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To: Right Wing Professor
Einstein used the metaphor of 'god' to express his feeling that the Universe obeyed a set of meaningful and consitent laws.

Nice try prof, but...who "wrote" the laws?

Einstein (and others before him and since) express awareness that the existence of natural laws with their extraordinary complexity, is not logically attributable to chance. Therefore more logically, there is intention...authorship...design...creation....a singularity...call it what they will, and do. It is a bit amusing to read the works of those scientists who eschew the theory of God. They make heavy use of small caps (god), quote marks ("god", and their own metaphors...."cosmic intelligence"

I believe it was Einstein who once compared scientists to small children entering a great library containing all the great books and spending their lives trying to absorb the knowledge...without ever contemplating or even being intellectually capable of considering who wrote the books or why.. I believe this metaphor came as part of his discussion where he said " Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind..."

Authorship (design/creation/et al) .... is where science stops. As uncomfortable as that thought may be to some. Lack of certainty, and Discomfort on the part of some, about what came before science...should not be a reason to exclude an encompassing dialogue from the science classroom.
50 posted on 08/19/2005 9:58:24 AM PDT by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: silverleaf
Nice try prof, but...who "wrote" the laws?

You think someone 'wrote' the law of universal gravitation. Why?

Einstein (and others before him and since) express awareness that the existence of natural laws with their extraordinary complexity, is not logically attributable to chance.

Actually, Einstein hoped the laws were simple, not complex. He spent a long time trying to unify gravitation with electromagnetism, for that reason. And why is it more logical to attribute the regularities of the universe to a sentient entity than it is to chance?

They make heavy use of small caps (god), quote marks ("god", and their own metaphors...."cosmic intelligence"

Time for an English lesson. We use upper case only to identify particular individuals. Since Einstein's god was certainly not the Christian god and in fact not a personal god at all, normal usage would not capitalize it.

The scare quotes around 'god' are there to denote that Einstein himself denied he was really referring to a personal god.

And 'cosmic intelligence' is not my metaphor. I resent having words attributed to me that are not mine.

Lack of certainty, and Discomfort on the part of some, about what came before science...should not be a reason to exclude an encompassing dialogue from the science classroom.

The science classroom is no place for a 'Dialogue' (why upper case?) about pre-scientific creation myths, regardless of how prevalent they are in the culture.

51 posted on 08/19/2005 10:24:14 AM PDT by Right Wing Professor (Intelligent Design is not a scientific theory - John Marburger, science advisor to George W. Bush)
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To: silverleaf
" Nice try prof, but...who "wrote" the laws? "

Apparently it was by consensus if you want to take Einsteins quotes literally.

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods" -- Albert Einstein
52 posted on 08/19/2005 11:31:25 AM PDT by ndt
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