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Faith in science is like evidence of god. It's an irrational sentiment and a non-starter for debate. A more apt question would be, "Would you sooner believe in science than have faith in God (and his established teachings)?"
I will answer on behalf of the revised question here.
And I would sooner believe in science. Scientists have been building on the same ideas for thousands of years. Religions are too diverse. If I were to go with God, I'd have to first decide which version of him to accept. And that's a wholly impossible decision. How can a person decide which religion is telling the truth, and which ones are wrong? Should I go by the dominant religion of the place I grew up? That seems rather arbitrary. Or which version I agree with most? That seems a little too biased.
You don't think faith factors into belief in science? Do you believe that a water molecule is composed of 2 hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom? If so, why? Have you personally witnessed a water molecule and personally determined its composition?
If not, how do you know? If the answer is that someone you trust told you that this was true (such as a teacher, writer, or scientist), I would ask you to explain how this is not a demonstration of your faith in a person and a process that you deem authoritative in the realm of physical phenomena.
This is the exact same epistemological basis on which a theist puts his faith in God. He trusts his priest and his church for the same reasons that you trust the author or scientist: You trust his or her method, and you trust that her or she has authority in this realm. The fact that science is empirical does not logically factor into your argument.
The epistemic justification is identical. Hence, this debate is well worth having.
There's two types of faith: belief in something without evidence to support that belief (EX: Faith that God exists), and trust in someone (EX: Faith that my mom'll pay the bills). The "faith" that we have in scientists is the second kind of faith. They've proven that they're right time and time again, and they've shown that if they're not right, they'll correct themselves. The evidence that they're right is the entireity of civilization. To quote Thunderf00t: "Civilization is simply a monument to science."
The fact that we can cure most diseases, the fact that I can go from raleigh to chicago in less than 2 hours, the fact that we're even having this conversation is proof that scientists are right most of the time and that their method works. Religion, on the other hand, and faith in religion, has no more evidence than that which is based upon confirmation bias and intuition, which is hardly worth calling evidence.
The confusion between these two definitions is the cause of a lot of time consuming and pointless arguments, and it's something to watch out for.
I need to correct my previous post that tags the argument as for God. I've tried to edit it but I get no response; bugs have crept into the program somehow. I wonder who allowed them access?
It's just got to be apparent to anyone who is prepared to think - ALL gods are purely Man-made.
The absract subject of Religiosity is the realm of dumb intellectuals who should know far better than to treat it seriously. It's obvious tosh. They surely must realise that the mind is naturally prone to the generation of illusions & arrive at the common sense conclusions that any sane person would!
Being raised a Roman Catholic for my entire life, I have always been told to turn to God for help. I was Confirmed as a Catholic a few years back. Within the past few months, I have begun to question my religion, and their teachers.
Why should I believe in something I cant see, or touch? How do we know the Bible writers weren't just lying? Basically, the entire Roman Catholic religion is based upon the bible. I still have not made my decision of whether to stick to my faith, or become an Atheist.
"If you believe that the laws of logic are true, then you believe in something that you cannot see or touch."
The laws of logic, like most of your other examples, are conceptual, abstracted, theoretical. The laws of logic don't actually "exist" in any real sense. They are merely rules derived from a few self-evident first principles.
God, you might argue, is real in the very same "theoretical" sense. I would agree, but that is a very non-substantial form of existence that no one denies: obviously the concept of God exists, or else we wouldn't be having the conversation. Implicit in your idea is the ontological argument which has been refuted.
Similarly, numbers and letters exist as 'ideas' which are useful in describing the universe. Likewise, no one denies the "idea" of God exists.
Furthermore, frameworks like math and logic can be tested. Does 2 + 2 indeed make 4? Try it yourself, and that will prove its axiomatic consistency.
The bible was put together years after its writers had died when the Romans decided to become Catholic. I myself was Catholic, but now I believe in my own beliefs. Science has evidence to support it, God only answers the last two questions, how the universe began and what happens after death. I say combine science with faith. For example, I believe in evolution. I think that when humans evolved, God gave them souls because He saw that they were the first creatures that could question and think. See? A happy compromise.
Wow, about a year and a half ago I was in your exact same position. I too was raised Catholic but I felt questions about my faith. I eventually chose to become an atheist.
I will not try to influence your decision, because ones own personal beliefs are just that: personal. Whether you choose to remain a Catholic, or become and agnostic or atheist I hope you will remain tolerant of others beliefs.
Like you, I have been raised Catholic. I became athiest simply because if there is a god, he must be some asshole on a high throne too good to step in and help. However, I can concede that something must have caused the big bang. Maybe God, maybe he caused evolution. Rest with science, but accept the possibility.
If you can't confirm the existence of God (a metaphysical being), then how can God, directly or indirectly, confirm the existence of a man (a material being)?
Please don't turn away from God. I've just joined this forum and read your response and it concerns me, and Him, I assure you.
Do you believe in love? In hate? In truth? You cannot see or touch these things? You only see and touch the results of these things. God is the same. I used to believe as you (reversed—I started out as an atheist and wasn't raised in a Christian home). Let me ask you this: Do you feel in your heart of hearts that the writings in the Bible are lies. What is untruthful about them? I used to think, when I was a know-it-all adolescent, that some where in the universe, three guys were laughing "They bought it. They bought it! Got the whole world to believe it!!" But of course, that's a very childish, cynical and typical-of-a-teenager view. The truth is three persons did write it, through man, with purpose and with love and IN TRUTH.
What will becoming an atheist do for you? Really? How would losing your faith help you in any way? It would turn you away from TRUTH, and that's the worst thing in the world. Talk to your minister. Or another one, if you're not happy with the Catholic church. Talk to HIM. I'll pray for you. Peace.
Oh, and for everyone else: God and science don't have to be opposed. There would be no science without God? God created scientists, too. There are many scientists who believe in God, so we shouldn't box them into a category of "unbelief."
But you should always question. Having doubts leads to better understanding. If you blindly believe, you are simply a slave to your religion. But if you question and search for answers you may find a personal understanding of God.
Science is understandable and predictable. God is his/her own person and thus not easily understandable or predictable. You can expect science to do certain things, but God can get mad and smite you out of nowhere! :)
Science will always perside over everything. You don't see religion been taught in school as fact, only belief. Science on the other hand is factual, black and white, with no shades of grey.
One cannot have faith in science. Faith isn't allowed in science, so if you subscribe via faith, it means you're not adhering to science. And faith is easily demonstrated to be a non-starter in every respect. One need only look at the thousands of proposed gods over the course of religious history, and the fact that most people of faith today, insist that most of those gods never existed. And yet they adhere to faith in support of their own god, demonstrating that they haven't learned from faith's horrendously bad record. Follow science, but don't just accept the conclusions. Wherever possible, learn about the evidence and how it supports (or fails to support), the conclusions. And never allow yourself to be so incredibly gullible that you begin to subscribe to the current cult spin-off of Christianity - Flat Earth.
Moron,... please read the arguments on the other side.
They clearly describe why you are sooo far in error; erroneously supposing that science is just another arbitrary belief system which one must abandon ones own observation and rational capacity to believe and follow, when in fact it is an attempt at rational, consistent, and fixed set of principles that describe the knowable universe. Furthermore, science only tries to tell you what is, not what to do about it, or any moral judgment.
Moron,... please read the arguments on the other side.
They clearly describe why you are sooo far in error; erroneously supposing that science is just another arbitrary belief system which one must abandon ones own observation and rational capacity to believe and follow, when in fact it is an attempt at rational, consistent, and fixed set of principles that describe the knowable universe. Furthermore, science only tries to tell you what is, not what to do about it, or any moral judgment.
Sure, Jesus preaches forgiveness and sometimes Christians forgive other Christians, but religion only works if everyone is the same religion, or if people are indifferent to each others religion. Otherwise it is divisive. Christians kill each other (the European wars of religion). Christians kill Muslims (the crusades). Christians kill Jews (all of medieval Europe). And Christians kill "heathens" (the conquest of the Americas). So people only are willing to forgive others if those others share their own beliefs.
Stalin, one of the worse genocidal maniacs of the modern era was an atheist who killed under Marxism.
Hitler killed under belief that the human race must be cleansed, and that he was pissed off at the Jews taking all of the jobs. He even later made rants about how religion was evil and shit like that.
And most communist dictators are responsible for committing genocide.
Religion is a belief that was just used as an excuse. It didn't cause shit.
Stalin didn't kill because of his atheism, though.
Hitler didn't kill because of his atheism (although most people say he was Roman Catholic), though.
People kill because of religion, though. Examples: Crusades, Salem Witch trials, hell, your own religious book has your god telling the Israelites to commit genocide against seven nations.
To quote Voltaire "As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities"
Crusades was actually a greed thing. a lot of fuckin' gold was at stake and the Catholic Church was corrupt. Greed played way more of an effect than religion did in the crusades.
Stalin killed because of Marxism, and part of Marxism was wiping out religion. My point was that religion isn't responsible for murders, people are. Stalin committed some of the worse atrocities, and he wasn't religious at all. He killed people who expressed any form of religion.
Salem Witch Trials was for the belief in witches. The people didn't read the bible and say "lets kill some witches". They were just fuckin' retarded.
The French Huguenots, the first Protestants in Catholic France, sheltered thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis in the tiny village of Le Chambon-sur-lignon. So religion was a humanitarian force here.
Now,....
Please find an example of a person or a group of people who act with such a degree of humanitarian altruism because of their atheism.
You won't find them. Why? Because atheism is not a positive, but a negative ideology; It is the objurgation of religion, it is not a positive set of moral values.
Humanitarian values and moral behavior may exist outside of religion, but they do not stem from atheism.
Neither do atrocities stem from religion. It is merely the convenient tool at hand, the embodiment of ideology of justification for violence, just as modern day ideologies of Communism under Stalin or Mao, or of Fascism under Hitler or Mussolini.
“…it becomes apparent that those who make the claim ‘religion has been the cause of more wars than any other factor in history’ may speak from ignorance or have ulterior motives for the assertion. Further, this type of assertion seems rooted in anti-religion posturing…Men and nations have a history of warfare and the root of conflict is power and gain…Occasionally war is fought over religion, as is perhaps the case during the reformation period in Europe. More often than not however, the cause of war can't be laid at the door of religion.”
(I feel weird favoring, but you started it so w/e)
I never claimed religion was the only cause of evil, and I never claimed atheism makes you a saint (how ironic). This quote actually sums up my views point pretty well:
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg
The fact is there are assholes in the world, and they will do asshole things. However, religion is often used to persuade others that being an asshole to others is the "right" thing to do, because it says so in a holy book. If people feel justified in their actions, they will commit all sorts of atrocities. Just look at the Muslim extremists blowing themselves up. They think that they are doing what Allah wants. If instead of listening to their religion's dogma, they thought about their actions and empathized with their fellow humans, then they might not kill others. They would see the "infidels" they are killing are actually real people. As I said before though, some of them might just be assholes who like to kill others, and with or without religion this is going to happen.
Really the underlying problem is extremism as a whole. Religion (like nationalism or any other powerful ideology, you used communism as an example) merely encourages extremism and that is what makes it dangerous.
well, that's what i said in the first place, it's extremism and the people exploiting an ideology that causes evil, not always ideology.
Plus, it doesn't really take religion to make good people do bad things, man is naturally naive and able to follow any orders presented. Religion was supposed to make man not give into temptations, but the leaders have exploited it into being something that will always haunt you unless you do this thing this way.
but back to the good people doing bad things. There was a study done to see how many people would actually kill a man just because a superior told him to (Milgram Experiment). 100% technically killed the guy. (although, they didn't know the shock was enough to kill a man, but 66% continued shocking him even after he stopped responding, just because a college professor told him).
Religion is really just the excuse, but good people do evil things mainly because they're stupid, not because they're religious.
I agree with you. The goal would be to get people to start thinking for themselves. How? I'm not sure I have an answer, but getting rid of institutions that suppress individual thought might be a decent solution.
(Please note that I am not advocating the abolishment of religion through any kind of violent means, but merely saying we should encourage people to question their assumptions)
The French Huguenots, the first Protestants in Catholic France, sheltered thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis in the tiny village of Le Chambon-sur-lignon. So religion was a humanitarian force here.
Also, the Nazis were not Christians vs Jews; they killed Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, communists among other political prisoners. Their motivations were racial and political, not primarily religious. That is why they targeted German citizens with mixed blood: those that had some degree of Jewish ancestry; Being Christian was no help.
I never claimed that the Nazi's were Christians vs. Jews. Obviously there are other factors that cause people to do terrible things besides religion. No one is arguing against that.
As far ass your example of French Huguenots, do you think that those people wouldn't have helped the Jews were it not for religion? Don't you think it's more likely that these were good people who also happened to be religious, rather than people that were good because they were religious? In our society, religion attracts good people, but I suspect that the majority of them would still be good without religion there.
In addition, Germany, before the Nazis came to power was a mostly Christian nation (as in most of the people in Germany were Christian). This being the case, why did all these Christians allow these atrocities to occur without saying anything? Shouldn't their religion have caused them to speak up?
Now there are some notable examples of brave Christians that did speak up, however, they are the minority by a long shot. Even the pope did not speak against the atrocities that were going on at the time.
Once again, I am not implicating religion as the cause, merely stating that it was ineffective at aiding people's moral judgement.
The Nazi's atrocities were not religiously motivated; just as other 20th Century atrocities were also not religiously motivated: Communism under Mao and Stalin, Fascism under Mussolini.
The idea that religion is the cause of atrocities is just wrong.
“…it becomes apparent that those who make the claim ‘religion has been the cause of more wars than any other factor in history’ may speak from ignorance or have ulterior motives for the assertion. Further, this type of assertion seems rooted in anti-religion posturing…Men and nations have a history of warfare and the root of conflict is power and gain…Occasionally war is fought over religion, as is perhaps the case during the reformation period in Europe. More often than not however, the cause of war can't be laid at the door of religion.”
The French Huguenots were more than just good, they were exceptional. They risked their lives to save these people. And yes, they were motivated by religion. The French Huguenots acted sympathetically out of their own memories of religious persecution.
People may be judged to be good or bad based on their ACTIONS, measured by some ethical or moral ruler.
I am not arguing that religious people are innately good, but that religion is not innately evil. Intolerance to religion today is just as deplorable as the 16th Century Catholics intolerance towards the Huguenots.
The Nazi's atrocities were not religiously motivated
I never said they were.
just as other 20th Century atrocities were also not religiously motivated
Once again, I never argued that every single atrocity was motivated by religion, and in fact the first sentence of the quote I gave was: With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things.
So stop putting words in my mouth. You're arguing against a strawman.
I am not arguing that religious people are innately good, but that religion is not innately evil.
Once again, I'm not saying that religion is innately evil. What I am saying is that religion can convince good people to do bad things because they think they're doing it in the name of god. For example:
-Muslim extremists
-Christian fundamentalists who bomb abortion clinics (or shoot doctors)
-Christians who try and "convert" gays straight
And I could go on.
The French Huguenots acted sympathetically out of their own memories of religious persecution.
Exactly! It was their experiences, not their religion, that allowed them to act in the nobel manner that they did.
Who were the Huguenots?
Thank you very much, but I'm very well versed on my European history. Appreciate the condescension though.
"I agree with you. The goal would be to get people to start thinking for themselves. How? I'm not sure I have an answer, but getting rid of institutions that suppress individual thought might be a decent solution.
(Please note that I am not advocating the abolishment of religion through any kind of violent means, but merely saying we should encourage people to question their assumptions)"
Clearly you believe religion suppresses individual thought, and as such you advocate getting rid of it as a solution.
By not advocating the violent overthrow of religion, you implicitly advocate the non-violent overthrow of religion;
To overthrow religion would suppress individual thought, destroy religious thought and ideas; both good and bad, throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Why is it that when people act badly, you blame religion, but when people act in a good way, religion gets no credit. How can religion get all the blame and none of the credit. It can't. If you believe that "religion can convince good people to do bad things", then you must also accept that religion can also convince people to do good things too.
Not all religion is the same, and not all religion is all bad all the time. There is no need to start a war against religion. If you object to radical Islam or any other harmful ideology, then resist that particular ideology,... don't make the leap of generality and denounce ALL religion. That's like denouncing all chicken just cuz you got sick once from a bucket of KFC.
Talk about blasphemy.
Who were the Huguenots? was the title of that weblink, and not meant in a condescending way.
Wtf? If this is a joke, I'm not getting it. (Obviously you're referencing the video, but why is this a sermon?).
Clearly you believe religion suppresses individual thought
Close, organized religion.
and as such you advocate getting rid of it as a solution
By not advocating the violent overthrow of religion, you implicitly advocate the non-violent overthrow of religion
I advocate encouraging people to think for themselves. In my own humble opinion I believe that this will lead to the downfall of organized religion, because people will begin to question assumptions that have led them to follow the unfounded beliefs of those around them. The term "overthrow" is a poor one, because I am not forcing anything on anyone, nor is the effort organized in any way. This is merely the call to tell people to use their brains. If their conclusion after doing so leads to a renewed faith in religion, then so be it, but in the long run I suspect that this will not be the case.
To overthrow religion would suppress individual thought, destroy religious thought and ideas; both good and bad, throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Here is where I disagree. Allow me to first repeat that I am not saying anything should be forced on anyone, and therefore you cannot argue that I am suppressing individual thought. Secondly, I am not positive what you mean exactly by "religious thought" but I can only think of two guesses:
1. You mean thought that creates dogma out of old ideas, and isolates and punishes those who reject this thought.
2. You mean the teachings and lessons that exist in the various holy books.
If you mean the former, then I must say, good riddance. If instead you believe the former, then let me once again point out that you're wrong. I'll quote part of an argument I had in a different debate:
Don't misunderstand me here; I believe that many important lessons can be gleamed from the various religious texts that exist in our world. Taking these lessons as literal unquestionable dogma however, is harmful in many ways, because it limits the creative intellectual discussions that have allowed our species to progress to the point where we are today.
I think that religious texts certainly have a legitimate intellectual value, and should be looked at like we look at all great literary works. This value is diminished, however, if we cannot talk openly about both the negative and positive lessons in these texts. Try going into a church, for example and arguing that a certain part of the Bible is wrong on some moral issue. You'll find that you aren't received very well. It is this stifling of thought that I would like people to be free from.
You'll find that the majority of America's founding fathers agreed with me. Jefferson went through the entire Bible, in fact, and cut out the sections he thought didn't belong. That copy is still sitting in congress today. He understood that there were both good and bad parts of the Bible, but that it is through rational thought that we would distinguish the two; not unquestioning organized dogmatic belief.
Why is it that when people act badly, you blame religion, but when people act in a good way, religion gets no credit.
Off the top of my head I can think of numerous examples where religion deserves credit for convincing people to do good. For the example of the Huguenots I merely used your own words to show that religion was clearly not the only motivation, and in fact, probably not the primary motivator.
If you believe that "religion can convince good people to do bad things", then you must also accept that religion can also convince people to do good things too.
Here is where I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding of my argument so allow me to clarify in as simple terms as possible for you.
Someone who is doing something with religious motivation is, by definition, doing something that they believe to be good. However, whether what they are doing is actually good is purely dependent upon the teachings of whatever religion they belong to. This means that they could be doing something good, benign, or possibly harmful. Essentially they are putting all their trust into the fact that their religion is right, and their actions are "good."
Contrast this to a world without religion. You would have the same people who would be religious, and trying to do good, except this time their actions would be determined by their own individual thoughts, and what makes sense rationally: not something said in a 2000 year old book. Obviously, if these people had bought into some other ideology (nationalism, for example) then they would be in more or less the same place they were if they were religious, however, religion would not be there to cloud their thoughts.
Not all religion is the same, and not all religion is all bad all the time. There is no need to start a war against religion.
You seem to love painting me as some type of extremist. Is it easier to argue against me when you create a strawman, and misrepresent my arguments and ideas?
If you object to radical Islam or any other harmful ideology, then resist that particular ideology,... don't make the leap of generality and denounce ALL religion. That's like denouncing all chicken just cuz you got sick once from a bucket of KFC.
Here you try and make the point that those religions that contain extremists are the exceptions, but I would argue that they are the rules. To use a similar analogy: That's like praising the usefulness of dirty hypodermic needles you found on the street, just because you used one that didn't give you a disease.
Religions tend to attract extremists. All ideologies do. The difference with religion is that these people think that they are saving people, and will be rewarded in heaven. It's tough to convince someone not to do something, if they think that it will get them into heaven, or conversely send them to Hell if they don't do it.
In addition, it's not just Islam. There are still Christians today who believe that witches are real, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much Christian fundamentalists have hampered the U.S. education system in their attacks against evolution. In fact, check out this graph. Look where the U.S. is: at the bottom of the graph right in front of Turkey. This is because both the U.S. and Turkey have large percentages of the population that are strongly religious. If you were ever wondering why the U.S. is falling behind other industrialized nations when it comes to jobs in the scientific world, look no further.
Talk about blasphemy.
Okay I will. Blasphemy is a pretty good summary of what I don't like about religion. If someone says something a Church doesn't like, they accuse them of blasphemy. That suppresses thought. Suppressing thought = Bad
Well, what has religion brought us in it's thousands of years of existence?
-Division, delusion, a repression of thought, and a whole bunch of fairy tales that adults use as justification for actions that would seem like the acts of a paranoid schitzophrenic under ordinary circumstances.
How about modern science in it's 3-4 hundred year existence?
-Well right now I can talk to you, despite the fact that we have never met face to face, and we are (at the very least) hundreds of miles apart. If I knew where you were I could get to you in a matter of hours. While on the trip I could watch a movie on a screen in the palm of my hand. If something happens to me on the way, and I get sick modern medicine will be able to take care of me in ways that would appear to be miraculous just 100 years ago.
So when you say that I have some "hostility towards religion" I would argue that religion has some hostility towards people. It certainly has killed plenty of them, and I can't see any serious positive gains that religion has given us despite both its popularity and duration.
Religion gives people answers to things which science cannot: moral values, death and the afterlife, the meaning of life, and other spiritual issues. And while some choose not to follow any religious belief, others find great comfort, community and fulfillment in religion.
The benefits of science, logic, and objective attitudes are wonderful. But these are not discouraged by religion today.
At one time the Catholic Church did persecute people for their beliefs. Galileo is a prime example. They also burned books they considered heretical. But today, even the Catholic Church has acknowledged science, as in Darwin's theory of evolution.
I use the example of the Catholic Church because of its history of intolerance to objectivity and inquisitions. But the misdeeds of the Catholic Church cannot be blamed on another religion, Buddhism for example. A disagreement with one religion is not cause for attacking all religion in general. And the misdeeds of the Catholic Church are not unique to that institution. The Nazis burned books too, and this is a modern day non religious example. And modern non religious wars have caused much more death than any war that might be blamed upon religion.
But today religion and science can and do coexist peacefully. If people choose to follow religion, why try and stop them? Why try to get rid of something they find useful and fulfilling in their lives?
I end with a quote I included before as a counter point to your saying that religion has killed lots of people.
“…it becomes apparent that those who make the claim ‘religion has been the cause of more wars than any other factor in history’ may speak from ignorance or have ulterior motives for the assertion. Further, this type of assertion seems rooted in anti-religion posturing…Men and nations have a history of warfare and the root of conflict is power and gain…Occasionally war is fought over religion, as is perhaps the case during the reformation period in Europe. More often than not however, the cause of war can't be laid at the door of religion.”
Religion gives people answers to things which science cannot: moral values, death and the afterlife, the meaning of life, and other spiritual issues.
You really want to use moral values again? I already attempted to explain why morals based on rationale thought are superior to those based on thousand year old religious texts interpreted literally and dogmatically (as most western religions have done).
Don't make me laugh about the whole death and afterlife thing. I guess we shouldn't tell our children that Santa Clause is made up either, because it'll make them feel better.
The benefits of science, logic, and objective attitudes are wonderful. But these are not discouraged by religion today.
Seriously? Did you not see the graph I showed you about public acceptance of the theory of Evolution? Are you aware of the state of the science education in our public schools, especially in states like Alabama or Texas where religious fundamentalists run the school boards.
But today, even the Catholic Church has acknowledged science, as in Darwin's theory of evolution.
Wow, only a couple hundred years later.
But yes, the Catholic Church has conceded that evolution is correct. They have recognized the fact that they stood in the way of knowledge, and have now stepped out of the way.
On the other hand, the current pope recently took a trip to Africa, and while there he said that condoms were not an acceptable way to combat the AIDS epidemic. Let me repeat that so you can get the full impact. One of the most influential leaders in the world, visited a place where AIDS kills over 1.5 million people a year, and where more than twenty million people are infected, and he said don't use condoms.
I consider myself a calm guy, but what the fuck? Does he not care at all? Think about the implications of that. He would allow millions to die simply because of his religious beliefs.
But the misdeeds of the Catholic Church cannot be blamed on another religion, Buddhism for example.
Buddhism is the rare example of a religion that has been almost 100% peaceful. However do you know what the reason for this is? Because Buddhism encourages the acceptance of other beliefs. I am in fact taking a course on Buddhism in college this fall semester.
Once again however, I must repeat that the non violent religions are the exception whereas you seem to insist that those religions that have committed atrocities are the exceptions, even though virtually all of the major religions are guilty of it (the top two religions in the world are Islam and Christianity).
And the misdeeds of the Catholic Church are not unique to that institution. The Nazis burned books too, and this is a modern day non religious example.
As I said before, what I am saying applies to nearly all ideologies. Just because other ideologies are also guilty of causing atrocities this does not let religion off the hook. In fact, what I am advocating is a move away from blindly following ideologies. Obviously this particular debate is about religion, but obviously I am not saying that religion is the only type of institution that represses individual thought: merely one of the most common.
And modern non religious wars have caused much more death than any war that might be blamed upon religion.
That's like me saying: you can't say that the huns are bad, because the Nazi's killed people after all the huns were gone. Your argument is invalid.
But today religion and science can and do coexist peacefully. If people choose to follow religion, why try and stop them?
When did I say I was going to stop them? As I've said one hundred times already:I am merely encouraging people to think for themselves. If they want to keep believing story book fantasies then they can go right ahead.
Now allow me to address the quote that you have tried to use in this debate a million times already, and why it's not a valid argument against what I'm saying.
The quote says:
-Religion has not historically been the cause of the majority of wars.
I am saying:
-Religion has lead to lots of deaths throughout history, and continues to do so today.
As you can see, the two points are not mutually exclusive. In his argument Major Conway even admits that religion was the cause of wars during Europe's reformation period. These were known as the Wars of Religion. Wars, because their were many of them, and religion because that was the root cause. You claim that more people have died in recent wars, but that is only because there were more people on the earth to die. Something like a third of the population of western Europe died during the wars of religion. That is significantly more percentage wise, than any modern war.
Let me also briefly mention some other conflicts that had religion as the primary basis.
-The burning of witches in both Europe and North America
-The killing of Jews in Medieval Europe
-The attacks on September 11
And countless other atrocities that I could mention.
So, like I said, your quote isn't "a counter point to your saying that religion has killed lots of people"... at least not a very good one.
The rejection of religion, atheism, is the rejection of that theology, and not the embrace of an alternative morality.
Ideologies are used to justify atrocities, as exemplified by modern day Communism under Stalin or Mao, or of Fascism under Hitler or Mussolini; Both of which reject religion, and neither of which are moral, killing tens or perhaps hundreds of millions of people.
Modern day religion doesn't hurt anyone, it serves a social need for many people. It is a free choice, and religion and science peaceably coexist. There is no problem. There is no need for a solution to religion, because it is not a problem.
The Catholic Church is not a stand in for all the religions in the world. I'm sure many protestants appose the Popes actions in Africa. Each religion must be appreciated separately. For example, you can't lump together Lutheranism with Catholicism even though both are Christian religions.
Religion does provide answers that science cannot, because science only deals in the material world. Science is a method, a way of learning about the physical world. It cannot deal in ethics because ethical values are not tangible. Does that mean ethics are not real? Of course not. Can other ideologies exist without an overtly religious character, but still provide a system of ethics? Sure, why not. But a code of ethics cannot be formed using science, because morality is not tangible. This is the great strength and message of religion; ethics and moral virtue.
You really aren't reading a thing I write are you?
I already addressed why your example of other ideologies being harmful is invalid in this argument, but let me try and explain it again (and I'll talk slowly this time). How about we use another metaphor, since you seem to like them so much.
A group of people are doing cocaine. I am suggesting that cocaine has negative effects. You say that I can't rightfully blame cocaine, because heroin is worse.
Do you understand now? Well, from how many times I've had to explain this point, then probably not. Suffice it to say, I'm against all extreme ideologies, but this debate is about religion so that's why I'm choosing to only talk about religion (strange, right?).
modern day religion doesn't hurt anyone
You're deluding yourself if you think this. I already talked about the popes trip to Africa, and I mentioned 9/11. I also brought up the fact that evangelical Christian sects in America have caused our education system to be fucked up. Would you like more examples? How about the Jews that forced out a countless number of Palastines from their homes. What do you think is the main reason that Isrealis and Palastinians can't share a single country? I'll give you a hint: it starts with an r and rhymes with chiligion.
The Catholic Church is not a stand in for all the religions in the world. I'm sure many protestants appose the Popes actions in Africa. Each religion must be appreciated separately.
That's why I've been giving you examples from virtually every major religion in the world! Have you not been listening? I guess there is only one major religion that I haven't talked about, but I would be happy to do so now if you want me to: Hindusim.
Do you know why Pakistan was founded as a separate state from India? Because the muslims in India did not want to live with the Hindus. Hundreds of millions of people were forced to leave their homes (muslims leaving India, and Hindus leaving Packistan). During this time there were tremendous riots... all because people couldn't get along with people of a different religion.
But a code of ethics cannot be formed using science, because morality is not tangible
I never said we would use science to create ethics, but we can use the same principles of rational thought to morality that use in science. Or we can just blindly follow some book about a sky daddy. You tell me which you think is better?
In short though, you continue to not understand that my biggest problem is not with people's personal beliefs. If someone wants to believe that we were all created by a Unicorns fart then I really couldn't care less. However, when these beliefs become organized in a way that they can't be debated, and children are indoctrinated to think that if they don't act a certain way they will burn in hell, then society suffers. We have seen this time and time again, and we will continue to see it so long as religion exists in it's current incarnation.
This is the great strength and message of religion; ethics and moral virtue.
I'm getting a little sick of having to repeat myself a million times so how about you just watch the first few minutes of this video because the guy in it articulates pretty well what I am trying to say.
Science cannot give you a system of morality, either directly or indirectly, because it can only deal in tangibles, and morality is intangible.
Morality, ethics, religion or whatever you will call it all deal with the intangible world. If you get right down to it, you can try to justify the ten commandments using logic, but you will fail, because ultimately these rules are moral premises.
It's pretty simple really: if something helps society, it's moral, and if it hurts society it's immoral.
Obviously there is some ambiguity about what constitutes helping or hurting society, and that is what people should be debating because that type of debate is constructive.
If its simple it wouldn't need debating would it? I don't think anyone can determine a moral code using science, which is a method of learning about the physical world. And any use of logic to try to form a moral code must invoke the intangible. That is what religion does.
For the 50,000 time: Logic and reason, not science.
And any use of logic to try to form a moral code must invoke the intangible.
Bullshit. There is nothing intangible about the pain someone feels when you hurt them, or the psychological trauma from abuse. What it does require is some very basic assumptions. Just one example:
-Human suffering is bad, and we should work to minimize it.
And others like that. None of this requires religion.
In addition intangibles such as love, happiness, and pain are really just names we give to biochemical reactions that occur in our bodies. To say that any of this has anything to do with religion, is... well just a little bit retarded.
So let me repeat:
Immoral = actions that are detrimental to society
Moral = actions that are beneficial to society
If you want me to give you specific examples of how this works, then pick something that you consider immoral and I will explain rationally why that is so (or possibly why you're wrong).
"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites." Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia
Sure, I can give you plenty of reasons why it's wrong to cause someone pain.
We are biologically inclined to want to avoid pain. This is because pain is an indicator of injury to your body. When people are in pain they are significantly less able to function as a part of society. They cannot work, or go about their daily routines, and society suffers because of it.
Maybe this will help you understand the concept of rationale morality better. Try to imagine a society in which something wasn't considered immoral, and then imagine what effect that would have on a society.
When we do this it becomes clear that causing someone pain is obviously immoral because a society in which this wasn't considered immoral everything would fall apart.
Collective rights stem from individual rights. Those individual inalienable rights are absolute. Logic, as in modus ponens, is limited by premises. This is true in moral issues too. Biology may or may not tell us directly or indirectly a set of moral principles.
The French Huguenots, the first Protestants in Catholic France, sheltered thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis in the tiny village of Le Chambon-sur-lignon. So religion was a humanitarian force here.
I don't have faith in science, science is based on evidence. Faith is belief in something without the support of evidence. I believe what science says because of the lack of faith that's required
Those of us who embrace a scientific worldview often fall prey to the same logical fallacies that devoutly religious persons do. One example of the popular appeal to authority: "Famous and Intelligent people have said X, thus X is more likely to be true". I often see atheists trumpeting quotations from famous scientists and thinkers which support their view. This is the same argument used by theists when they assert that since their priest or pope said X, then X is more likely true because that pope or priest has some supposed authority on the subject of divinity.
My point is that you and I believe scientists because we trust their authority. We trust their method, so we believe that a water molecule is composed of a specific composition of atoms even though we personally have no empirical evidence that this is true. Unless you have personally examined a water molecule (which some of you may have done), you probably learned about its structure from a teacher or a book. Thus you have no more justification for your belief than does the devoutly religious person in his or her belief in the resurrection of Christ. He or she trusts the methodology of their religion, and so is willing to take the words of the clergy at face value without a careful examination of the facts.
You may well counter that the methodology of science is obviously superior to that of religion, because it is based on rigorous observation rather than metaphysical speculation. I would challenge you to ask yourself WHY you believe that empiricism is superior? Why do you believe that the universe is composed only of physical objects interacting in a strictly causal fashion to produce events. If you are honest like I was when I asked myself this question, I think you will probably have to admit that it is because lots of other people around you also have faith in empiricism and materialism (the belief that the world is composed only of observable physical objects).
So what is it that makes you ANY different from the religious person?
It's not because of their authority that I trust scientists, I trust scientists because what they do has proven time and time again to be successful and correct (and, more importantly, if they're incorrect, they realize it).
Sure, I haven't checked to see if water molecules are actually composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, but for all intents and purposes, I can assume that they are. Why is this? Because they act the way that they would act if they were made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. I can take some water, freeze it, then observe that solid water is less dense than liquid water, which would be the direct result of the bonding between two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (and yes, I realize that it's possible to create solid water that's denser than liquid water, but that requires insane amounts of pressure, so let's ignore that for now, mmkay?)
Secondly, the empirical method is superior to that of the religious method because of one simple fact: the empirical method produces observable results, the religious method doesn't. The religious "method" is based upon intuition for the most part. Back when I was religious, I believed in a God that was kind, had a sense of humor, and was exactly what I wanted Him to be. All of this was contrary to what was exhibited by the Old Testament, but fuck the old testament! I liked my God the way I believed in Him! Luckily, now I can look back and see "Oh, wait, I was basing beliefs off of OPINIONS, that's a no-no!"
Science, on the other hand, bases beliefs off of facts. You can observe that Earth's gravity causes an acceleration of approximately 9.8 m/s^2, you can observe that if you create a closed circuit with the proper energy source and lightbulb, the light bulb will light up, you can observe that if you shape glass in a certain way, it can create lenses that can bend light in such a way that it'll compensate for poor natural vision. Science works! It's not fucking faith! The only "leap of faith" that I have to take is that what I'm interacting with actually exists, and I'm willing to take that jump.
If you don't believe that science works, where'd that computer that you're using to debate with me come from? Where'd your house/apartment/whatever come from? God? Faith? Intuition? Prayer? NO! It came from science, it came from understanding the world around us in a way that is actually practical.
What makes me different from a religious person is that I base my beliefs around fact rather than intuition and person opinion.
The reality is that there are no authorities in science. No one is subscribed to on the basis of authority. No matter who they are or how illustrious their career, if they can't support their conclusions with objective evidence, then they're functioning as story-tellers, not scientists.
As for the composition of water, one need only pass an electrical current through water and examine the resulting gases - hydrogen and oxygen. In most fields of science, you can perform relatively simple experiments, the results of which will support the scientific conclusion.
One can do this to a lesser degree with religion as well. For example, noting that despite the large number of scholars, theologians, and researchers on both sides of the issue, no one has ever recovered so much as a single document making any mention of Jesus or anyone like him, from the actual time of Jesus, or for at least two decades beyond the biblical time of the crucifixion. This is readily admitted to even by those still attempting to promote the idea that Jesus was a real person, rather than a popular myth.
I not only believe that empiricism is superior to religion, but can demonstrate that to be the case. If you drive a car and survive doing so, it's because you employ objective evidence in the driving decisions you make. Even getting up in the morning, every decision you make is based on objective evidence. Throughout your day, every move is based on objective evidence. You don't reach for the coffee, find no evidence of coffee in your cupboard or pantry, and continue going through the motions of making coffee, having faith that as you pour from the empty carafe, coffee will fill your cup. That would be a faith-based practice and we don't do that because we know for certain that it will fail every time.
We only reserve faith-based actions for issues of religion, because we know that faith will fail in every other regard. And if you're adhering to the conclusions of science without doing any of your own investigating, research, or experimentation, then you're demonstrating a misunderstanding of the scientific method.
Those of us who embrace a scientific worldview often fall prey to the same logical fallacies that devoutly religious persons do. One example of the popular appeal to authority: "Famous and Intelligent people have said X, thus X is more likely to be true". I often see atheists trumpeting quotations from famous scientists and thinkers which support their view. This is the same argument used by theists when they assert that since their priest or pope said X, then X is more likely true because that pope or priest has some supposed authority on the subject of divinity.
My point is that you and I believe scientists because we trust their authority. We trust their method, so we believe that a water molecule is composed of a specific composition of atoms even though we personally have no empirical evidence that this is true. Unless you have personally examined a water molecule (which some of you may have done), you probably learned about its structure from a teacher or a book. Thus you have no more justification for your belief than does the devoutly religious person in his or her belief in the resurrection of Christ. He or she trusts the methodology of their religion, and so is willing to take the words of the clergy at face value without a careful examination of the facts.
You may well counter that the methodology of science is obviously superior to that of religion, because it is based on rigorous observation rather than metaphysical speculation. I would challenge you to ask yourself WHY you believe that empiricism is superior? Why do you believe that the universe is composed only of physical objects interacting in a strictly causal fashion to produce events. If you are honest like I was when I asked myself this question, I think you will probably have to admit that it is because lots of other people around you also have faith in empiricism and materialism (the belief that the world is composed only of observable physical objects).
So what is it that makes you ANY different from the religious person?
If a child was raised by wild wolves, and made it somehow to an age where they could survive on their own, they would have knowledge of things like water and food because they have experienced them.
It is a short step from there to develop a curiosity for these things you can touch and feel and experience, to where we are today studying things to discover their properties, trying to find out where things like water and food came from.
The difference is science is born of study of real things, even vague things like metaphysics must follow observable rules of nature and the rules of math. They must be checked and studied etc.
Meanwhile the child raised by wolves at some point would see his fellow wolves die and realize that life was not infinite.
That would be from observation, but what would not be from observation is an ideal of immortality, then later that there is some being who will take care of wolf child when he dies - that indeed he doesn't really die.
This is strictly the realm of imagination. It's pretty, and a nice thought, but likely not the least bit true. And certainly there is no means of observing this phenomenon of infinite life.
I find it endlessly entertaining how those who choose to believe in a god assume that those who do not simply haven't thought about it, or forgot to ask them self one simple question.
I have asked myself the very question you proposed.
Like the vast majority of the Western world I was heavily indoctrinated in Christianity, and did not finally free myself from that silly superstition until well into adulthood. I doubt you have any questions I have not asked myself but feel free to try.
"I find it endlessly entertaining how those who choose to believe in a god assume that those who do not simply haven't thought about it, or forgot to ask them self one simple question."
I like your point, this really irks me too. You might be surprised to know that I myself am also a 100% atheist, who bases a significant part of my beliefs on scientific research. The reason I'm attacking my own side in this debate is that I see weaknesses in the way we atheists justify our own beliefs, and I think it involves a certain amount of hypocrisy with regard to the issue of faith.
Or can one have a set of beliefs, then kind of mold them to fit around what science tells us?
Like, okay so now we know the world wasn't really created in 7 days... so now that's a parable...
But Jesus dying for everyone's sins, that's true...
Unless somehow at some point through DNA evidence or something, we could prove beyond any reasonable doubt that that never really happened...
Okay, so then it was symbolic I'm sure the faithful would say.
Fine.
But at some point it seems ridiculous to have a religion, if everyone within that religion picks and chooses what to follow, and what to believe, based on their feelings, and ideas, and knowledge. And that set of beliefs, stories, parables, is constantly being proved wrong, or even immoral.
Okay, so then people say things like "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual."
Well that seems to be the new trend.
Which is far better I think than following mindlessly one creed created, and clinging to, a time long gone.
But the whole thing seems a bit hypocritical to many.
I mean, if one does have their own personal set of moral standards, why not call it that? Why call it god?
And why, if it's so hard to find even two people that agree on every moral issue, is it so important to the hordes of the religious, that everyone drink the koolaid with them?
Jesus dying for everyone's sins cannot be proven true. I'm sorry but I have to point this out. It's as if saying I died for everyone's sins. All I have to do is convince a majority that is my cause and get some very intelligent and philosophical "prophets", as you will, to come together to create a device, the bible, to steer people towards my beliefs as a just system. (easier said than done but I think you guys get my point) But yes, the symbolism is it's greatest power. Now what you believe is what you believe, this usually deals with faith. I'm not here to tell you you're right or wrong for what you believe in just to make a point that what's written in the bible does not have empirical evidence. That is where Science and Religion/faith/spirituality/etc. meet. My belief is that they go hand in hand because what is the point of science? You are either trying to find "God" or prove that "God" does not exist. Either way a whole lot of faith is needed in either. I'm more for science because I like what I can see, but I'm also not ignorant to the fact that something started everything and that something is what most of us title as "god". (I'm also more science based because I'm not at a point in my life to where I ask what's after death? Much of the reason why I believe most people turn to religion at some point in their life, plus the group setting brings you closer to your humanity) The truth is you already drank the koolaid! That is why you exist. You believe in something or else you would be dead, I mean why live? It can even be said that Science, in itself, is a religion. If you don't believe me check out the definition of religion. (for your viewing pleasure: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion) )
... I almost thought you were agreeing with me after that first sentence. I think you misunderstood my entire paragraph, but I'll respond anyway.
So you admit, "Jesus dying for everyone's sins cannot be proven true..." than you go on to volunteer yourself as a perfect example of exactly what my point is.
You say it's "symbolism."
Okay then... so I take it you're not Christian either?
Because that's the cornerstone of that religion. If you do not believe that Jesus died for your sins, but you believe in a Christian type god, then you are Muslim, or Jewish, or...
"SPIRITUAL!"
Which is what I said people were congregating toward, in light of said science and common sense.
So then, someone, like you for example, since you said it yourself, gets to pick and choose what parts of a religion they believe, then why have religion at all?
Why not everyone just have their own kind of moral code, whether god's involved or no?
I mean, established religions have exact, stingent, unbending rules and ideas that they, and their flock adhere to.
Yet so many like yourself don't buy it.
Hm, seems my opposition has proven my point.
See what I'm saying? Not that you agree, I just want to make sure you understand, because your response is a little off context as a reply to my above statement.
It's a pretty good arguement up to a point, but then...
"My belief is that they go hand in hand because what is the point of science? You are either trying to find "God" or prove that "God" does not exist. Either way a whole lot of faith is needed in either. I'm more for science because I like what I can see, but I'm also not ignorant to the fact that something started everything and that something is what most of us title as "god"".
Science is not necessarily trying to prove or disprove god. And some god's existence is in no way necessary for science to exist.
"Something started everything."
Why? Because something started you? Therefore everything else, including the universe had to have something "start it?"
No. Because you can just as easily say then "something had to start god," so then that must be super god, who was intern started by mega god, and on down the line.
It's just as likely that the Universe simply always was. Even more likely than god just always being as at least we know the Universe exists now.
"The truth is you already drank the koolaid! That is why you exist. You believe in something or else you would be dead, I mean why live?"
No. I exist because my parents had sex, then I was born. I can assure you not believing doesn't lead to sudden death, as I have not believed for quite some time now, and am very much alive.
So, I went ahead and reread the definition of religion from the link you provided, and it hasn't changed, and still in no way resembles science.
Science does not have "beliefs" it is not dependant on a large number of people "believing" it. The world was round long before people believed it was round, and people still believed it was flat long after science had proven it to be round.
Evolution is not a matter of faith. It's based on biological evidence, fossils, and people actually observing evolution before their eyes in micro organisms. Still people don't believe in it.
Science in no way depends on faith. Religion does. Which was my point.
I did agree with you. I just didn't like that one sentence and then it evolved into something else. But well put my friend. When I use the title of "god" I'm getting at the fact of the infinite. Something beyond our level of comprehension. I can see that if we keep up this argument we're going to touch on philosophy but what the heck. Again, man created words and gave meaning to those words. So by this alone, science has no power without belief. Because without belief in the meaning, words and symbols and everything we've created would not exist. Simply put, those words have meaning because we say they have meaning and the more you get to believe, the more it becomes a part of reality. Do you get my logic? Science was created as another way to understand life. The reason that science has become the most accepted means of "truth based reality" is because we can see it and for what we can't see we've used a genius little measuring tool called mathematics. We've evolved as very faith based societies into science based societies. Newtonian thinking ruled the physics world until Einstein came along. That did a 360 to the world of physics. But what happens if no one realized it? We would still believe and evolve off of those set principles. This is some ways how some aspects of science have become paradoxical in nature. And who's to say it's wrong, you can't.
You say that "established religions have exact, stringent, unbending rules and ideas that they, and their flock adhere to". How is this any different than science? Science has the Law, which is exact. It has hypothesis which are ideas. Do you not see the parallels? 1+2=3 because we believe or say it does. We gave the 1 meaning that it was 1 but what if we got it wrong and it's really supposed to be 0 and all the computations we've created are flawed in someway? Science is not the answer to everything. (as much as I love it and I love proof)
As for your last point, i think you missed my meaning all together. (hopefully my explanation above using the word "god" as infinite and beyond our capabilities of understanding will have shed light on were I lost you.) I'm using simple words so that I don't write a dissertation but i can see I'm getting close. (lol) Let me ask you a simple question. Why do you wake up everyday? What is the point of your existence? You're telling me that, in your life, you aren't doing things based off of discovering yourself or the world around you? Thus Science is where you rest your belief. The universe only exists because we gave it meaning and once we gave it meaning we have continued in a path to understand it. Why? To survive, to evolve, to continue the species, etc, etc? Maybe you see where I'm going with this, maybe you don't.
Ok one last point, you said; "Science does not have "beliefs" it is not Dependant on a large number of people "believing" it. The world was round long before people believed it was round, and people still believed it was flat long after science had proven it to be round."
You have faith/believe that your computations and equations are correct and logical. That is why science exists. That is your way of understanding the world around you. Because if it didn't exist, then neither would you. Who is to say that is the right answer? Science can only go so far to our level of understanding for the rest that's when religion/spirituality comes into play.
I understand where you're coming from. Man created words. We use these words we created to give meaning to the world around us. Since we created these words, it requires "faith" that the words mean what we've deemed them to mean.
Okay, but words aren't necessary for things to be what they are.
That is, while it's true that we made up words, and symbols in math, had we not made up some way of communicating these things, they would still exist.
1+1 would still equal 2, even if we never bothered naming those numbers. Even if no one anywhere ever even thought of the concept of math, and not a cell in a brain anywhere had ever even been curious about the concept; still 1+1 would = 2, all by itself, somewhere in oblivion, lonely because no one understood it.
A tree would still be a tree, its properties the same, even if no one had ever seen it, or named it "tree."
"Would not a rose by any other name smell as sweet?" Okay, enough of that.
Some things are inherent. They cannot be changed. Other things are subjective, they can change depenending on some sentient being's point of view.
Words are subjective, there are many languages. Their meanings though, are inherent. Sometimes people are wrong about a word, or a math problem, but the things which are meant to be represented are not in any way changed because of the mistake.
The example of Newtonian thinking ruling physics, then changing when Einstein came up with the theory of relativity is fine. But it was people's understanding that changed, not physics itself. Physics has always been the same, regardless of our understanding, or lack of understanding, in it.
Defining god as an infinite entity is a matter of faith now, because there is no proof of this infinite being now. Further an infinite being is not necessary for infinite stuff (like the universe) to exist. But, if one chooses to believe in something there's no proof of -- well there's not much anyone can, or necessarily should, do about that.
I think belief in a god does more harm than good. But that's not inherent, just my subjective view given the amount of suffering inflicted in the name of some god. Many argue belief in god does more good, because it makes people happy to think they'll live forever and ever and ever, happily ever after, and that there's some meaning to it all. Again, not much I can do about that. That's all a side not...
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I concede your point. I would also add that both rely heavily on "experts" distilling the information to the masses, whether it's string theory, or what a parable means.
I would say though, that science calls things they don't know "theories" like string theory, and facts, facts, like the earth being round. And there is an attempt to prove or disprove these things. If religion held itself to the same standard, the whole thing would be called a "theory," but the faithful insist on it all being fact, with 0 evidence to back it up.
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I do see exactly where you're going. I'm afraid it's going to continue to be a difference of opinion. You see, I don't think there's any meaning to the universe. I also don't think that there's any meaning to me. I don't think that our defining, or attempting to define, the universe, ourselves, or say a banana, has any relevence whatsoever to anyone or anything except ourselves. Things are what they are, not what we make them.
To answer your question directly. I wake up in the morning because biologically that's what I've been programmed to do. Not to be trite. While I do enjoy living, and plan on continuing the practice for some time to come. I do not look for any meaning to my life. I do try and do what I've defined as good in my daily activities. I do not seek or believe there's any reward for this. I believe that all of mankind is a happy mistake. Our survival, and continuing posperity for years to come and even to the stars beyond, has 0 to do with a god or fate, and everything to do with us, and is solely dependant on the decisions that we make.
Neither god, nor an understanding of anything at all, are necessary for the act of living. For some it just makes living better.
"Things are what they are, not what we make them."
"Our survival, and continuing prosperity for years to come and even to the stars beyond, has 0 to do with a god or fate, and everything to do with us, and is solely Dependant on the decisions that we make."
Is this a contradiction or did I just make it become that? It just jumped out at me and I've read it in the paragraph and it still just jumps out to me as a contradiction...
The first qoute is refering to the state of being. For example, the Earth rotates around the sun. Even if everyone thinks otherwise, it makes no difference, the Earth will rotate around the sun. I was refering to the idea that we give words meaning, and therefore it's taken on faith they mean what we say. My arguement is that words or not, faith or not, things are what they are.
The second quote though, is not refering to a state of being at all. I do believe we have total control of what we do, (the example given is survive, even move out to space) but we do not have control over what things are.
So while our idea of what things like physics (somehow this arguement got to that) are changes, physics itself does not change. Sometimes we understand it, sometimes we're wrong about it, but it stays the same regardless of what we're thinking. We on the other hand, are very capable of changing.
The French Huguenots, the first Protestants in Catholic France, sheltered thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis in the tiny village of Le Chambon-sur-lignon. So religion was a humanitarian force here.
Church's regularly feed the homeless, help single mothers on hard times, take in orphans,
all kinds of good stuff, and that's great.
I thought I made it clear that religion does do good in some cases, and that I was saying that overall I believe it does more harm than good.
That's debatable of course, and there really is no way of measuring it.
I would submit this though, if a "religion" feeds a starving person, is it the religion, or is it the people within?
Of course religion itself is an inanimate thing. So what is the reason the people within a religion do good things?
1. they're just good people, in which case wouldn't they be good people still without religion? and so the starving person would have been fed by that good person with or without religion.
2. they're not inherently good people, but are afraid of hell or what have you, or are looking to score brownie points with god. Okay, that's fine, the starving guy is still getting food right? So in this case, it was religion that is good, and not necessarily the person.
So how can anyone know what's what? They can't, which is why it is my opinion.
I have observed however, believe fervently, and am more than willing to defend,
that people are people, they find a religion if they find one based on who they already are. If they change, it's not because of a religion, but something within them that was ready to change, and religion is conveniently their to take the credit, and they are all too happy to blame religion.
If a person does something, I believe they were going to do it one way or another, based on what is within them, and their experiences. They then subscribe some meaning behind what was done, and often this has become religion.
ie, if there were no such thing as religion, we would simply make one up,
if there were no such thing as god, we would simply make him up.
It's convenient.
The crusades would have happened without religion likely, but under another guise. As with 911. As with the starving man being fed.
Where I find fault though, is when a religion acts as an easy out for those who do not want to think on their own.
The rejection of religion, atheism, is the rejection of that theology, and not the embrace of an alternative morality.
Ideologies are used to justify atrocities, as exemplified by modern day Communism under Stalin or Mao, or of Fascism under Hitler or Mussolini; Both of which reject religion, and neither of which are moral, killing tens or perhaps hundreds of millions of people.
“…it becomes apparent that those who make the claim ‘religion has been the cause of more wars than any other factor in history’ may speak from ignorance or have ulterior motives for the assertion. Further, this type of assertion seems rooted in anti-religion posturing…Men and nations have a history of warfare and the root of conflict is power and gain…Occasionally war is fought over religion, as is perhaps the case during the reformation period in Europe. More often than not however, the cause of war can't be laid at the door of religion.”
We have some opposition to evolution so, as per usual, I will take it upon myself to pull these ridiculous critiques of evolution and "old earth theory" apart. I don't expect many, including JakeJ, to actually read this. God forbid he accidently learnt something rather than repeated the same old creationist nonsense.
Let's begin with the very opening sentence.
"Darwin was never trained in the fields of science, he was actually trained to be a pastor."
This isn't just slightly wrong; this is absolutely nowhere near the mark. Darwin originally trained as an apprentice doctor, helping his father treat the poor of Shropshire, before going with Erasmus to the University of Edinburgh. He neglected his medical studies to learn taxidermy. In Darwin’s second year he joined the Plinian Society, a student natural history group whose debates strayed into radical materialism. He assisted Robert Edmund Grant’s investigations of the anatomy and life cycle of marine invertebrates in the Firth of Forth, and in March 1827 presented at the Plinian his own discovery that black spores found in oyster shells were the eggs of a skate leech. He learnt classification of plants, and assisted with work on the collections of the University Museum, one of the largest museums in Europe at the time.
Darwin was forced by his father to do an arts degree as the first steps towards becoming a pastor. Darwin began there in January 1828, but preferred riding and shooting to studying. His cousin Fox introduced him to the popular craze for beetle collecting which he pursued zealously, getting some of his finds published in Stevens' Illustrations of British entomology. He became a close friend and follower of botany professor John Stevens Henslow and met other leading naturalists who saw scientific work as religious natural theology, becoming known to these dons as “the man who walks with Henslow”.
Darwin had to stay at Cambridge until June. He studied Paley's Natural Theology which made an argument for divine design in nature, explaining adaptation as God acting through laws of nature. He read John Herschel's new book which described the highest aim of natural philosophy as understanding such laws through inductive reasoning based on observation, and Alexander von Humboldt’s Personal Narrative of scientific travels. Darwin planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics. In preparation, he joined Adam Sedgwick's geology course then went with him in the summer mapping strata in Wales.
He was as close to being trained in natural sciences as one possibly could be.
"When he was on a ship he was reading a book that talked about geological gradualism wich states that geological formations took millions of years to form. This book refered greatly to the Sanacrouse River valey, wich was a small river in a huge valey, it made sense to Darwin that it wuold have taken a long time for that tiny river to carve that huge valey. Though in theory it sounded good it has been poven by science that it couldn't have carved it out."
The book in question is "Principles of Geology" by Charles Lyell. In it, Lyell set out that geological remains from the distant past can, and should, be explained by reference to geological processes now in operation and thus directly observable. Lyell's interpretation of geologic change as the steady accumulation of minute changes over enormously long spans of time had a huge influence on Darwin during his journey on the Beagle. The point made about the Sanacrouse River Valley is uncited, irrelevent and misleading. Valleys are, most definitely, carved out over time by erosion from rivers and other natural sources. This is basic geography.
"He thought that they were evolving but really they were varying and adapting."
I like how they used two other words to describe the exact same thing. Evolution is simply variation over time, with natural selection being akin to adaptation. This is a stupid argument that isn't at all backed up. They were most definitely evolving.
"If the Earth were millions of years old many things would be different:"
Go on then, humour me...
"The salt content in the oceans would be so high we could almost walk across them."
This is one of those arguments based on ignorance. This argument says that based on salt input and output from the oceans, they could not be older than 62 million years. The main problems with this argument is that, firstly, the people who first mentioned this left off many well known and established methods of sodium removal from water. This artificially inflated the numbers, making it appear that there should be far more salt then there is. It also assumes that salt accumulation in the past was the same that it is today, regardless of the scientific basis on this being that manmade pollution contributes a lot of additional sodium to the ocean. You can't use todays level of sodium increase and then simply go back 62 million years using the same rate; that's not how it works.
"The silt at the ocean floor would be much higher than it is."
Not only has the writer got the original argument wrong, but the argument that it is supposed to be making is also wrong. The argument goes that the sediments that were eroded away from the Grand Canyon should be somewhere downriver from the Canyon, and that the sediments that have washed downstream are not nearly enough to account for the vast amounts that were eroded away from the Canyon.
In reality, the Colorado River delta contains over 10,000 cubic miles of sediment. Much of the rock layers are limestone and dolomite. These would dissolve over time, and leave no evidence. Because of this, calculations of the amount of sediment eroded and deposited are inflated by as much as 200 percent. The calculations are also based on erosion rates during the years 1926-1950. The young earth authors assume the erosion has been happening at this rate for 70 million years. Early in the history of the river, erosion would have been much less. The Grand Canyon itself started to erode only five million years ago. Sediment rates are at their highest now, and this cannot be used to calculate rates in the past. Also, and most importantly I feel, for the first 65 million years, the Colorado River did not drain into its present location of the Gulf of California. Thus, the sediments for 65 million years of the young earth creationist calculations, based on 70 million years, are in a different location.
"The moon woudl be so far away from the earth we would have no tides because the moon moves an inch away from the earth every year."
Ahh, one of my favourites. The argument is quite simple. Young earth creation science theorists claim that since the moon is receding (moving away from earth at a rate of about 4 cm/year, then in the past the moon must have been too close to earth, and would have been closer than the Roche Limit (11,000 miles), a point at which the tides caused by the moon would have destroyed the earth.
This argument is so funny because the numbers used are mindboggling. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the Moon is receding at 6 inches per year. If we go back a million years, then the Moon was 6 million inches closer to the earth. That comes to about 95 miles per million years. Since the Moon is about 240,000 miles away, that doesn't amount to anything! Indeed, the Moon has a slightly elliptical orbit that varies more than 95 miles all by itself. A more accurate estimate, based on the present rate of lunar recession, puts the Moon within the Roche limit around 1 or 2 billion years ago.
This is too easy.
"The moon would have much more dust on it than it does now"
I can't believe this argument STILL gets used regardless of how many times it is shown to be utter nonsense. It has coasted along on obsolete evidence, and nothing but obsolete evidence, for the last 25 years. More than any other argument, it shows how creationists borrow from each other and never do any outside reading.
The reason for this argument is simply a miscaculation by a "scientist" who was trying to show that there would be far more dust on the moon then there was. Instead of, as everyone else did, realising that his calculation were wrong, he refused to accept that and simply stated that the moon couldn't be as old as it is. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are the real figures:
"Since the late 1960s, much better and more direct measurements of the meteoritic influx to the Earth have been available from satellite penetration data. In a comprehensive review article, Dohnanyi [1972, Icarus 17: 148] showed that the mass of meteoritic material impinging on the Earth is only about 22,000 tons per year [60 tons/day]... Other recent estimates of the mass of interplanetary matter reaching the Earth from space, based on satelliteborne detectors, range from about 11,000 to 18,000 tons per year (67) [3049 tons/day]; estimates based on the cosmicdust content of deepsea sediment are comparable (e.g., 11, 103)."
Simply put, this means that figure for the moon (2 x 10-9 grams/square centimeter per year) yields 2.3 tons/day. In 4.5 billion years a layer of about one and a half inches of cosmic dust would accumulate on the moon. (On the moon, of course, a ton would weigh much less. We're actually talking about a mass that would weigh 2.3 tons on Earth.)
"All commets would be burnt up"
The argument states that comets last 10,000-15,000 years before being blown apart by solar wind, which is once again absolute nonsense. Any kid with a keen interest in astronomy will tell you that it is the heat of the sun which is a comet's undoing. Each time a comet, which is akin to a dirty snowball, passes near the sun it loses tons of material to vaporization. Thus, the number of orbits such a comet can make before being reduced to a swarm of asteroids is limited. The solar wind along with the heat and light of the inner solar system are responsible for a comet's magnificent tail. Thus, comets brighten up as they near the sun, their tails pointing away from the sun. A few comets occasionally crash into one of the planets, especially Jupiter, or into the sun itself. Others are thrown out of the solar system forever. The projected life span of one short-period comet, that of Halley's comet, is 40,000 years.
The only way short-period comets can be made to support a young solar system, hence a young earth, is by showing that they have no reasonable source of replenishment. Because short-period comets orbit the sun at least once every 200 years (by definition), and as they lose material on each pass, they must be constantly replaced over billions of years. Let's briefly summarize what science knows about comets. In 1950, based on a study of the orbits of several long-period comets, the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort proposed that a great spherical shell of them existed at the remote frontiers of our solar system. Better statistics in more recent years have supported the existence of the Oort Cloud and put it at a distance of 50,000 AU (1.3 lightyears). This inner cloud of comets is called the Hills Cloud. Originally, it was thought that short-period comets were merely long-period comets from the Oort Cloud which had been converted by close encounters with Jupiter or the other large outer planets. That may well be true for some of them, but modern studies of short-period comets have identified their probable origin in a region of space now named the Kuiper Belt, which resembles a flattened ring just beyond the orbit of Neptune. Computer simulations show that such a source would account beautifully for the lowinclination, short-period, prograde orbits, and other features associated with short-period comets. The Kuiper Belt probably has around 100 million to several billion comets, which probably formed at that location when the planets formed, and the gradual pull of the giant gas planets over time sends a few of them continually towards the sun. Thus, the short-period comets are replenished.
Now we go on to the common misinterpretation of the second law of thermodynamics, as well as a misunderstanding of the terms law and theory.
"Also the second law of Thermodinamics says that everything is decaying and complex thing are becoming simple. Evolution is a theory and says that things are getting better and simple things are becoming complex. If a theory defies a law the law stays and the theory goes."
I've already showed how this is wrong in a previous post, but I'll go over it again. Firstly, I'll repost what I said in regards to misusing the second law of themodynamics when talking about the Big Bang:
"The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated system which is not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium. Order (the perceived complexity of the universe you speak of) is most likely to occur in a closed system which is far from equilibrium. When a closed system is in the equilibrium state, its entropy has reached a maximum value. The entropy of the closed system cannot increase further. Hence, there is no room to compensate for the entropy decrease of a local system within the closed system unless it is accompanied by an entropy increase in a neighboring local system. By contrast, if a closed system is far from equilibrium, its entropy will increase dramatically, which can compensate for a substantial entropy decrease of a local system. Thus, ordered structures are more likely to be created from a non-equilibrium state than an equilibrium state. The Big Bang theory backs up this view of the world. The Big Bang creates an initial universe which contains an enormously high energy density and is extremely far from equilibrium. In order to reach an equilibrium state, the universe expanded rapidly, resulting in dramatic increase in entropy. This compensate perfectly for the entropy decrease due to the formation of ordered structures such as galaxies, stars, planets, life on Earth, etc."
Now, let's talk about the law and evolution.
This shows more a misconception about thermodynamics than about evolution. The second law of thermodynamics says, "No process is possible in which the sole result is the transfer of energy from a cooler to a hotter body." [Atkins, 1984, The Second Law, pg. 25] The confusion arises when the 2nd law is phrased in another equivalent way, as used in my argument above about the Big Bang: "The entropy of a closed system cannot decrease." Entropy is an indication of unusable energy and often corresponds to intuitive notions of disorder or randomness. Creationists thus misinterpret the 2nd law to say that things invariably progress from order to disorder.
However, they neglect the fact that life is not a closed system. The sun provides more than enough energy to drive things. If a mature tomato plant can have more usable energy than the seed it grew from, why should anyone expect that the next generation of tomatoes can't have more usable energy still? Creationists sometimes try to get around this by claiming that the information carried by living things lets them create order. However, not only is life irrelevant to the 2nd law, but order from disorder is common in nonliving systems, too. Snowflakes, sand dunes, tornadoes, stalactites, graded river beds, and lightning are just a few examples of order coming from disorder in nature; none require an intelligent program to achieve that order. In any nontrivial system with lots of energy flowing through it, you are almost certain to find order arising somewhere in the system. If order from disorder is supposed to violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics, why is it ubiquitous in nature?
The thermodynamics argument against evolution displays a misconception about evolution as well as about thermodynamics, since a clear understanding of how evolution works should reveal major flaws in the argument. Evolution says that organisms reproduce with only small changes between generations (after their own kind, so to speak). For example, animals might have appendages which are longer or shorter, thicker or flatter, lighter or darker than their parents. Occasionally, a change might be on the order of having four or six fingers instead of five. Once the differences appear, the theory of evolution calls for differential reproductive success. For example, maybe the animals with longer appendages survive to have more offspring than short-appendaged ones. All of these processes can be observed today. They obviously don't violate any physical laws. We also have a misunderstanding about "information" contained in DNA in regards to more information being added. Information theory does sort of have a principle of degradation, but it is only applicable in certain situations (which evolution isn't one of). It implies, essentially, that information change is irreversible: information gets more and more different from how it started out, and the more it gets changed, the harder it is to tell how it started out. In a communication or information storage system, where the goal is to transmit or replay the original message intact, change is necessarily bad, so this corresponds to degradation. In evolution however, change is not necessarily bad, so this is not a principle of degradation. No new 'information' is created in the way that creationists seem to assume. DNA is made up of sugar, phosphate and a mixture of four bases, which are adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. Information within the DNA is represented by the mixture of these four bases. Changing the order of these bases within the DNA incodes new information; which is exactly what happens when there is a mutation within the DNA. The order of the bases change, and the information contained within the DNA is different to the original. Viola.
"Most dating Evolutionists use is faulty, and when they say that the Earth is millions of years old they only use10% of it."
I have absolutely no idea what is being implied here. And the age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years, not millions.
"Darwin said that if science could prove him wrong then he was. If he said that and we can prove him wrong and we can then how can people still follow this theory?"
Well, there we go. Science has consistently found evolution to be correct, and I've shown all of these arguments to be false. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If you don't believe in evolution, it's either because you don't understand it, or have a religious reason for not wanting to accept it. Evolution is absolute fact.
Fine, Jake...which God would you like me to debunk? Let's go with the Christian God. If you take the bible literally, the universe can only be about 6,000 years old (that's when most Christian theologians claim God created it). Einstein's theory of relativity says that light travels at a constant velocity for all observers. If the Bible is right we would only be able to see stars less than 6,000 light years away from us. Is this the case? No, in fact we can see stars billions of miles away. This means the bible, interpreted literally, must be wrong.
In the work of the Creation, the Lord organized elements that had already existed (see Abraham 3:24). He did not create the world out of nothing, as some people believe. Those stars are older than the earth.
I think I pretty much knocked this stupid argument out of the park in reply to one of your other comments. Please try to think about things for yourself before posting links to nonsense like that. It only adds to the thought you have absolutely no understanding of science.
Jake I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. That is one funny site thanks for posting it....how funny would it be if people actually took those kind of ridiculous arguments seriously? I mean think about it...over a hundred years of scientific advancement in fields such as genetics, geology, embryology, anatomy, and the entire fossil record completely ignored. They even incorrectly use the laws of thermodynamics...classic!
It's good there's not really people who believe this stuff. I mean imagine how brainwashed, or just plain stupid someone would have to be...It's incredible!
I'm glad that you have a sense of humor Jake, because that post made my day.
P.S. I don't think Xaenon got the joke. He thought you were serious! Haha
You're right, people do take those arguments seriously. That's whats so funny. Did you really not get the sarcasm? I thought that I was actually making it too obvious. I was making fun of you for quoting overused and flawed arguments (such as the thermodynamics one). If you want to know specifically why the argument is dumb look at xeanon's posts.
As for the rest of your post, the church I go to doesn't usually doesn't talk about genesis (or I just don't pay attention). If you want to go with that interpretation, then I guess Einstein's theory of relativity wouldn't disprove your God. Not that it really matters. You could have said "God put the light to look like there were stars" and it would be the same thing.
Going back to evolution, I hope that you are not one of the simple minded people who allow religious beliefs to interfere how they view science. In fact, plenty of Christians are able to come to terms with their faith and evolution (including the past three popes!). I may have fun making fun of religious beliefs, but in all honesty moderate religion is harmless, and sometimes can even lead to some good, but denying facts is silly.
Below is a link to a youtube profile of a biology student who both believes in evolution and is a Christian. He makes a lot of videos debunking creationists. If you have questions, his videos are pretty informative.
Of course i got the sarcasm thats why it pissed me off because i knew that you didn't think it was funny.
"If you want to know specifically why the argument is dumb look at xeanon's posts." - i did, at least he can post for himself, i asked you about the thermodynamics part.
I don't care what church you "go to" and i also don't care that you are to arrogant to even pay attention.
No, I'm not simple minded I partly believe in evolution, just not Darwin's take on it. And I wouldn't know much about the last three popes considering I'm a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. But I'm sure that you will just try to tair my religion apart.
"I may have fun making fun of religious beliefs, but in all honesty moderate religion is harmless, and sometimes can even lead to some good, but denying facts is silly."
Why do you make fun of peoples religious belief's, or ANY beliefs for that matter. This is America, why do you even care about other peoples beliefs. It's one thing to argue against someone but to make fun of their personal beliefs is pretty messed up, and that is NOT what this web site is for or about. I think you are getting the wrong idea.
I would rather be wrong or have trouble getting my point across than to be as prejudice as you are and mock peoples beliefs. I think you owe me and other Christians on this site an apology.
I didn't talk about thermodynamics because I didn't feel like wasting my time on something that had already been addressed. But if you insist:
The article talks about the earth as if it were a closed system, when in fact it is only a small part of a much larger system. If you look at the solar system you can see that the sun is actually becoming more disordered and is doing work on earth. Therefore there is no violation of the law of thermodynamics.
Now that we cleared that up, I'm not going to "tair" anyone's religion apart. I decided to refute your god because you challenged someone to. Don't forget that, because it's important. If someone keeps their beliefs personal, then fine, but you asked if anyone could prove your beliefs wrong with science, and therefore I obliged. If you were going to get your panties in a twist about it, then why ask? (Oh and if you want to hear your religion being made fun of, I'm pretty sure there's a south park episode that makes fun of mormans).
As for your final comments, I have always respected people's personal beliefs except:
1) When people use religion as justification to discriminate against others
2) When people deny facts and convince others to deny facts through religion (this would be where you fall)
3) When people use religion as an excuse to kill others (a.k.a. religious extremists like the terrorists in the Middle East)
This was my point about moderate religion. People who are religious, but do not fall into one of those categories are fine by me. If it makes you feel better, I am against any atheist who falls into these categories. So no I don't owe anyone an apology, because in America we have freedom of speech.
Also, technically this is the internet, not America.
Well, thanks for not going after my religion, and yeah I have heard alot about that dang episode of southpark, but I have never watched that show, however if your going by what that show says, I hear they also said that the mormon chirch is true. (;
Okay, I will admit that I dont know all that much about evolution, even though I brought it up. I just get defensive.
I will do more reseach next time. I hope we can move past this and find more stuff to agree on.
But-
What facts did I deny?, because im pritty sure evolution is a theory.
Actually the episode goes through the story of the foundation of the Church of the Latter Day states (or some version of it), while someone in the background sings "dumb du dumb dumb dumb." But south park makes fun of everyone, that's why it's so great!
I guess technically, you didn't deny any facts but let me help you understand. There is an incredible amount of scientific evidence pointing toward evolution...so much that they can actually tell where every animal on earth came from and how they are related. Evolutionary knowledge is fundamental in medical research, which is one of the reasons I get kinda ticked when people say that evolution might not be true. If it wasn't for our understanding of evolution, people would literally die.
Let me put it in perspective: let's say you walk into a room and you see a dead body. Standing above the body is a man with a knife. You look at the body and you see that there are knife marks. There is nobody else in the house, or even near the house. Technically, you didn't see the killing so you can only form a theory. If your theory was anything other than "the dead guy was killed by the guy with the knife" then you might need your head checked. This is what evolution is like. There is so much evidence and almost no real scientist who has looked at the evidence comes to any conclusion other than "the animals currently on earth evolved from more primitive creatures over millions of years."
Thanks for helping me understand, im not fully against the idea of evolution just part of it, evolution is fundamental to medical research but is Darwinian evolution? I still have allot to learn. But thanks.
People separate them because you have to separate them for them to be able to function. Science requires evidence, religion doesn't. Religion fills the gaps in our knowledge with a god, while science fills the gaps in our knowledge with facts and theories that are supported by evidence
I, on the behalf of All those names who start with "I", I will say that both science and Religion can mix together. Also, There once was a popular saying,(Now it's not that as popular as before) that "It's better to believe in God than to rather not. IF you believe in God, and there truly is a God, you will go to heaven.IF you do not believe in God, and there truly is a God, you could be punished.IF you believe in God, and there is no God, nothing will happen.IF you do not believe in God, and there is no God, nothing will happen. So, to be on the safe side, I will truly believe in God. My faith will rest in a mutual defense among both God, and science...
I never rely solely on God. One must pray as if everything is on God's shoulders, but act as if everything is on his shoulders. That's how I live my life. However, I would much rather put my faith on God. It gives a chance for miracles. Science is straightforward, but not always correct. Sure, you could plug into formulas, but there are always variants. With God, I feel safe.
Science is slow. What you stated are the final two playing cards that religion/God still has in his hand. When science finds the answer, religion will die. Or if aliens come to earth. For every religion claims us to be the only damned things in the whole fricken universe. That sounds a little greedy, sounds like a human claim. Therefore God is nothing more than a human creation to help hide our fear of death. End game. I rest my case with science.
Id radther put my faith in God, because i know that eventhough i may go through alot in life, someday ill stand in front of him, Actually we all will, but i dont wanna waste my life just making God second option, i wanna live for him and actually follow him and lead others to him, faith without action is dead, so yeah i chose God
And I quote .........' science will be here for a while'......... Science will be here for as long as God wants it! God on the otherhand will be here for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and....................................................
I do have say you do have a point, but..... What more is there to prove. We have a beautiful planet to live on, which we are killing. Be thankful you are here and alive, be thankful for life. I understand your veiws, I grew up not really knowing who God was, I even still question him today. But one day I put him to the test, and it worked I was more surprised than any thing. I have no proof or witness to this test I made, but it will be embreeded in my heart for ever. So whether science fails or not, God will always be with us. No matter what.
I understand what your saying, ounce again I grew up not caring who god was. I teased others that believed in him now I feel bad. I really just want to say F U and move on with my life, but I won't. Because I don't want to make any enemies on this site. Let's just take our personal opinions and let this conversation alone for now! Friends?
No. Science has always been here. We as humans just did not always understand it. Your logic is lacking. Without humans, there would be no God. We are the only creature that seems to care about it. And its not God that we care about, it is death. Humans have a deepseated fear of death that influenced the creation of god. End game.
Science has always been here? What is that supposed to mean? Science is a strict methodological practice that has developed over time. It did not exist before we created it. It seems that it is your logic that is lacking. I'll assume that you are confusing science with "empirically verifiable objective truth", which arguably has always been here.
As far as fear of death being the only impetus for the invention of God, do you have any psychological evidence to support this assertion?