Religion, will it have a role in Society and Politics in the future?

[Moxie]

Religion and it's role in society.

As a society we have evolved and are pulling away from Religion, enrollment and attendance in Churches are at an all time low Globally. The definition of "Family" has changed, yet Religious Doctorine has failed to evolve with the changing attitudes of Society visa vie Same Sex Marrages, single parent families etc. In order for organized religion to survive, my opinion, religion needs to adapt to modern society not the other way around. At one time it was considered taboo for females to work, our role was defined as being the heart of the family. Over time this has changed, will religion evolve or will it simply die a slow and painful death? I'm not certain, but if current trends are an example Organized Religion is dying.

Religion and Politics, traditionally the Conservative Party represented the Christian Right but the current Conservative Party doesn't seem to be following the traditional grass roots of the Con party. Have we reached a point in this country where Religion should be left out of politics? Personally, I believe mixing Religion and Politics to be counter productive. Using religious doctorine to make laws, or new legislation is not in the best interest of the majority in Canada. Religion wants to impose and enforce their doctorine on a portion of society that doesn't adhere to their beliefs. Examples would be abortion and homosexuality, if the hard right Religious Zealots had their way both would be illegal. Does Canada need Religion to tell us what is morally wrong? NO. Should religious groups have a voice in Government? NO, outside of being a lobby group I believe it's time to cut the religious right free of political parties.

I was listening to a radio Preacher, fundy Baptist, he was blathering on about the hemline of women's skirts. Apparently our worth is defined, by this church, by the length of our skirt hems. If a hem lines is above the knee we were Charlatans who were only out to steal someone elses husband. He blathered on for a half hour berating the ordinary women because the visual image he sees defines the person's worthyness to his GOD. I honestly didn't think men that backward walked amongst us in the 21st Century, I most certainly don't want them having any political influence in the future of our Country. I can only shutter in horror, first hemlines then what?

[Riverwind]

As a society we have evolved and are pulling away from Religion, enrollment and attendance in Churches are at an all time low Globally.

Regular attendance at church is a islamic-judeo-christian thing. Other religions don't place as much importance in it.

The definition of "Family" has changed, yet Religious Doctrine has failed to evolve with the changing attitudes of Society

A certain percentage of people will resist social change - no matter what. In our current cultural context it is some churches that resist this kind of change and use their doctrine to justify it. On the other hand, it was pursuit of 'Christian Values' that brought about the end of slavery in England in 1807.

Membership in a religion is no longer mandatory in our society which means the churches have lost the non-believers that were forced into the doors via peer pressure. But religion/spirituality is not going to go away because humans have a basic need to believe in something greater than themselves and some people feel this need more than others. This means there will always be a minority who will support a religion of one form or other. This minority will distributed among a communities of non-believers which means local churches are no longer economical but the disapperance of the local church does not mean the religion itself has gone.

Personally, I find it appalling that there are people in the country that believe that people with the certain DNA should be entitled to rights that no other citizen has. I find that belief as irrational any rant on the proper attire for woman and am quite bothered when activists seek to impose their views on the political process. However, I try to remind myself that the political process is designed to allow many people with many different view points to express their views and that sometimes I will have to accept outcomes that I don't agree with because the democratic consensus has a different opinion.

The only problem I have is with people that won't accept the results of the democratic consensus and resort to violance and intimidation to get their way. Groups of every political stripe are guilty of doing that from time to time.

Edited November 5, 2007 by Riverwind

[jazzer]

our society which means the churches have lost the non-believers that were forced into the doors via peer pressure. But religion/spirituality is not going to go away because humans have a basic need to believe in something greater than themselves and some people feel this need more than others. This means there will always be a minority who will support a religion of one form or other.

I agree with part of your second statement. There will always be spirituality around, but religions I feel will die out. People will eventually wake up to the fact that religion has caused the most problems and devastations to the human race.

Edited November 6, 2007 by jazzer

[luvacuppajoe]

Everyone votes for the political party which most closely reflects their own morals and belief system, there's nothing new there and that trait is as true with the left as it is with the right.

The most ardent of religious believers can be hostile to the Conservatives for not being right enough and will gravitate to the more religious-based fringes, just as some on the left will find the NDP lacking and instead find a home among the left-leaning fringes.

It's ironic -- in a chicken and egg kind of way -- that as church attendance has steadily declined, the churches are now more inclusive and open (women in power, acceptance of abortion and homosexuality) and are attempting to recruit more members in a secular and progressive society. Which is the cause and which is the effect I'm not sure but the correlation between attendance and progression is interesting.

Speaking of chickens and eggs, it's interesting too that as we have become less dependent on extended family and church family for support, we've become more dependent on government. Taxation has supplanted tithing as state welfare has replaced the church. Some might find that a good thing, some...not so much.

[White Doors]

I agree with part of your second statement. There will always be spirituality around, but religions I feel will die out. People will eventually wake up to the fact that religion has caused the most problems and devastations to the human race.

A popular myth that is not true. Stalin killed more people in a couple of decades than religion has in thousands of years. You should think a little deeper than 'bumper sticker' thought.

Edited November 6, 2007 by White Doors

[M.Dancer]

The most ardent of religious believers can be hostile to the Conservatives for not being right enough and will gravitate to the more religious-based fringes, just as some on the left will find the NDP lacking and instead find a home among the left-leaning fringes.

More correctly, the most ardent of the christian right can be hostile to the conservatives.....

...It is a fallacy to assume that ardent christians are all ultra conservatives or even a majority of ardent christians are conservatives. Take a look at practising Roman Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans and just about most mainstream churches and you will the rank and file of the liberal social democratic movement.

Case in point, refugess and immigrants. While the ultra left prima donnas may like to jump on this cause for the publicity it gives them, it's is generally the local church goers that open their doors and wallets for no publicity at all.

[maxsyno]

North Americans -perhaps more so in Canada have accepted all forms of Christian religion without much ado.

European countries continually opposed it for centuries (albeit, not sucessfully an suffered much cruelty). However, in general they did see and understand religion as a state mechanism of the ruling landed class to oppress the majority whom actually were (and many still are) clan based and pagan.

We also need only read the philosophy of the 'enlightenment' period in history years later from early fifteenth century (let alone the unwritten history of and by the people) to realise this. Yes, 'rational thought' was advocated by philosophers as a 'means' a 'tool' for freeing oneself from religion, but it was not to be construed as a final 'cure' , on the contrary a beginning toward the 'activity' of freedom. Such was to be used by the people undergoing oppression via the inherent fatalism in ALL Christian/ Catholic doctrine. It was thought by the philosophers that only rationality could break through the drowsing effects of fatalism. Rather, a calling to CONSCIOUSNESS if you WILL.

However today, many whom claim not to be christian still hold onto its 'value system' . It is more rampantly popular today than what it was eons ago from conquest to this colonial structure to our current state of agency. Agency and identity notions resign themselves to cloaked hierarchies of consensual moral and stretched standards of imperial expressions.

The thinking behind ethics, morality and principles are constantly framed within binary opposisitions as they were centuries ago. Even when the little bloke in the crib is not mentioned this antiquated way of thinking dominates the political field and the way people/individuals understand themselves today. Identity always has to therefore seek acceptable archaic forms of justification before real human expressions of self can 'ever' be discussed or deeply focused upon.

It would seem to me that North American thinking in the main is subject to a kind of melancholia imposed by its overbearing conquerers. The latter, ironically seem to have laid it to the wayside. Of course, they have had hundreds of years opposing it and its inevitable and cloaked brutality in turn to inflict it upon others.

Charity is a mechanism of control. It always has been. It earns money for big business, global relations in the world system of development and under development (third world maintained as third world to feed the first) with the back up of many a full on Christian in the form of aid and 'immunity'. It is this very aid that feeds the paternalism of inequality, marginalisation, poverty and yes war. More than ever charitable organisations have huge import into politics. Both voting and non voting falls prey to right wing politics on the global scale of things.

Importantly, its own ethics has seaped through the classes in canada. The politics from an alleged left to the right is all paternalistic while simultaneously being sadled with its own brand of oppositional discourse or of 'turning the other cheek'.

Perhaps it is time for us to transcend the loop and not put faith in politicians or religion. A faith based epistemology is always an antithesis. It may 'appear' to merge as synthesis but it does not.

[jazzer]

A popular myth that is not true. Stalin killed more people in a couple of decades than religion has in thousands of years. You should think a little deeper than 'bumper sticker' thought.

You fail to see the larger picture. I'm not talking just about death, how about the human condition in general. Victor Zammit summed it up nicely when he said "Two thousand years of Christian crusading, two thousand years of aggressively dominating the hearts and minds of the unaware, two thousand years of brutal censorship and cruel manipulation of the peoples' minds"...not to mention the countless millions who have died because of religion. Church attendance is down, RC parishes are closing up shop. People are waking up, albeit slowly.

Edited November 7, 2007 by jazzer

[kengs333]

You fail to see the larger picture. I'm not talking just about death, how about the human condition in general. Victor Zammit summed it up nicely when he said "Two thousand years of Christian crusading, two thousand years of aggressively dominating the hearts and minds of the unaware, two thousand years of brutal censorship and cruel manipulation of the peoples' minds"...not to mention the countless millions who have died because of religion. Church attendance is down, RC parishes are closing up shop. People are waking up, albeit slowly.

Ummm, I don't think you get it. First of all, our western civilization is founded on Christianity, it was because of Christianity that the world's knowledge was collected and studied to the point where western civilization became the most technologically and socially advanced in the history of mankind.

It's also easy to draw very general conclusions about western civilization when one only as a (very) limited understanding of European history, not to mention Christianity. First of all, much of European history has been peaceful. Second of all, most wars were fought by rulers who used religion as an excuse/motivation for worldly gain. Thirdly, we know what happened in Europe because Europeans could read an right. No doubt wholesale wars and massacres happened throughout the world, but they are no lost to time.

Personally, I couldn't care less if RC churches are "closing up shop". The faster the better. It's long standing opposition to and persecution of real Christians caused it to lose legitimacy long ago. And if Christians are eventually pushed underground again, it will only speak to fact that western civilization is regressing, returning to moral decay and degeneracy of the Romans. It will only validate what is written in the Bible, further underscoring the fact that it is the Truth.

Isn't Zammit a New Age crank?

Edited November 7, 2007 by kengs333

[Frankie]

I personally don't think religion will die. It's been around for as far as we know, although organized religion as we know it might fad away. I mean over history certain religions have taken many forms and have had reforms and changes along the way. But I think it will always play a role and have influence on mankind in one way or another.

[Posit]

Historically, the Church has evolved just slightly enough to thwart the revolutions against them. It is happening now as we see Pentecostal and Evangelists turning into Sunday rock concerts just to attract the crowds. They believe that people want to be entertained and occupied and so they have managed to swing quite a few people away from the dominant churches of the past and int the evolved newer formats.

There is a need in Canada to remove the interlock between dominant Christian thinking out of the political institutions of government. As that happens it opens the doors for oppressed minorities to rise up and be heard within the system. And there would not be even a discussion today about "reasonable accommodation" if the predominantly white Christian male was not losing power within the government, business and society in general. The days of raced-based power are over.

[jazzer]

Personally, I couldn't care less if RC churches are "closing up shop". The faster the better. It's long standing opposition to and persecution of real Christians caused it to lose legitimacy long ago.

It's exactly that kind of "my religion is better than yours" attititude that will be its undoing.

And if Christians are eventually pushed underground again, it will only speak to fact that western civilization is regressing, returning to moral decay and degeneracy of the Romans. It will only validate what is written in the Bible, further underscoring the fact that it is the Truth.

When will you Christian types realize that, once again, you can't use the bible as proof of itself. And as far as moral decay is concerned, it has been religion that has kept us in the dark and pitted man against man. The whole idea of our society "regressing to the Romans" is poppycock. We will only advance once religion is replaced by reason.

[Smallc]

It's exactly that kind of "my religion is better than yours" attititude that will be its undoing.

When will you Christian types realize that, once again, you can't use the bible as proof of itself. And as far as moral decay is concerned, it has been religion that has kept us in the dark and pitted man against man. The whole idea of our society "regressing to the Romans" is poppycock. We will only advance once religion is replaced by reason.

Organized religion gets away from the message. I prefer things such as "Touched by an Angle." I'm not kidding.

[maxsyno]

"Historically, the Church has evolved just slightly enough to thwart the revolutions against them. It is happening now as we see Pentecostal and Evangelists turning into Sunday rock concerts just to attract the crowds".

This is very true. Apparently people are flocking to the born again christian syndrom. All of 'it' is steeped in emotionally charged euphoria from songs, singing, speaking in tongues and what ever 'positive impulse' comes out. Many people feel they have control in there life once they can capture on an essence or a piece of happiness.

"They believe that people want to be entertained and occupied and so they have managed to swing quite a few people away from the dominant churches of the past and int the evolved newer formats".

Yes: Latin America is ridden by evangelical/born agains and whatnot. They managed to replace guilt ridden catholicism with the 'freedom' of these newer formats. Kind of understandable in this context but why the North Americans? Is it because of the lack of there own culture and history as well as the lack of political voice, autonomy or of naiveity?

"There is a need in Canada to remove the interlock between dominant Christian thinking out of the political institutions of government."

Very much so. Many jobs positions, funds and so fourth are net worked by them. They do have terrific input into politics by distorting the hearts and minds of people in a self preserving gratuitous way.

"As that happens it opens the doors for oppressed minorities to rise up and be heard within the system".

It would be a relief to hear people thinking of minorities as human beings and not objects of charitabe accomodation. Many organisations, including government segregate minorities off as 'especially' needy. The political and religous organisations themselves feeds this 'kind' brand of outright racism. You probably even vote for them!

"And there would not be even a discussion today about "reasonable accommodation" if the predominantly white Christian male was not losing power within the government, business and society in general".

Quite!

"The days of raced-based power are over".

I wish it was. But religion and politics go hand in hand with sexist, and race based white power. First nation christians are clustered together in the churches . . . right at the back. Speaking in tongues is NOT a universal language but drawn up territories betwwen rulers in both church and state. It is the language of colonisation. Some folk have expressed that the christians at least have surpassed racism and welcomes in f/ns. However, being patronised or tolerated, or simply 'allowed' is racist.

[Moxie]

Wow great responses everyone.

Riverwind I agree with you regarding spirituality and faith they are here to stay.

Iloveacuppajoe wrote: Speaking of chickens and eggs, it's interesting too that as we have become less dependent on extended family and church family for support, we've become more dependent on government. Taxation has supplanted tithing as state welfare has replaced the church. Some might find that a good thing, some...not so much.

That's how I perceived how society has advanced, unfortunately the "Handup" has become a lifelong hand OUT.

One thing I have noted about religious people, they don't fight to preserve their way of life. When our Christian Culture and Practices have been attacked they were mute. Now Christmas is the "Holiday Season" and our school plays are Festivals instead of Christmas Pagents. How can organized Religion survive when they don't fight for their beliefs and customs? The meek will not inherit the earth.

Regarding Catholics, the Pope has stated that we aren't "Christians" we are superior to them because we are Catholic. LOL what nonsense.

[Posit]

"Historically, the Church has evolved just slightly enough to thwart the revolutions against them. It is happening now as we see Pentecostal and Evangelists turning into Sunday rock concerts just to attract the crowds".

This is very true. Apparently people are flocking to the born again christian syndrom. All of 'it' is steeped in emotionally charged euphoria from songs, singing, speaking in tongues and what ever 'positive impulse' comes out. Many people feel they have control in there life once they can capture on an essence or a piece of happiness.

"They believe that people want to be entertained and occupied and so they have managed to swing quite a few people away from the dominant churches of the past and int the evolved newer formats".

Yes: Latin America is ridden by evangelical/born agains and whatnot. They managed to replace guilt ridden catholicism with the 'freedom' of these newer formats. Kind of understandable in this context but why the North Americans? Is it because of the lack of there own culture and history as well as the lack of political voice, autonomy or of naiveity?

"There is a need in Canada to remove the interlock between dominant Christian thinking out of the political institutions of government."

Very much so. Many jobs positions, funds and so fourth are net worked by them. They do have terrific input into politics by distorting the hearts and minds of people in a self preserving gratuitous way.

"As that happens it opens the doors for oppressed minorities to rise up and be heard within the system".

It would be a relief to hear people thinking of minorities as human beings and not objects of charitabe accomodation. Many organisations, including government segregate minorities off as 'especially' needy. The political and religous organisations themselves feeds this 'kind' brand of outright racism. You probably even vote for them!

"And there would not be even a discussion today about "reasonable accommodation" if the predominantly white Christian male was not losing power within the government, business and society in general".

Quite!

"The days of raced-based power are over".

I wish it was. But religion and politics go hand in hand with sexist, and race based white power. First nation christians are clustered together in the churches . . . right at the back. Speaking in tongues is NOT a universal language but drawn up territories betwwen rulers in both church and state. It is the language of colonisation. Some folk have expressed that the christians at least have surpassed racism and welcomes in f/ns. However, being patronised or tolerated, or simply 'allowed' is racist.

The official stance of mainstream churches is that they welcome all people of all nationality and origins. However, the majority of church elders still fall into that exclusive category of one race domination. I remember one minister whom I was working with in making some applications for funding a major project. He hit a wall in trying to steer the church into tolerance and acceptance and he eventually gave in, left the rural church he was minister of and went to Toronto to anther church. Funny enough the diocese sent in a lesbian minister to fill in while they decided who to hire to fill his shoes. Needless to say there were a few people less in the pews on Sundays....for a while....

[cybercoma]

Ummm, I don't think you get it. First of all, our western civilization is founded on Christianity, it was because of Christianity that the world's knowledge was collected and studied to the point where western civilization became the most technologically and socially advanced in the history of mankind.

Yeah, the Church is the driving force behind science and technology. Look at how they treated Galileo and how they currently treat Darwin and evolution. The resistance to stem cell research is another good example of the Church plowing forward in science.

Faith and reason are incompatible, give me a break.

[Frankie]

Faith and reason are incompatible, give me a break.

That's just not true. It depends on what faith you're talking about, and how people might practice their faith. If you're talking about Relgions in general, then there are so many people, and opinions within so many different faiths, you couldn't generalize. It would be prejudice. I've only read the Bible and most parts of the Qur'an, and haven't come to any conclusion or read any thing that might suggest that we shouldn't use reason in our efforts in understanding, or expand our knowledge, or study certain things, like stem cell research. It's just conclusions other people or groups have come to for their own reasons.

[maxsyno]

Yes, id agree faith and reason are incompatable.

I guess i could use a crude example, which hopefully could be applied as some kind of general principle.

If a car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and the driver is not mechanical, does not have a phone or an engine manual, the driver has few options of 'what to do' in order to 'move on'.

I guess the rational kind of individual would attempt to try and work out the problem of why the motor broke down. That would be even if he/she has no knowledge skills of car maintainance. They would endeavour to reason it out through vision, or following by touch cables and so fourth.

Faith based folk would pray. Anybody or anything could come along at any moment or NOT, but whatever happened after the prayers; it would be interpreted as either a blessing or a warning from god/jesus. Chance would not figure into it. Reason ( one of the faculties we have as human) would then be applied to 'justify' any faith based effect whatsoever.

Again, a crude example, but you can see what im trying to get at.

[Frankie]

Yes, id agree faith and reason are incompatable.

I guess i could use a crude example, which hopefully could be applied as some kind of general principle.

If a car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and the driver is not mechanical, does not have a phone or an engine manual, the driver has few options of 'what to do' in order to 'move on'.

I guess the rational kind of individual would attempt to try and work out the problem of why the motor broke down. That would be even if he/she has no knowledge skills of car maintainance. They would endeavour to reason it out through vision, or following by touch cables and so fourth.

Faith based folk would pray. Anybody or anything could come along at any moment or NOT, but whatever happened after the prayers; it would be interpreted as either a blessing or a warning from god/jesus. Chance would not figure into it. Reason ( one of the faculties we have as human) would then be applied to 'justify' any faith based effect whatsoever.

Again, a crude example, but you can see what im trying to get at.

No, that's a good example. I understand what you mean. But what if the persons faith is one where they believe God is in control of everything all the time?

Or they could say that God planned the other persons day in such a way that their circumstances would have them drive down this road and this certain time and help the person with the broken down car.

But then if that was the case, then God could have just allowed the car not to break down in the first place...unless the person believed their was a lesson to be learned. Like they were supposed to take better care of their car for a worse time...or maybe decide to get a cell phone, or learn some mechanical skills for that reason or another.

I would say those are reasonable situations.

Or the person can also believe that God does not have a direct hand in the outcome of the situation, and doesn't always work in every little problem, and this is something the person has to resolve and just consider an unfortunate set of circumstances. That makes sense, and you can still believe in God.

I still think faith and reason can work.

[Visionseeker]

Ummm, I don't think you get it. First of all, our western civilization is founded on Christianity, it was because of Christianity that the world's knowledge was collected and studied to the point where western civilization became the most technologically and socially advanced in the history of mankind.

Uh, no. The Church has always stood in opposition to the pursuit of knowledge and truth. Whether it be, Copernicus, Galileo or Scopes (to name but a few), the Church has actively suppressed scientific inquiry and, more importantly, dissemination from almost the beginnings of Christianity. Much of what we tout as western knowledge and innovation born from the "enlightenment" were actually old ideas. Rediscoveries of practices and creations of ancient cultures (Greeks, Romans, etc...) and more recent ones from the Muslim reaches of the world.

Western civilization collected and studied such knowledge in spite of the Church and continues to do so to this day (embryonic research).

It's also easy to draw very general conclusions about western civilization when one only as a (very) limited understanding of European history, not to mention Christianity. First of all, much of European history has been peaceful.

Cough!

Europe was a constant staging ground or recipient of invasion and war through much of recorded history. In fact, I defy you to demonstrate one century of that history that could be characterized as "peaceful". From the wars of ancient Greece and Rome, to the Hun invasion, Nordic invasions, Holy Roman Empire, Norman Conquest, the crusades and the Muslim invasions, to the 100 years war and the myriad of conflicts between principalities, Napoleon, WWI, WWII, and most recently in the Balkans, that continent has clearly had some issues.

Second of all, most wars were fought by rulers who used religion as an excuse/motivation for worldly gain.

Drop the past tense and substitute "most" for "nearly all" and you'll have me onboard.

Thirdly, we know what happened in Europe because Europeans could read an right.

I'm going to assume you meant "read and write". If such literacy did indeed exist, it is a pity that it wasn't exported to subsequent generations. But the fact is that the vast majority of European countries' inhabitants were illiterate until the 20th century.

No doubt wholesale wars and massacres happened throughout the world, but they are no lost to time.

Huh?

Personally, I couldn't care less if RC churches are "closing up shop". The faster the better. It's long standing opposition to and persecution of real Christians caused it to lose legitimacy long ago. And if Christians are eventually pushed underground again, it will only speak to fact that western civilization is regressing, returning to moral decay and degeneracy of the Romans. It will only validate what is written in the Bible, further underscoring the fact that it is the Truth.

The Bible is the truth!? Really!? Is all of it the truth, or is it just some of it that is? If it's only some of it, who determines the truth-to-fiction split? What qualifications do they have for doing so? Do they confer via e-mail with the original publisher? Or do they just nit-pick the parts that suit their aims?

The “RC” is on decline because education and reason is the anti-thesis to its dogma; as it tends to be to all religion. The Christianity you’ve known and experienced won’t be pushed underground, it will simply adapt or die.

[Frankie]

The Christianity you’ve known and experienced won’t be pushed underground, it will simply adapt or die.

Yes, that is true. Although I don't think it will ever die, but I think it will adapt. I think it has always been adapting since it's been around, with so many changes the world has been going through. Especially the past 100 years, Christianity has been changing a lot in North America as far as I know. But not the morals and faith itself, but the religion will adapt, and the way people might practice it.

[RedDaVinci]

Ummm, I don't think you get it.

Sarcastic hemming and hawing in a debate forum is not constructive... it's just hostile.

First of all, our western civilization is founded on Christianity, it was because of Christianity that the world's knowledge was collected and studied to the point where western civilization became the most technologically and socially advanced in the history of mankind.

It's also easy to draw very general conclusions about western civilization when one only as a (very) limited understanding...

Talk about general conclusions! Now Christianity is the cause of all wonders of Western civilization. That is an incredibly loaded statement, and before you say anything else, you might want to back it up with something.

From what I know, Western society has its origins in ancient Greece... way before Christians. And wasn't it Christians who rejected the most important fundamentals of science when they were originally brought up in the Renaissance and Medieval Ages?

The Earth revolves around the SUN?! BLASPHEMY I say!

How did Newton survive after he said that a force was an acceleration applied to a mass in that kind of world?

By the way... America, the "crux" of today's Western civilization, as many would call it, was founded upon DEIST principals, not CHRISTIAN ones. That is to say, spiritual, but non-denominational. Look it up.

[cybercoma]

Or the person can also believe that God does not have a direct hand in the outcome of the situation...

If god doesn't have a hand in the outcome of situations, then why even believe in him at all? If he's spending his existence as though we don't exist, then why are people even bothering killing one another to uphold their vision of what God wants? A hands off creator is a perfect reason to live atheist. Theism is wholly unnecessary if God doesn't have a hand in anything.

[jefferiah]

The Earth revolves around the SUN?! BLASPHEMY I say!

It was not a blasphemy. The scientific community of the time were the ones who were outraged about that, moreso than the church.