From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Thu Apr 07 2005 - 23:59:49 BST
Hi Platt,
I knew this one would smoke you out. I was starting to worry about
you. :-)
On 7 Apr 2005 at 15:46, Platt Holden wrote:
> msh says:
> This is an old can that's been kicked around the block, here, a
> dozen times. There's a huge difference between pragmatic
acceptance
> of scientific or metaphysical principles, and faith-based,
> fear-driven acceptance of religious beliefs. To deliberately
> conflate the two as "faith-based" is simply dishonest and
> non-productive.
platt:
There's nothing dishonest or non-productive about it, especially
considering the pragmatic results of Pope John II's religious faith,
not to mention the faith of millions across the globe.
msh:
Let's set aside for the moment the fact that not every Catholic, not
to mention the world's 5.5 billion non-Catholics, is impressed with
the late Pope's pragmatic results; in fact, his policies were viewed
by millions of Catholics as extremely repressive,
Hear's the deal. No one knows if the laws of physics apply in every
corner of the universe. Scientists assume they do in order to land
spacecraft on distant moons. The fact they are able to land
spacecraft on distant moons is, in turn, very strong evidence of the
validity of their principles. If making these assumptions resulted
in constant failure, the assumptions would quickly be changed. This
is what is meant by the pragmatic acceptance of scientific
principles.
Is one's belief in God or Heaven arrived at in the same manner? Are
such beliefs altered, or dropped, in light of contradictory
evidence?
platt:
If anything, secular demonization of religious belief is fear-based
and fear-driven by those who desperately wish to claim the moral high
ground for themselves.
msh:
This is pure paranoiac delusion, inspired by a ton of unsupported
ideas and facts not in evidence. My experience has been that people
who lead secular lives give little or no thought to those who don't,
much less take the time to "demonize" them. Even a slightly
objective look at human interactions reveals far less tolerance, far
more moral self-righteousness, and a much higher tendency to
interfere in the lives of others, on the religious side of the
equation.
platt:
Finally, given science's faith in the principle that the whole
universe arose from nothing, resurrection seems infinitely
reasonable.
msh says:
Please name a scientist who has expressed his or her faith in this
principle. A verifiable quote in context would be nice.
Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
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