Religious belief among scientists

Into the Night said:
His point is exactly as he made it. Scientists are from many different religions. NONE of it affects science itself in any way. Science is atheistic by nature. It simply does not go into any kind of religion at all. It does not try to prove or disprove the existence of any god or gods.
Click to expand...


And?
 
BidenPresident said:
If you look at the ancient Greeks and the Renaissance there is a common attitude toward religion (at least by the intelligentsia).

Religion was not taken to be an absolute truth but a part of a society. There was more tolerance.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was part and parcel of the mores of the times, and considered to be part of being a good, well-rounded citizen.
 
BidenPresident said:
I think creative thought and innovation flourishes when people do not obsess over whether there is absolute truth.
Click to expand...

Ditto. In addition cultures do better with a diversity of religions rather than just one. Being dominated by a single religion tends to create us vs them mentalities, as we have seen in this country and others too, particularly Muslim-majority nations.
 
evince said:
I agree


Science will explain it eventually

Which is why I realized what I believe in is facts

Once we can explain it with facts to prove it’s nature it will merely be called science


Science based on facts is my god
Click to expand...

Science is not facts. Science is a set of falsifiable theories. Nothing more, nothing less.
A theory is an explanatory argument. Like any argument, it is a set of predicates and a conclusion.

All theories begin as circular arguments, even scientific ones. The only requirement of a theory of science is that it be falsifiable. This means that it is possible to test the theory to see if it's False, using a test the is definable, practical, available, specific, and produces a specific result. As long as the theory can withstand such tests, it is automatically a theory of science. It will remain so until it is falsified.

No theory can ever be proven True. A non-scientific theory cannot be proven True or False. It simply remains the circular argument it started as.

Will there ever be a day that science explains everything? No. Science is a great tool for explaining phenomena, but that is based on taking a bit of the universe apart as a model, and describing why that model seems to work, though you put it back into the universe as a whole again.

But can it explain everything? No.


Let's say someone actually comes up with a theory that explains everything. To test this theory, you put it into a massive computer program simulation and see if it conforms with the universe. Such a program will necessarily be very extensive, containing lots of output and data. Deciphering the result will be an incredibly complex affair. Have you gained anything? No. We already HAVE a universe as a whole. It is more accurate than any simulation. We will have learned nothing.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Ditto. In addition cultures do better with a diversity of religions rather than just one. Being dominated by a single religion tends to create us vs them mentalities, as we have seen in this country and others too, particularly Muslim-majority nations.
Click to expand...

Agree. Believe what you want. Form societies around it. But do not impose yourself on the state.
 
evince said:
This is utter stupid dude
Click to expand...
Argument of the stone fallacy. Why is it stupid? Let's see your philosophical argument, if you have any.
evince said:
Things don’t cease to exist because some smuck doesn’t believe it exists
Click to expand...
Pivot fallacy. I've already said this. The proof of identity is fundamental in logic. ?A->A.
evince said:
You are as magical thinking as trump
Click to expand...
He probably enjoys magic like many of us. Personally, I like Penn and Teller.
evince said:
You suck at life
Click to expand...
Life is something that is sucked??
Please describe this. How is life something that is sucked? Does it have tits?
 
BidenPresident said:
What is your point? Serious inquiry. You always post about how it is okay to be religious. If you are not proselytizing, what is your agenda?
Click to expand...
Cypress said:
The bolded is not even remotely close to being true and this can be easily corroborated by going to my profile page and pulling up the list of threads I have authored.
Click to expand...
BidenPresident said:
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Click to expand...

Do you have an explanation for what drives you to consistently misrepresent me? That seems like a rightwing thing to do.

My posting record habitually presents arguments from both sides of the issue - religious faith and atheism >>

https://www.justplainpolitics.com/showthread.php?139501-The-physics-of-God&p=3616963#post3616963
https://www.justplainpolitics.com/showthread.php?154785-God-really&p=4053367#post4053367
https://www.justplainpolitics.com/s...philosophical-tradition&p=3814963#post3814963

I never proclaim the superiority of either Christianity, Atheism, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, et al.

Religious dogma is just as offensive as militant atheist dogma. Dogma is an anathema to reason and inquiry.

My goal in posting is that I find these to be interesting intellectual avenues of inquiry. Religion, spiritual philosophy, and associated skepticism have been a fundamentally important part of human experience for over 2,000 years. That is a tad longer that the human interest in the Affordable Care Act or the presidential election of 2020.
 
Last edited:
BidenPresident said:
If you look at the ancient Greeks and the Renaissance there is a common attitude toward religion (at least by the intelligentsia).

Religion was not taken to be an absolute truth but a part of a society. There was more tolerance.
Click to expand...

Not quite true.

Ancient Greece (during the time that Athens was a democracy, for example, before it descended into an oligarchy, philosophers each had their own schools, teaching their own philosophies as the curriculum. Some of these philosophies were based on circular arguments, or arguments of faith. They were actually religions. Greece itself resulted from people fleeing religion elsewhere. Yet, wherever people go, some kind of religion goes with them, even if it's the Church of No God.

During the Renaissance, religion, particularly Christianity was quite strong. They even tried to calculate the exact hour and day of the moment of Creation. Note that many beautiful church buildings were constructed during this time, and still stand today. The last thing the people of the Renaissance were was tolerant. This was the time that people catalogued EVERYTHING. Everything in it's place, as if God had set it so and it never changed. You can see how intolerant they were in their architecture of the time. The iron hand...in the velvet glove.

Boring. Of course, it all went wrong. Nature, it seemed, was a disorganized mess. Weeds. New plants discovered that didn't fit into their catalogs. New animals discovered that didn't fit into their perfect little model. How do you categorize a Platypus? This animal even LOOKS like it was designed by committee.
 
BidenPresident said:
I think creative thought and innovation flourishes when people do not obsess over whether there is absolute truth.
Click to expand...

To a certain degree this is true. There is no 'absolute truth' because there is no absolute reality. Thought and innovation need not be locked into a particular path by the dictats of another, not even any god or gods. There is, however, a trap here.

Decisions made are free for you to make. You are not, however, free of the consequences of that decision. Sure, you can think about and even innovate new ways to rob and steal, but in the end you only wind up in prison, a position of very few options available.

So there are morals. There are laws. With no god or gods, how are these morals defined? How is any law justified?

The belief that religion is always oppressive is bigotry.
 
BidenPresident said:
Find Jesus in your heart.
Click to expand...
It is funny that you ask what my agenda with posting on religion and atheism is, since the goal is obviously to make interesting threads. You and a lot of others participate in my threads on this topic.

This thread- 77 posts currently
252 posts -- https://www.justplainpolitics.com/showthread.php?139501-The-physics-of-God&p=3616963#post3616963
95 posts -- https://www.justplainpolitics.com/showthread.php?154785-God-really&p=4053367#post4053367
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top