“Can we afford religion?”
By Dàlia FERRAN for Shared Future News
8 August 2012
An informal discussion to investigate the implications and consequences of religion upon our lives was held at Roody MacCorley Social Club as part of the Féile an Phobail in West Belfast on 8th August.
The event saw Father Des Wilson and Jack Duffin come together to examine the role of religion nowadays in different communities and institutions such as schools.
Jack Duffin highlighted the need to separate myth from the facts in the education system. He supports the idea that in the 21st century religion should not be taught at school and university faculties because there is not a single theory verified or any evidence of facts in the Christian religion statements:
Father Des Wilson — who has been living and working in West Belfast since 1966 and for 40 years has inspired and supported many people to develop their own responses to the many social, economic and political crises confronting the community — talked about the existence of God, ourselves and creation/self-creation:
Father Wilson said that he is not interested in believing in a God that doesn’t exist. According to him, when you get at the point of what is the beginning of existence, “You realise the most interesting thing of existence, is non-existence […] We need something more than a natural world around us, in order to understand the reason of existence — more than natural becomes the supernatural.”
The audience also participated. The various points of view expressed made it clear that the discussion continues and religion is something that remains a most interesting topic.
