From: Horse (horse@darkstar.uk.net)
Date: Mon Oct 11 2004 - 01:07:28 BST
On 8 Oct 2004 at 11:04, Platt Holden wrote:
> Hi Horse,
>
> > I think Dawkins main point is that the in the struggle for the dominance of
> > science the main weapon has been argument and not violence. The history of
> > religion shows just the opposite. Something to be proud of and not
> > denigrated.
>
> Since science's "victories" over religious belief were restricted pretty
> much to the inorganic and biological levels, there wasn't a need to resort
> to violence on a national scale. But the Cold War that pitted the Judeo-
> Christian West against Godless communism was a battle of social values
> where violence and/or the threat of violence was very much in play. In
> that war, science played a major role in the competition for weapons
> superiority. Let's not forget that science includes scientists in the
> former Soviet Union as well as in China, Iran and North Korea, not to
> mention Saddam's chemical/biological warfare specialists.
None of which has anything to do with the points I've made. Science has not resorted to
violence in order to promote it's ideology, religion has and continues to do so. Can you
give me any examples to dispute this? The technological offshoots of science have been
used in various ways but this is not the same thing.
>
> Don't get me wrong. I'm indebted to scientists for many wonderful things,
> including my being alive today. But, to paint them as holier-than-thou as
> Dawkins would have us believe isn't the whole story by a long shot.
I can't see that Dawkins is doing anything of the sort. He is merely pointing out the
obvious. That science has an infinitely better track record than religion in respect to the
use of violence. Religious bigots have slaughtered thousands, at the very least, in their
quest to impose their beliefs on others. How many have been killed by bigots and
zealots of science in order to promote science as a dominant belief system?
Horse
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