[TXnMA]

"I do not believe in dark matter."

~~~~~

Unless you are a cosmologist working with valid data, your "belief" has no bearing on this discussion.

And, by the same token, "beliefs" such as the' YEC' misinterpretation of Scripture are embarassingly irrelevant to the study or discussion of cosmology.

[true_blue_texican]

Unless you are a cosmologist working with valid data,

Well, now, there's a non-sequitir. Dark Matter is the cosmologist's equivalent to the Immaculate Conception. As soon as first principles cause a contradiction, new doctrine is created to explain away the contradiction. Like the scholastics before them, modern cosmologists never consider that the problem is in their first principles.

[silverleaf]

Many cosmologists discuss their beliefs.

For some, ongoing discoveries affirm their beliefs. For others, ongoing discoveries change their beliefs.

Some (most?) of history's greatest scientist- at least before the past 50 years' aggressive attempts to secularize all public discussions - have accepted that there is room in the discussion tent for science and philosphy to co-reside.

[Tenacious 1]

[And, by the same token, "beliefs" such as the' YEC' misinterpretation of Scripture are embarassingly irrelevant to the study or discussion of cosmology.]

Maybe not so irrelevant. Whether you be a religious person or not, theories start to mesh where hypothetical meets theoretical in the metaphysical conundrum of the unknown. Dark matter organized in ladder fashion that seems to hold the universe together? Sounds pretty organized to me for big bang chaos.