Freedom of expression - going, going, gone! Loss civilization - Europe at the turning point

Each student of civilization has been exposed to the exciting words, "I can not agree with what a man has to say, but will fight to the death his right to say it." Although widely attributed to Voltaire, it is not in his writings and was apparently developed by a later author as an epitome of the ideal political attitude. The phrase captures the basic concept of democracy, the heritage once proud of European countries, now apparently being sacrificed on the altar of appeasement.

Freedom of expression, a basic principle of democracy, is now voluntarily disavowed in Europe by Governments and intellectuals, rationalization by far as "hatred" (possibly added motivation fear Islamic terrorist reprisals).

The fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his Satanic Verses in 1987 Iranian was an initial indication that European Governments would be back and not to defend their freedom of expression - and this has been.

Author Oriana Fallaci faces charges in an Italian Court that his book "between the cicadas" vilifies Islam - similar accusations against her are also raised in France and Switzerland. Europe today everywhere is obviously willing to sacrifice freedom of expression to appease Islamic critics.

Fallaci, with a first hand knowledge of political Islam, describes him as a force with strong and broad appeal to Muslims who advocate belligerently historical belief of the supremacy of Islam of all peoples and religions.

Reaction of the European Union to Islamic riots against cartoons deemed offensive was the adoption of a law against blasphemy - give centuries of the freedoms of the press and of expression.

In response to protests against cartoons-Muslim, secular and Christian Danish authorities have responded, not with determination to defend their traditions, but the apology and calls for self-censorship.

European newspapers have decided not to jeopardize the impression satirical caricatures on Prophet Muhammad after the Muslim furor generated by Denmark publications.

However, has been banished Christian religious sample: Christmas trees, Nativity scenes, are prohibited even Dutch flags on backpacks.

The shocking reality of young Muslims burning cars in hundreds of French cities (to shouts of Allahu Akhbar) is described in the European press as caused by "criminals", with no more descriptions - freedom of the press also deliberately be restricted.

The pattern of appeasement is evident - Dutch cartoons really evoked little comment when he published originally - then the magnets began they shake and it was awakened international furor - there were riots by Muslims, with dozens of people killed - then came the speeches justifying the riots more demands of religious tolerance in Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran - Europe's responsethey intensify the appeasement.

The Berlin Opera in September 2006 cancelled the representation of an opera by Mozart - an epitome of culture - because of telephone threats anonymous on a scene that represents the head of the Prophet Muhammad. The Opera was accused in the German Parliament of "fall on his knees before the terrorists".

Iraq and Afghanistan - United States and Allied "occupation" to overthrow threatening dictatorships and terrorist regimes, along with the introduction of democratic institutions of Government, is widely criticized in the media detailing real or imagined problems - omit is any mention of the very biggest hits in maintaining the conflict far us banks, the Elimination of oppressive local rulers or the democratic achievements of the peace, such as openings of schools, hospitals and small businesses.

A soft quote, comment by Pope Benedict XVI in Islamic history, in September 2006, provokes reactions from around the world, including the shooting of a nun - the call by Muslim leaders of Muslim tolerance and moderation of those murders - instead the European press renews its call for self-discipline in European speeches (blaming the victim)!

Aaron Kolom qualifies as a "scientist" with more than 50 years aerospace engineering: stress analyst head of structural Sciences in many military aircraft, Corp. Director of structures and materials, program Assistant Chief Engineer shuttle through three first flights (award-winning NASA public service medal), Rockwell International Corp.; Program administrator of Concorde SST, VP Engineering TRE Corp.; Aerospace consultant.

Aaron l. Kolom - brainwashing ** and miracles **

The perceived mentality of the Secular evolution of Darwin re Elite!

** To believe in them, have faith - in science and logic!

Visit the website [http://www.brainwashedandmiracles.com] to learn a little bit about the Bible, from conflict to the confirmation of science vs.

At Turning Point in History The Fall of Atheism - Part 2

Quantum Physics and the Discovery of the Divine Wisdom

When scientists have gone deeper into the atom, they found it shockingly "empty".

One of the areas of science that shatters the materialist myth and gives positive evidence for theism is quantum physics.

Quantum physics deals with the tiniest particles of matter, what is called the sub-atomic realm. In school everyone learns that matter is composed of atoms. Atoms are made up of a nucleus and several electrons spinning around it. One strange fact is that all these particles take up only some 0.0001 percent of the atoms. In other words, an atom is something that is 99.9999 percent "empty."

An even more interesting fact is that when the nuclei and electrons are further examined, it has been realized that these are made up of much smaller particles called "quarks," and that these quarks are not particles in the physical sense, but simply energy. This discovery has broken the classical distinction between matter and energy. It now appears that in the material universe, only energy exists. What we call matter is just "frozen energy."

There is a still more intriguing fact: The quarks, those energy packets, act in such a way that they maybe described as "conscious." Physicist Freeman Dyson, on his acceptance of the Templeton Prize, stated that:

Atoms are weird stuff, behaving like active agents rather than inert substances. They make unpredictable choices between alternative possibilities according to the laws of quantum mechanics. It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every atom.14

What this means is that there is information behind matter. Information that precedes the material realm. Gerald Schroeder, an MIT-trained scientist who has worked in both physics and biology and author of the famous book The Science of God, makes a number of important comments on this subject. In his more recent book, The Hidden Face of God: Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth (2001), Schroeder explains that quantum physics-along with other branches of science-is the tool for discovering a universal wisdom that lies behind the material world. As he puts it:

It took humanity millennia before an Einstein discovered that, as bizarre as it may seem, the basis of matter is energy, that matter is actually condensed energy. It may take a while longer for us to discover that there is some non-thing even more fundamental than energy that forms the basis of energy, which in turn forms the basis of matter.15

John Archibald, professor of physics at Princeton University and recipient of the Einstein Award, explained the same fact when he said that the "bit" (the binary digit) of information gives rise to the "it," the substance of matter.16 According to Schroeder this has a "profound meaning":

The matter/energy relationships, the quantum wave functions, have profound meaning. Science may be approaching the realization that the entire universe is an expression of information, wisdom, an idea, just as atoms are tangible expressions of something as ethereal as energy.17

This wisdom is such an omniscient thing that covers the whole universe:

A single consciousness, a universal wisdom, pervades the universe. The discoveries of science, those that search the quantum nature of subatomic matter, have moved us to the brink of a startling realization: all existence is the expression of this wisdom. In the laboratories we experience it as information that first physically articulated as energy and then condensed into the form of matter. Every particle, every being, from atom to human, appears to represent a level of information, of wisdom.18

This means that the material universe is not a purposeless and chaotic heap of atoms, as the atheist/materialist dogma assumes, but is instead a manifestation of a wisdom which existed before the universe and which has absolute sovereignty over everything that exists. In Schroeder's words, it is "as if a metaphysical substrate was impressed upon the physical". 19

This discovery shatters the whole materialist myth and reveals that the material universe we see is just a shadow of a transcendent Absolute Being. Thus, as Schroeder explains, quantum physics has become the point where science and theology meet:

The age-old theological view of the universe is that all existence is the manifestation of a transcendent wisdom, with a universal consciousness being its manifestation. If I substitute the word information for wisdom, theology begins to sound like quantum physics. We may be witnessing the scientific confluence of the physical with the spiritual. 20

Quantum is really the point where science and theology meet. The fact that the whole universe is pervaded by a wisdom is a secret that was revealed in the Qur'an 14 centuries ago. One verse reads:

Your god is God alone, there is no god but Him. He encompasses all things in His knowledge. (Qur'an, 20:98)

The Natural Sciences: The Collapse of Darwinism and

The Triumph of Intelligent Design

Darwin: His theory is now refuted by a great deal of scientific evidence.

As we stated at the beginning, one of the main supports for the rise of atheism to its zenith in the 19th century was Darwin's theory of evolution. With its assertion that the origin of human beings and all other living things lay in unconscious natural mechanisms, Darwinism gave atheists the opportunity they had been seeking for centuries. Therefore, Darwin's theory had been adopted by the most passionate atheists of the time, and atheist thinkers such as Marx and Engels elucidated this theory as the basis of their philosophy. Since that time, the relationship between Darwinism and atheism has continued.

But, at the same time, this greatest support for atheism is the dogma that has received the greatest blow from scientific discoveries in the 20th century. The discoveries by various branches of science such as paleontology, biochemistry, anatomy and genetics have shattered the theory of evolution from various aspects. (See Harun Yahya, Evolution Deceit, 2000). We have dealt with this fact in much more detail in various other books and publications, but we may summarize it here as follows:

Paleontology: Darwin's theory rests on the assumption that all species come from one single common ancestor and that they diverged from one another over a long period of time by small gradual changes. It is supposed that the proofs for this will be discovered in the fossil record, the petrified remains of living things. But fossil research conducted in the course of the 20th century has presented a totally different picture. The fossil of even a single undoubted intermediate species that would substantiate the belief in the gradual evolution of species has not been found. Moreover, every taxon appears suddenly in the fossil record and no trace has been found of any previous ancestors. The phenomenon known as the Cambrian Explosion is especially interesting. In this early geological period, nearly all of the phyla (major groups with significantly different body plans) of the animal kingdom suddenly appeared. This sudden emergence of many different categories of living things with totally different body structures and extremely complex organs and systems, including mollusks, arthropods, echinoderms and (as recently discovered) even vertebrates, is a major blow to Darwinism. For, as evolutionists also agree, the sudden appearance of a taxon implies supernatural design and this means creation.

Biological Observations: In elaborating his theory, Darwin relied on examples of how animal breeders produced a different variety of dogs or horses. He extrapolated the limited changes he observed in these cases to the whole of the natural world and proposed that every living thing could have come to be in this way from a common ancestor. But Darwin made this claim in the 19th century when the level of scientific sophistication was low. In the 20th century things have changed greatly. Decades of observation and experimentation on various species of animals have shown that variation in living things has never gone beyond certain genetic boundary. Darwin's assertions, like "I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and more aquatic in their habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale."21 actually demonstrates his great ignorance. On the other hand, observations and experiments have shown that mutations defined by Neo- Darwinism as an evolutionary mechanism add no new genetic information to living creatures.

The Origin of Life: Darwin spoke about a common ancestor but he never mentioned how this first common ancestor came to be. His only conjecture was that the first cell could have formed as a result of random chemical reactions "in some small warm little pond".22 But evolutionary biochemists who undertook to close this hole in Darwinism met with frustration. All observations and experiments showed that it was, in a word, impossible for a living cell to arise within inanimate matter by random chemical reactions. Even the English atheist Nobel Prize-winner Fred Hoyle expressed that such a scenario "is comparable with the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junk-yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein."23

Intelligent Design: Scientists studying cells, the molecules that compose the cells, their remarkable organization within the body and the delicate order and plan in the organs are faced with proof of the fact that evolutionists strongly wish to reject: The world of living things is permeated by designs too complex to be found in any technological equipment. Intricate examples of design, including our eyes that are too superior to be compared to any camera, the wings of birds that have inspired flight technology, the complexly integrated system of the cells of living things and the remarkable information stored in DNA, have vitiated the theory of evolution which regards living things as the product of blind chance.

All these facts have squeezed Darwinism into a corner by the end of the 20th century. Today, in the United States and other Western countries, the theory of intelligent design is gaining everincreasing acceptance among scientists. Those who defend the idea of intelligent design say that Darwinism has been a great error in the history of science and that it came to be as the result of materialist philosophy's being imposed on the scientific paradigm. Scientific discoveries show that there is a design in living things which proves creation. In short, science proves once more that God created all living things.

Psychology: The Collapse of Freudianism and the Acceptance of Faith

The representative of the 19th century atheist dogma in the field of psychology was the Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. Freud proposed a psychological theory which rejected the existence of the soul and tried to explain the whole spiritual world of human beings in terms of sexual and similar hedonistic motivations. But Freud's greatest assault was against religion.

Later studies showed that Freud's ideas, especially the ones about religion were totally flawed.

In his book The Future of an Illusion published in 1927, he proposed that religious faith was a kind of mental illness (neurosis) and that, as human beings progressed, religious faith would completely disappear. Due to the primitive scientific conditions of the time, the theory was proposed without the requisite research and investigation, and with no scholarly literature or possibility of comparison, and therefore, its claims were extremely deficient. Indeed, if Freud had the possibility of evaluating his propositions today, he would himself be surprised by the logical deficiency of his claims and he would be the first to criticize such senseless presuppositions.

After Freud, psychology developed on an atheist foundation. Not only Freud, but the founders of other schools of psychology in the 20th century were passionate atheists. Two of these were B.F. Skinner, the founder of the behaviorist school and Albert Ellis, founder of rational emotive therapy. The world of psychology ended up by becoming the forum for atheism. A 1972 poll among the members of the American Psychology Association revealed that only 1.1 percent of psychologists in the country had any religious beliefs.24

But most psychologists who fell into this great deception were undone by their own psychological investigations. It became known that the basic suppositions of Freudianism had almost no scientific support and, moreover, that religion was not a mental illness as Freud and some other psychological theorists declared, but a basic element of mental health. Patrick Glynn summarizes these important developments:

Yet the last quarter of the twentieth century has not been kind to the psychoanalytic vision. Most significant has been the exposure of Freud's views of religion as entirely fallacious. Ironically enough, scientific research in psychology over the past twenty-five years has demonstrated that, far from being a neurosis or source of neuroses as Freud and his disciples claimed, religious belief is one of the most consistent correlates of overall mental health and happiness. Study after study has shown a powerful relationship between religious belief and practice, on the one hand, and healthy behaviors with regard to such problems as suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, divorce, depression, even, perhaps surprisingly, levels of sexual satisfaction in marriage, on the other. In short, the empirical data run exactly contrary to the supposedly "scientific" consensus of the psychotherapeutic profession.25

Finally, as Glynn says, "modern psychology at the close of the twentieth century seems to be reacquainting itself with religion"26 and "a purely secular view of human mental life has been shown to fail not just at the theoretical, but also at the practical, level.27

In other words, atheism has been routed also on the field of psychology.

Medicine: The Discovery of "How Hearts Find Peace"

Another branch of science that was affected by the collapse of atheist suppositions was medicine.

According to results compiled by David B. Larson and his team at the National Institute for Healthcare Research, a comparison among Americans in relation to church attendance yielded very interesting results. Risk of arteriosclerotic heart disease for men who attended church frequently was just 60 percent of that for men who were infrequent church attenders. Among women, suicide was twice as high among infrequent as among frequent church attenders; smokers who ranked religion as very important in their lives were over seven times less likely to have normal diastolic pressure readings than were those who did not.28

Secular psychologists generally explain such phenomena as having a psychological cause. In this sense, faith raises a person's morale and contributes to his well-being. There may be some truth in this explanation, but if we look more closely we see something much more dramatic. Belief in God is much stronger than any other influence on the morale. In comprehensive research on the relationship between religious belief and physical health, Dr. Herbert Benson of the Harvard Medical School came up with some interesting results. Although he did not have any religious faith, Benson arrived at the result that faith in God and worship had a much more positive effect on human health than could be observed in anything else. Benson concludes that he has "found that faith quiets the mind like no other form of belief."29

Why is there such a special relation between faith and human spirit and body? The result arrived at by Benson, who is a secular researcher, was, as he put it, that the human mind and body are "wired for God."30

This fact, that the medical world is slowly beginning to notice, is a secret revealed in the Qur'an with the verse, "Only in the remembrance of God can the heart find peace." (Qur'an, 13:28) The reason why those who believe in God, pray to Him and trust in Him are physically and mentally more healthy than others is that they behave in harmony with their nature. Philosophical systems opposed to human nature always bring pain, sorrow, anxiety and depression upon people.

The basic source of the peace experienced by a religious person is that he acts in order to gain God's approval. In other words, this peace is the natural result of a person's listening to the voice of his conscience. A person does not live the morality of religion simply "to be more at peace" or "to be healthier"; a person who acts with this intention cannot find peace in its true sense. God well knows that what a person stores in his heart or what he reveals. A person experiences peace of mind only by being sincere and attempting to gain God's approval. God commands:

So set your face firmly towards the [true] religion, as a pure natural believer, God's natural pattern on which He made mankind. There is no changing God's creation. That is the true religion-but most people do not know it. (Qur'an, 30:30)

In the light of the discoveries that we have briefly indicated above, modern medicine is starting to become cognizant of this truth. As Patrick Glynn says, "contemporary medicine is clearly moving in the direction of acknowledging dimensions of healing beyond the purely material".31

Society: The Fall of Communism, Fascism and the Hippie Dream

The collapse of atheism in the 20th century did not occur only in the fields of astrophysics, biology, psychology and medicine; it happened also in politics and social morality.

Communism may be considered the most important political result of 19th century atheism. The founders of this ideology, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky or Mao, all adopted atheism as a basic principle. A primary goal of all communist regimes was to get society to adopt atheism and to destroy religious belief. Stalin's Russia, Red China, Cambodia, Albania and some Eastern block countries applied immense pressure on religious people to the point of committing mass murder.

Yet, amazingly, at the end of the 1980s this bloody atheist system collapsed. When we examine the reasons for this dramatic fall, we see that what collapsed was actually atheism. Patrick Glynn writes:

To be sure, secular historians would say that the greatest mistake of Communism was to attempt to defy the laws of economics. But other laws, too, came into play... Moreover, as historians penetrate the circumstances of the Communist collapse, it is becoming clearer that the Soviet elite was itself in the throes of an atheistic "crisis of faith". Having lived under an atheistic ideology-one that consisted of lies and that was based on a "Big Lie"- the Soviet system suffered a radical demoralization, in every sense of that term. People, including the ruling elite, lost all sense of morality and all sense of hope.32

An interesting indication of the Soviet system's great "crisis of faith" was President Mihail Gorbachev's attempts of reform. Since the time that he assumed the presidency, Gorbachev was interested in moral problems as well as economic reforms. For example, one of the first things he did was to initiate a campaign against alcoholism. In order to raise the morale of society, for a long time he used Marxist-Leninist terminology but he saw that this was of no use.

Gorbachev: His futile attempts could not heal the "crisis of faith" in the Soviet society.

Then, in the later years of the regime, he even began to mention God in some of his speeches, even though he himself was an atheist. Naturally, these insincere words of faith were of no use and the crisis of faith in Soviet society continued to worsen. The result was the collapse of the gigantic Soviet empire. The 20th century documented not only the fall of communism, but also that of another fruit of 19th century antireligious philosophy-fascism. Fascism is the outcome of a philosophy which may be called a mixture of atheism and paganism and which is intensely hostile to theistic religions. Friedrich Nietzsche, who may be called the father of fascism, extolled the morality of barbarous idolatrous societies, attacked Christianity and other monotheistic religions and even called himself the "Antichrist." Nietzsche's disciple, Martin Heidegger, was an avid Nazi supporter and the ideas of these two atheist thinkers gave impetus to the terrifying savagery of Nazi Germany. (The Holocaust, one of the greatest act of evil in human history, was the result of Nazi anti-Semitism, an ideology that hated Jews and the monotheistic faith that has been the cornerstone of Judaism-and also Islam.) The Second World War, that caused the death of 55 million people, is another example of the calamity that atheist ideologies like fascism and communism have brought upon humanity.

At this point, we must recall another atheist ideology-Social Darwinism-which was among the causes for the outbreak of both the First and the Second World Wars. In his book entitled Europe Since 1870, Harvard history professor James Joll states that behind each of the two world wars lay the philosophical views of Social Darwinist European leaders who believed in the myth that war was a biological necessity and that nations developed through conflict.33

In contrast with the theist and peaceful American Revolution, the French Revolution was atheist, neo-pagan and extremely violent.

Another social consequence of atheism in the 20th century appeared in Western democracies. In the present day there is a tendency to regard the West as the "Christian world." However, since the 19th, century, a quickly growing atheist culture has held sway with Christian culture, and today there is a conflict between these two cultures in what we call Western civilization. And this atheist element has been the true cause of western imperialism, moral degeneration, despotism and other negative manifestations.

In his book God: The Evidence, the American writer Patrick Glynn draws attention to this matter and, in order to compare the God-fearing and atheist elements in the West, he takes the examples of the American and French Revolutions. The American Revolution was carried out by believers; American Declaration of Independence states that all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights". Since the French Revolution was the work of atheists, the French Declaration of Human Rights was very different, with no reference to God and full of atheist and neo-pagan notions.

The actual results of the two revolutions were quite different: in the American model, a peaceful, tolerant environment was created that respected religion and religious belief; in France the fierce hostility to religion drowned the country in blood and unleashed a savagery such as had never been seen before. As Glynn says, "there is an interesting historical correlation between atheism, on the one hand, and moral and political catastrophe, on the other hand."34

Glynn notes that attempts to turn America into an atheist country have also caused harm to society. The fact that the sexual revolution (for example) that spread in the 60's and 70's caused immense social damage is accepted even by secular historians.35

John Lennon: The world he imagined -one without religion- did not bring a happy end, neither to him nor to his followers.

The hippie movement was a demonstration of this social damage. The hippies believed that they could find spiritual emancipation through secular humanist philosophy and by such things as unlimited drugs and sex. These young people who poured onto the streets with romantic songs-like John Lennon's Imagine in which he spoke of a world "with no countries, and no religion too"-were actually undergoing a mass deception.

In fact, a world without religion actually brought them to an unhappy end. The hippy leaders of the 1960s either killed themselves or died from drug-induced comas in the early 1970s. Many other young hippies shared a similar fate.

Those young people of the same generation who turned to violence found themselves on the receiving end of violence. The 1968 generation, who turned their backs on God and religion and imagined they could find salvation in such concepts as revolution or selfish Epicureanism, ruined both themselves and their own societies.

The Dawn of the Post-Atheist World

The facts that we have briefly summarized to this point shows clearly that atheism is undergoing an inevitable collapse. In other words, humanity is - and will be - turning towards God. The truth of this assertion is not limited only to the scientific and political areas that we have written about here. From prominent statesmen to movie stars and pop artists, those who influence opinion in the West are much more religious than they used to be. There are many people who have seen the truth and come to believe in God after having lived for years as atheists. (Patrick Glynn from whose book we have quoted is one of these ex-atheists).

The fact that the developments which have contributed to this result began in the same period, that is from the second half of the 1970s, is quite interesting. The anthropic principle first appeared in the 1970s. Scientific criticism of Darwinism started to be loudly voiced at that same time. The turning point against the atheist dogma of Freud was a book entitled The Road Less Traveled published in 1978 by Scott Peck. For this reason, Glynn, in the 1997 edition of his book writes that "over the past twenty years, a significant body of evidence has emerged, shattering the foundations of the long-dominant modern secular worldview."36

Surely, the fact that the atheist world-view has been shaken means that another world-view prevails, which is belief in God. Since the end of the 1970's, (or, from the beginning of the 14th century according to the Muslim calendar) the world has seen a rise in religious values. Like other social processes, this does not happen in a day and the majority of people may not notice it because it has been developing over a long period of time. However, those who evaluate the development a little more carefully see that the world is at a major turning point in the realm of ideas.

Secular historians try to explain this process according to their own principles but just as they are in deep error with regard to the existence of God, so they are greatly mistaken about the course of history. In fact, as the following verse reveals, history moves as God as determined: "...You will not find any changing in the pattern of God. You will not find any alteration in the pattern of God." (Qur'an, 35: 43) It follows, then, that history has a purpose and unfolds as God has commanded. And God's command is the perfection of His light:

They desire to extinguish God's Light with their mouths. But God refuses to do other than perfect His Light, even though the disbelievers detest it. (Qur'an, 9: 32)

This verse means that God has sent down His light upon humanity through the religion that He has revealed. Those who do not believe want to extinguish this light by their "mouths"- intimations, propaganda and philosophies, but God will finally perfect His light and give dominion to religious values on earth.

This may be the "turning point in history" mentioned at the beginning of this article as also indicated by the evidence we have provided here, as well as the implications of various hadiths and statements by scholars. Surely, God knows best.

Conclusion

We are living at an important time. Atheism, which people have tried for hundreds of years to portray as "the way of reason and science," is proving to be mere irrationality and ignorance. Materialist philosophy that sought to use science for its own ends has been in turn defeated by science. A world rescuing itself from atheism will turn to God and religion. And this process has begun long ago.

It is clear that believers have important duties in this period. They must be aware of this major change in the world's way of thinking, interpret it, make good use of the opportunities that globalization offers and effectively represent the truth along this road. They must know that the basic conflict of ideas in the world is between atheism and faith. It is not a struggle between East and West; in both East and West there are those who believe in God and those who do not. For this reason, faithful Christians, as well as faithful Jews are allies of Muslims. The main divergence is not between Muslims and the "People of the Book" (Jews and Christians), but between Muslims and the People of the Book on the one hand, and atheists and pagans on the other. Of course, we must not show hostility to such people but view them as people who need to be rescued from their error.

The time is fast approaching when many people who are living in ignorance with no knowledge of their Creator will be graced by faith in the impending post-atheist world.

1. http://www.harunyahya.com/articles/70the_fall_of_atheism_sci34.php

Spiritual values from point of view of an engineer

Introduction

Engineering science and practice aims at meeting the needs of society and improving the quality of life of humans through a practical application of scientific knowledge. At its highest level (for example doctoral level studies and research work) there is a convergence between science and engineering. Both endeavors create new knowledge. The only difference is that the research work of an engineer is in a direction that has a foreseeable practical application whereas that of a pure scientist may be of an entirely fundamental nature having nothing to do with any immediate application. An Engineer engaged in research such as a Professor or Scholar of any well-endowed university (as opposed to one who may be primarily involved in teaching or teaching related administration) may be classified as both a scientist and an engineer.

Spiritual Sciences too aim to improve the quality of life of humans by proposing methodologies for increasing peace, happiness and by alleviating human want and suffering. A primary forum for spiritual study has been organized religion. Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism are some. However, Spiritual Sciences can be, and have been pursued independent of religion as well. The main difference between religious and pure spiritual science is that religion involves history, tradition, ritual etc. besides spiritual knowledge and these differ from religion to religion. That is only to be expected since different religions have evolved in different cultures at different times. If one isolates the spiritual content from religious sources then the differences reduce. There is considerable unanimity between fundamental beliefs as propagated by various religions that are prevalent on our planet. All uphold Love, Truth and Simplicity as some of the highest virtues and all believe in a Single Supreme Intelligence and Creator that is in complete control of all processes - microscopic as well as Macroscopic in His creation.

Some Spiritual Concepts

Just to consider few of the primary spiritual beliefs as upheld by most major religions -there is belief in the existence of a soul as something fundamental to living beings- something that was present before birth and continues after death. The physical body is said to be transient and temporary whereas the soul is not. It is explained that even in childhood and old age beings possess different bodies but the soul remains the same. Through modern science it is possible to transplant and change significant portions of a human body, however as long as the soul remains the same the person remains the same. There is some difference in the stated fate of souls after death amongst different schools. Religions such as Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism and Hinduism that emerged in the Himalayan belt incorporate the principle of reincarnation. It is held that a soul can be reborn as a human being, animal or even on other planet through a process of reincarnation. Religions that developed in the Semitic regions appear to reject this principle at least in their current versions. However even Christianity and Islam profess that a soul will be reborn in heaven or hell according to its deeds and thus support the principle of reincarnation although its nature or terminology differs.

A second aspect most religions emphasize is the principle of retribution. A soul is judged for all its actions (even thoughts) and faces a consequence because of these, either good or bad or both. The principle of retribution is called the principle of Karma in Eastern religions. It has an analogy in physical laws of conservation - to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

When engineers or scientists confront spiritual principles they are faced with several doubts. First of all, scientists and engineers are used to dealing with physical proofs. Spiritual beliefs do not offer any such foolproof evidence and whenever some evidence is actually offered an alternative scientific explanation of the phenomenon remains equally plausible. A second concern that a scientifically minded person faces is that in most cases the methodology proposed for an individual's spiritual progress is often the opposite of that which is required for material progress. For example spiritual practice involves sacrifice and working for serving others as opposed to personal gain. It proposes giving away rather than accumulating. Further, spiritual attainments involve besides sacrifice, long hard practices such as meditation, prayer, fasting, dietary restrictions, functioning in a manner contrary to basic instincts etc. (for example celibacy or Brahamcharya is recommended as opposed to sexual involvement).

Another question a scientist may ask is - if spiritual beliefs are valid then why is it that most humans do not follow that path. It is only a rare Saint or Sanyasi who appears to display spiritual attainment or a firm belief in spiritual practices. Religious texts too say that true spiritual understanding is rare. One of the most widely respected spiritual books in India - The Bhagvat Gita - states that of thousands of men only a few undertake to follow the spiritual road and of these only a few gain understanding. The Christian Bible too claims that reaching heaven is as difficult as a camel passing through a needle's eye. If that is the case, it is entirely reasonable for an ordinary human to question the usefulness of an undertaking where progress is limited and rare as compared to a purely material and physical methodology that is easier more widely practiced and does not involve anything as nebulous as mere faith.

This author too is a Scientist and Engineer but besides scientific study he has had deep interests in spiritual philosophy as well. His belief is that true progress of mankind lies in spiritual development and that scientific progress is not contradictory to material progress. In fact the most fundamental advancement in scientific disciplines have been due to persons who were highly evolved spiritually as well. Einstein for example was a firm believer in God. The doubts such as those expressed earlier in this article have occurred to this author as well, but a resolution of these have been found in spiritual studies. These are discussed next.

Scientists often do not actually measure or perceive a scientific quantity directly. It is perceived through the effects of that quantity. For example, substances possess something known as Internal energy. A quantification of this quantity is essential for design of such things as thermal power plants. However the internal energy of steam, for example, is not directly measured. It is deduced from the effects of internal energy on quantities such as temperature and pressure. Temperature too is not directly seen or measured. A thermometer deduces temperature by the effect; temperature has on the expansion of substances such as mercury or the current that is produced in devices such as thermocouples constructed through wires of two dissimilar metals. Spiritualists argue that the soul too can be deduced from its effects even if it cannot be perceived directly.

As opposed to machines and robots, human possess feelings and emotions. It is difficult for any engineer to conceive of a robot or computer that even in its most extreme extrapolation can possess emotions such as love and hate, or struggle to preserve its existence such as living beings do. I wish that my computer possessed such an instinct. It hardly cares if a virus infects it and if all of my files are destroyed. All living beings on the other hand (except some evolved spiritualists) struggle to hold on to life. Spiritualists declare that these emotional qualities are something that is totally alien to purely physical and material aspects of our universe. Life possesses these because it has something that extends beyond the physical universe and at the individual level this extra something is the soul.

A second effect of the soul is the existence of free will in living beings. All of us believe that we have the freedom to choose between a set of given decisions. Purely material constructs cannot have such a freedom. Its entire doings must necessarily be a result of internal programming or external effects. Indeed engineering designs would fail miserably if machines designed by engineers displayed any sort of free will. In the latter case Power plants may choose to take a holiday at Christmas or one's car may decide to go to the beach when one intended to go to office. Engineering designs are based on the premise that machines cannot possess free will. Engineers as living beings however do possess a free will, albeit within the constraints of circumstances. The constraints that an individual is subject to are related to the degree of evolution of the individual. Individuals and beings that are more evolved possess wider choices and a greater ability to make their wishes come true as opposed to those who are less evolved. God as the most evolved Infinite power in the universe is believed to possess total control and enough power to create or destroy any or all of our universe merely by wishing. Other life forms possess a small or large fraction of this infinite power according to the degree of their evolution. Spiritual sources declare that even though a final attainment of eternal peace or nirvana is indeed rare, any effort in working towards it is not wasted. Such effort even though it may not lead to final liberation, leads to a being evolving more rapidly than his fellow beings, perhaps to become a leader in his chosen field if he or she so desires, and this evolution is carried by that being into future lives even after death.

As to the third concern raised in this article - if spiritual attainments are indeed beneficial why is it so rare? The answer is perhaps a simple one although a blow to human pride. Consider that life exists on other planets in our universe as well. Indeed, that is the likely scenario if one considers the vastness of our universe and the near infinite magnitude of stars that exist in it. It would be too egoistical to think that ours is the only Sun capable of breeding life. The extent of evolution of life must vary from planet to planet as it has varied on ours over time. On some live planets life would be at its most primitive bacterial level, on others at the animal level and on some at a more advanced and higher level than our own planet. If the level of evolution is at the animal or primate level (say that of a chimpanzee that is more than 99 per cent human genetically) then spiritual understanding is impossible. Animals are not capable of understanding spiritual concepts. Whatever evolution will take place on such a planet would be under the benevolent influences of nature and over a long period of time - even millions of years as has happened on our own. Until human or other intelligent beings emerge on such a planet life will function entirely under primary extinct such as those of breeding, eating, shelter, preservation of species etc.

Where exactly does our planet lie in terms of its degree of evolution in this universal scheme? Humans consider themselves far more advanced than animals. However if a close study is made of their motivations, these are identical to those of animals. Humans spend a great deal of effort and thought on sexual pursuits or accumulating wealth (a measure of their capacity for acquiring food and shelter etc.). Great leaders fallen from their chosen course when confronted with sexual temptation. Only a few humans indulge in true philanthropic activity and selfless service that are for the benefit of others rather than their own (or their families) and when they do, it is usually a small portion of their overall effort. Often it is for show or a tax benefit. Governments know of this tendency very well and therefore attach a tax incentive to charitable donations. In this respect the overall evolutionary levels of humans is not really that different from animals. Working for one's family as opposed to just one's own self is not an instinct very different from that of animals. It is then not surprising that at the present level of evolution on our planet, true spiritual knowledge and spiritual attainment is rare. It is simply because planet earth is still an animal planet even if it hurts our ego to admit it. The quality of life has undergone a significant change over the last hundred years as a result of scientific discoveries but the fundamental motivations of humans have not undergone a similar change. An intelligent being - human - that can compose books has definitely emerged on planet earth, but his emergence is recent and his evolution limited.

Some ancient spiritual texts contain a description of heavenly planets (Dev Lok in Hinduism) where the beings (devas) are more advanced then humans and where the primary motivation of beings is selfless service in the universe rather than animal instincts or working towards satisfying one's own interests. At some stage, perhaps hundreds or thousands of years later, our planet too may evolve to the level of a Dev Lok. In the meantime its only a few individuals will perhaps hasten their own evolution to godly levels to be reborn on other planets or perhaps on earth to lead others to follow a similar path, but their call will continue to be the call of a prophet in the wilderness. It will fall on deaf ears too preoccupied with serving their own needs in the way they are accustomed to.

Highly evolved persons give greater importance to service rather than personal gain. Peace, happiness and prosperity are a necessary prerequisite to excellence in any endeavor. How is that possible if individuals spend their time in philanthropic activity rather than in meeting their own personal needs? If some individuals or advanced beings (Dev Purush in eastern terminology or Angels in western terms) base their actions primarily on the service motive, it does not imply that they are disregarding personal gain. They simply put it on the back burner but with the assurance that the meal will be cooked. They are moved in the direction of service because it pleases them to do so yet at the same time they believe that their own personal interests are more easily taken care of when they are involved in selfless service and that their own good lies in the greater good of the world that surrounds them. The principle of retribution assures that it will be so. If we carefully examine the life of humans we know personally, we may come to realize that whatever good or bad happens to them is more a result of external circumstances rather than their own doing. If they take credit for it that may just be a matter of human pride and ego.

Humans are blessed with intelligence but a side effect of this intelligence is pride that is frequently present to cloud reason. The process starts with birth. Some individuals are born with superior genes and in rich families. They get an advantage from the start. Others may be born handicapped or disadvantaged. The process continues throughout life. We find some people get lucky opportunities while others have to face bad luck time and again. Luck is a concept invented by humans. Strongly spiritual persons do not believe in luck but rather believe in a universe where everything that happens is a result of precise control and calculation by Universal Intelligence. Nothing takes place by chance or at random or as Einstein said "God does not play dice". Thus beings that spend their effort in selfless service believe that their own minor interests will get taken care of easily and automatically by the will of the Universe i.e. by circumstances that surround them as a result of their Karma. The latter if true is perhaps a much easier and effortless path to serving one's own interest then having to struggle endless hours for it as most humans seem to. The creator who is capable of creating an infinite universe can do it for you far more easily if He deems fit.

Our planet may be regarded as one that is on the threshold of Dev-like evolution but not yet a Dev Lok or heavenly planet. The reason why it may be regarded to be on the threshold is because life on our planet has evolved to a level where the most intelligent beings i.e. humans can indulge in logical thinking and attain spiritual understanding albeit with extraordinary and rare effort. Humans have been encouraged to undertake to the spiritual path by religiously evolved personalities so as to hasten their own natural and slow evolution and thereby excel as compared to other fellow humans that disregard this path.

Personal Experience:

The readers of this article may find some personal experiences of this author interesting rather than a mere abstract discussion of science versus spirituality.

Since childhood this author has been connected to a well-known religious ashram (monastery) in the Nanital District of Himalayas called Baba Haidakhan Ashram. The connection has been through family and friends. This author did not visit the ashram since the age of five (1955) till the summer of this year (2007). The religious personality - Babaji- under whose guidance this ashram was constructed passed away in February 1984. Since then a trust and administrators that include a large number of International members have managed it. Prior to the visit this summer, this author devoted himself near exclusively to spiritual practice to the best of his abilities as prescribed by Babaji. These included ignoring personal desires and activities and instead practicing to the best of his abilities the virtues of Love, Truth and Simplicity as advocated by Baba Haidakhan. This was combined with further recommendations of chanting and prayer.

In Eastern tradition religious personalities and Saints are said to possess specialized spiritual powers called Siddhis that are not usually possessed by ordinary humans. The power to affect faith healing is one of these. The gift of tongues - ability to speak or understand any language another, mind reading or projecting one's thoughts into another human is also a siddhi. The lists of possible siddhis a being may possess are limitless but human saints become famous because of one or more siddhis that they display prominently. Baba Haidakhan possessed abilities i.e. siddhis such as the ability to read minds, the ability to appear simultaneously in more than one location simultaneously etc.

During his own lifetime the author noted (he has been interested and involved in spiritual practices since childhood) some exceptional powers sporadically through his busy professional career as an International Educator. These included the power to heal, read minds, communicate with animals etc. However these powers were intermittent and often there was an alternative scientific reason or coincidence to explain away the incident. However, on his visit to the ashram and the few months preceding and following the visit when his indulgence in spiritual practice was near total, the author noticed a major rise in the same abilities to the extent that no doubt remained in his mind that these powers do exist. Combined with this power was the power to influence significant events (just by thought) as well as the gift of tounges. During this period this author stayed for a week at the Sheraton hotel in Jaipur in order to organize an exhibition designed to enhance environmental regeneration. The hotel has many international visitors and the author was able to converse with them in their own languages as well as with Indians in several Indian languages. The hotel security and service staff of this hotel as well as several other that he stayed in during his travels enquired if there was any language the author could not speak in. Since these powers were noticeable, some at the ashram enquired from him if he was Babaji himself (Babaji would have been the same age if he was still living). Both bear a certain degree of personal resemblance as well as some family resemblance and both appear to have been born in the Nainital District.

However, all of these powers were not such as those that might violate scientific laws. The power of telepathy, which permits a human to communicate with animals or read minds, is probably a yet undiscovered phenomenon. Many machines that humans have invented have advanced counterparts in the human body. The power to enter another mind has an analogy in the world of networked computers. It is possible to hack into a computer and takeover some of its functions from afar. The human mind at its most evolved levels appears to have a similar ability. The gift of tongues also has a scientific explanation. The author has traveled widely and knowledge of many languages, perhaps even from past lives may exist in the subconscious mind. Spiritual practices enable a person to tap into this resource in a manner that is not possible otherwise. A senior devotee at the ashram enquired from this author about the power of Babaji to appear simultaneously at more than one location. His answer was that in all probability babaji created the effect only as an illusion and in reality he stayed put at one location. Anything is possible if a hallucinatory state can be created. What we perceive through our senses is what our mind interprets and for a being that can enter minds this would not be an impossible feat.

The stated spiritual powers appeared in the author without any real understanding of how they arose. However, that is not a concept most of us are unfamiliar with. We work on our computers without knowing its inner mechanics. All we know is which keys or buttons to press and what effect they might produce. Similarly here the keys were prescribed spiritual and religious practices and the effects appeared to a degree that enabled the author to gain a degree of control on them. Since his return to professional practice he has had less time to indulge in prolonged chanting etc. that he carried out for over six months and simultaneously the said siddhis have also diminished. What remains is the experience and knowledge that the feat can be repeated provided the required effort is put in.