[FoRK] Mythbusting the standard religious anti-science line

[silky]

On Dec 4, 2007 8:42 AM, Sat N <sateesh.narahari at gmail.com> wrote:
> Oh Jeff, its so easy to get you all mad and fuming. ( Its not good for
> health you know, ask your favorite scientist or a priest :) )
>
> Neither science nor religion is perfect. Neither science nor religion
> is evil. Both have its positives and negatives. People chose whether
> to be religious or not based on their experiences and upbringing.

People don't choose. They are tricked mostly, and feared. You don't
have to fear science to believe in it. You don't have to blindly
"trust" science because you can't observe real results from your faith
in it. You know science, and it responds to you. You throw a ball up,
it comes down. In religion, you throw a ball up, turn around, and
explain to everyone around you how you know that the ball fell down,
while also telling them to not look, and just trust you. Hell, in
religion oftentimes you will throw the ball up, watch it fall, and
then explain that God wanted it to fall, to test your belief in that
fact that sometimes it may not fall, if you believe hard enough.


> Many
> scientists are very religious people. Where I grew up, it is not
> uncommon to see scientists go to a temple before heading to work. In
> fact, they do a Pooja ( religious offering) before they launch any
> satellites in India even today.

Who says science and religion don't intersect anyway? I think that
fact itself might show an interesting difference. For example, how
many people legitimately support multiple "religions" at once? Not
many. Passive atheists can maybe "accept" it, but I wouldn't say they
support them all.


> Similarly, many religious leaders accept science ( heck, even Pope
> goes to a Doctor and begs for scientific help to treat their
> conditions). Majority of the churches use fruits of science such as
> electricity, heating.
>
> Society requires both science and religion to thrive.

Really? Prove it.


> People like
> Richard Dawkins who argue that religion is evil are misguided and flat
> out wrong. Similarly, people who claim Intelligent Design are flat out
> wrong too.

Why are both flat out wrong? Based on your opinion? Why? On what basis?


> On Dec 3, 2007 2:15 PM, Sat N <sateesh.narahari at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >> Lets take some groups and such and put them ot the test.
> > > >
> > > > So, what does this prove?
> > >
> > > That you, Sat, apparently have no idea whatsoever what "science" is.
> > >
> >
> > Right - its mythical, mystical, magical and esoteric - same qualities
> > of any good religion. I rest my case.
> >
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-- 
mike
http://lets.coozi.com.au/