Science Vs. Faith Approaches
My husband sent me this link. I love it. I realize my religious readers may (or may not) find this offensive. But it is the reality as we (most of the AgnosticMom readers) see it.
I remember that once I finally allowed myself to question a few nonsensical religious beliefs, a flood of contradictions rushed out of my unconsciousness. The number of religious doctrines that don’t jive with reality astounded me. The contradictions were there all along but I had tucked them away into the unconscious hiding places of my brain so that I couldn’t see them.
Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.
I much prefer the open-ended approach to understanding the world that I have adopted. It is honest. And of course, more accurate.
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February 28th, 2007 @ 11:47 am
nicely created.
Of course there is an issue since at some point even science needs some faith to proceed.
Its just science approaches faith with a flexible model of acceptance.
where religion approaches faith with a fixed definition of acceptance (that of the holy book or the elder and seemingly never based upon your own terms usually).
I suppose thats why I am a Taoist, since Taoism uses a flexible concept of acceptance.
Peace
February 28th, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
In what way does science need faith to proceed?
Are you saying that scientists believe in their methods or that there must be a general belief that the scientific method works?
If so, then I would have to agree that those of us without religious faith do have a strong belief in the scientific method and its results since it inherently is designed to modify, reconfigure, or even do away with ideas through rigorous testing.
There are plenty of examples of bad science run amock in cases where someone’s “faith” in their idea has led them to ignore the evidence.
February 28th, 2007 @ 2:44 pm
Ron–Great questions. He’s already responded. I just need to clean up the format of the interview and I hope to post tomorrow.
BTW, Ron, I have tried to reply a number of times to your last couple of emails and they keep coming back to me as non-deliverable. I have no idea what the problem is but I didn’t want you to think I’m ingoring you. Hopefully you’ll see this.
March 2nd, 2007 @ 10:12 am
Steve:
If someones faith prevents them from ignoring the evidence of facts in front of them…
well then their faith isn’t flexible is it?
I am not saying everyone in science has flexible faith. Look at many scientists who have so much faith in their own ideas, that they can’t change when the better fitting idea comes along…
faith is a difficult beast to reign in no matter which level or where its aimed at.
In theory scientists have a flexible system of faith that is allowed to shift upon changing evidence. In reality, well: we are all human… and you would be surprised in that everyone has some faith in something , which ends up being difficult to shift when something new or better comes along…
Practice and reality are two different things: always… be it based in science or religion.
May 18th, 2007 @ 6:31 pm
These folks have broken your link such that it brings up a different glyph (I’m a Firefox user) when clicked. You might want to list the link text (http://stupidevilbastard.com/Images2/sciencevsfaith.png) in your article in addition to linking it.
Great blog, BTW. I’m a big fan. Please keep up the good work
May 27th, 2007 @ 8:41 pm
Thank you for pointing out that religion does not need to be involved in order for one to be an excellent parent. My thoughts are that, what my son decides he believes about God is his business. I do not wish to enforce systemic beliefs upon him startng at birth.
Oh, I wish my parents had thought the same way. It would have prevented years of guilt and self-blame for unanswered prayers and inability to believe.