a “thread which connects us all.”
Using found material culled from the broadcast, Korot
manipulated the footage on her computer, slowing down,
colorizing, and looping isolated gestures and sounds.
Ann Hamilton
Whether working with sculpture, textiles, film, and
sound, or even her unique mouth-operated pinhole
cameras, Ann Hamilton finds all her art to be about a
“very fundamental act of making.” “When I’m making
work,” she says, “there’s a point where I can’t see it. And
then there’s that moment where you can see it—it’s like
it bites you—and you think it might be beautiful.” The documentary follows the construction of one
of the artist’s installations entitled ghost… a border act (2000), which exemplifies the relationship
between the line of thread and the line of the written word. For this site-specific installation inside an
old textile mill in Charlotte, North Carolina, Hamilton projects a video image onto translucent silk
walls of a room. The video shows a close-up view of a pencil drawing a line that is then ran in reverse.
The segment then travels to the Venice Biennale for the artist’s installation, myein (1999), which
incorporates an audio recording of whispered words and a poem written in
Braille on the walls. It is made slowly visible by intermittent drops of
magenta powder from the ceiling. The documentary also features Hamilton
experimenting with the beginnings of other art projects, and interacting with
her son and friends at her home in Columbus, Ohio.
John Feodorov
Calling on his Native American heritage and sense of humour, John Feodorov sets tradition against
modern-day kitsch to create a “hybrid mythology” in provocative multimedia installations. His work
whimsically examines his own and New Age assumptions about Christianity and Native American
spirituality. “I have this background,” he says, “of a traditional Navajo and this outsider Christian
background of Jehovah Witnesses, which are completely opposed to each other. And I’m in the
middle trying to make sense out of it.” Filmed in Seattle, Washington, where the artist works and
lives, the segment features his Totem Teddies (1989–98) series, which critiques the co modification
of spirituality. Feodorov combines the Navajo’s majestic bear symbols, with notions of consumer
society, infusing the totem with a promise of salvation for sale. “Advertising wants people to believe
that buying something will change their lives,” he explains. “Well, this is something that is just
outright telling you that.” We also witness Feodorov’s Office Shaman (2000)
performance/installation, in which he joins contemporary office culture with ritual healing and
sacrifice. He openly admits that his work debunks spirituality, but only in order to investigate
supposedly “fixed” ideologies.
Shahzia Sikander
Trained in the labour-intensive discipline of Indian and
Persian miniature painting, Shahzia Sikander has adapted
an enduring artistic tradition to the task of questioning and
exploring her Eastern heritage, its boundaries, and its
liberating possibilities. “My whole purpose of taking on
miniature painting was to break the tradition, to
experiment with it, to find new ways of making meaning, to question the relevance of it,” she says.
The segment follows Sikander through the ritualistic and methodical process of miniature paintings.
“It takes many, many layers, at least ten to twenty layers of different colours to build it up,” she
explains. “It’s in the application. The build-up has to be very thin, because it builds luminosity. The
whole key to that sort of jewel-like sensibility is to build it up very slowly.” Raised as a Muslim in
Pakistan, next door to India, her work combines figurative and abstract elements from both Muslim
and Hindu cultures. The borrowing and crossover between cultures is evident in Sikander’s work as
she plays with ideas of veiling and revealing. The segment traces her many balancing acts: between
studio and museum, small works and large-scale installations, Islamic faith and American attitudes
towards Islam, and her life in the United States as it compares with her family’s in Pakistan.
James Turrell
The final segment in Spirituality profiles James
Turrell, an artist known for his use of light as the
primary material in his work. Turrell has devoted his
life to capturing the ethereal properties of light and
its powers to evoke transcendence and the sublime.
Recalling his Quaker upbringing, Turrell recounts his
initial interest in light, which was inspired by his first
experience at a meeting house. “My grandmother was trying to tell me what you did [there],” he
says, “and her explanation was you went inside to greet the light.” In Turrell’s commissioned Live Oak
Friends Meeting House (2000) in Houston, the building’s installed sky space aligns the sky with the
ceiling’s edge, enabling those who enter the space to have a unique and intimate experience with
light, an experience characteristic of Quaker tradition. Art:21 then travels to the Painted Desert in
Flagstaff, Arizona, where we discover Turrell’s life’s work, Roden Crater. “I had this thought to bring
the cosmos closer,” he explains. This observatory includes a series of tunnels and chambers opening
to the sky, encouraging visitors to connect with the stars and experience the mystifying yet
grounding realization that we, too, are a part of this universe.
New Rituals
What rituals prepare artists to make the work they do? Explore the performative and
process-oriented aspects of making art and examines ritual as an act that is given
special and sometimes mythological significance. After looking at how ritual affects
artistic practice, reflect on rituals in daily life, such as cleansing, eating, dressing as well
as life rituals births, weddings, or graduations. Explore how they affect the
consciousness and culture of individuals and communities and create a new ritual based on what
they perceive to be missing among the aspects of life that have been ritualized, commemorated, or
mythologized in our culture.
Many artists discuss their working process and the routines and rituals they make part of their art.
Janine Antoni makes repetition and ritual one of the central themes of her work in the interest of
“bringing you back to the making, the meaning of the making.” Gabriel Orozco takes walks as part of
his practice of making art outside of a formal or fixed studio. Bruce Nauman diligently records daily
activities on his ranch in New Mexico and reflects on them as a form of meditation and an art
practice.
How is ritual reflected in contemporary art?
What is the difference between a ritual and a habit or a routine?
When or how does a habit or routine become a ritual?
How is a habit or a routine like a motif in art?
What is the purpose of a ritual and why do communities engage in particular rituals?
How is a ritual related to the idea of commemoration?
What is a rite of passage?
What value systems are revealed by the choice to mark or ritualize specific aspects of life?
“I imitate fine art rituals such as chiselling (with my teeth), painting (with my hair and eyelashes), moulding
(with my body).... The reason I’m so interested in taking my body to those extreme places is that that’s a place
where I learn, where I feel most in my body... I’m really interested in the repetition, the discipline, and what
happens to me psychologically when I put my body to that extreme place.”
Janine Antoni