Year+9+Religious+Education

Truth & Spirituality: The Four Truths

FOUR TRUTHS include Religious Truth deals with things that cannot be seen. Despite this, believers are prepared to rely on abstract reasoning based on religious experience in order to say things which they believe to be true about God and life. They believe that God's actions may be observed in the universe and that these are recorded in Sacred Scriptures. They believe that one’s inner voice of conscience is the voice of God at work. They also believe that the truth leads to salvation: as Jesus of Nazareth says, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John’s Gospel, Chapter 8: verses 31-32)
 *  1.  ****Spiritual/Religious Truth **

This asks the question, how must I behave? An answer is reached through abstract reasoning = logical thought-processes. Are moral truths ABSOLUTE (always and everywhere true)? Or RELATIVE (only sometimes true, depending on the circumstances)? How is Moral Truth arrived at? When you ask the question, is murder wrong? How do you know? There is of course the voice of conscience as above, but the main activity of the philosopher is abstract reasoning: this means thinking logically until one comes from conclusion.
 *  2.  ****Moral Truth **

These are reached by asking questions such as Who? How? Where? When? Why? Where has my culture come from? How can I be sure of what happened? Some facts are thought to be objective, which means that they are beyond dispute: you can't argue about them even if you want to. Sometimes, different historians will reach different conclusions even when they are examining identical documents. These conclusions are said to be subjective. Thus, an objective truth would be that Mrs Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979. A subjective truth would be to assert that she was the best Prime Minister in modern history. The first statement is a matter of historical record. The second statement is a matter of opinion, which can nonetheless be supported by reference to documents. In order to arrive at historical truth, historians examine documents, archaeological finds, and listen to the recollections of the elderly.
 *  3.  ****Historical Truths **

Scientists ask questions such as, How does the universe work? How do I know? What happens if I … ? Scientific Truths are arrived at mainly through observing evidence, formulating hypotheses or theories, testing those hypotheses, and eventually reaching a conclusion. These conclusions are of course only as old as the evidence which supports them: constant revision of hypotheses in the light of new evidence often leads to the abandoning of old truths, most famously the truth that the earth was flat. This was rejected when Copernicus (or was it Galileo?) discovered that the earth is, in fact, very nearly round.
 *  4.  ****Scientific Truth **

1. What is the difference between evidence and proof? [1 mark]
//Evidence is not the same as proof! Evidence is more of a reason to believe a theory, the greater the evidence the more likely we may be to believe the theory and regard it as true. Persuassion, interpretation and certain circumstances effect the 'truth' of edivence. Proof cannot be questioned and therefore is to be regarded as abolsute truth.//

2. What is the difference between subjective and objective truth, and how might a historian come to use both of these? [4 marks] //Think of a school project you have to undertake in history concerning the life of Lichfield. You want to pay particular attention to those who have lived and work in a specific street during the last three hundred years. You consult the archives (object truth) as well as those who live in the street today, as well as those who remember past residents who have died (subjective truth). Objective truth is without bias and beyond dispute, whereas subjective truth is biased in some way or other and often is given to opinion or another form of judgement that is not without bias.//

3. ‘For something to be true, you must be able to prove it.’ How far do you agree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer, showing that you have thought about more than one point of view. [5 marks] //What sort of truth are we talking about? Which of the four truths? Objective, subjective or absolute? What is 'truth'? How do we 'prove' something to be 'true'? Think of certain but different contexts to explain your position.//

4. Does it surprise you that about 40% of professional scientists claim a religious faith? Why might a scientist find faith difficult? How might s/he be persuaded that faith was not incompatible with science? [5 marks] //Simply consider the main differences between Spiritual Truth / Religious Truth and Scientific Truth: how can the existence of God be 'tested' / proven? How can the experiences of a 'beliver' be tested or revelations concerning God's 'true' existence?//

5. What weaknesses can you find in scientific method? [3 marks] //Does frequency of testing a theory equate to finding a 'truth'? Even if the same thing happens 100 times does the theory become grounds for stating an absolute truth? Isn't every experiement conditioned by certain factors and therefore any truth arrvied at will be subjective?//

6. If you had reached a moral decision (for example, whether to invest your money ‘ethically’, or with a view only to attracting the maximum return on your outlay), how could you be sure that you had made the right decision? Give reasons for your answer, showing that you have thought about more than one point of view. [5 marks] //A moral decision is a decision concerning a form of behaviour that is good / right as opposed to bad / wrong. Who / what determines what is 'good' or 'bad'? Who / what influences how we reach our moral decisions? Is 'goodness' premised (based) on the true principles? What about conscience? What about specific factors in certain circumstances? Moral truth is about living out an associated moral act that is considered to be right. "Is it right to help the poor?" is a different statement to "John got ten out of ten right in his test". How do we make a moral judgement? Many factors shape how we respond. Remember: how we arrive at a moral judgement is influenced by people around us, our upbringing or our religious faith. One person's 'right' is another's 'wrong'. Such moral deicsions are highly subjective.//