Posted on 06/02/2003 1:46:54 PM PDT by Heartlander
We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, and in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so-stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."
Source: Lewontin, R., "Billions and Billions of Demons," The New York Review, January 1997, p. 31.
"Atheism is science’s natural ally. Atheism is the philosophy, both moral and ethical, most perfectly suited for a scientific civilization. If we work for the American Atheists today, Atheism will be ready to fill the void of Christianity’s demise when science and evolution triumph. Without a doubt humans and civilization are in sore need of the intellectual cleanness and mental health of atheism.”"Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus’ earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death. If Jesus was not the redeemer who died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing!"
Source: Bozarth, G. Richard, "The Meaning of Evolution," American Atheist (February 1978), page 30.If you want further information about the abuse of evolution theory for the purpose of trying to ridicule the revelation of God and those who observe it, just look at Evolution forums (including threads on FR, of course).
"If we must worship a power greater than ourselves, does it not make sense to revere the Sun and the stars? Hidden within every astronomical investigation, sometimes so deeply buried that the researcher himself is unaware of its presence, is a kernel of awe."
Cf. Sagan, Cosmos, p. 24; Carl Sagan, Comet, (New York: Random House, 1985), p. 21. Broca's Brain, p. 286.
First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.
Gould, Wonderful Life, p. 51
And of course...
"The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be."
Sagan, Cosmos, p. 29
tp, I may or may not spend any time collecting research data for you. If you care, you may wish to look for yourself. No, wait, here (and you can take the word "Creationis" simply to refer to the universe having a Creator, who created things, as He wished, how He wished):
Here's something I recall, there are traces of it here...
The "Threat" of Creationism, by Isaac Asimov
And anything that pushes "objectivism" and closely related isms are in that category. That is what these belief systems inherently do.
You omit a critical third option - surely an omniscient and omnipotent god can create any desired outcome merely by setting the proper initial conditions. The watchmaker builds the watch and winds it up - he doesn't have to supervise every single subsequent tick if he did his job properly in the first place.
A 'mindless' process 'without purpose or goal' that is responsible for all life is a philosophy or a religious belief.
It is neither of those things - it is a statement of fact, and it is either true or untrue. Your inability to reconcile that fact with your particular worldview does not, however, have any impact at all upon the truth or untruth of it. The fact that you find the mindlessness of gravity to be philosophically incoherent will not save you when you fall off a ladder, I assure you.
The alpha male is not necessarily due to size alone, skill and intelligence factor into the equation. Now consider the 'set order' in the pack as well as the 'skill and intelligence' of the alpha male. Is this a mindless process without purpose or goal?
Are you proposing that wolves are intelligent agents?
What is currently happening in China in regard to the amount of children that are allowed… Is this mindless and without purpose or goal?
No, but it's not natural selection, either.
My wife and I 'decided' to have a child. Is this mindless and without purpose or goal?
Only you and your wife know for sure ;)
OK, I set myself up here so let me instead ask how does it compare to gravity?
I don't think it does. It also doesn't compare too well to natural selection - one of the benefits of developing intelligence is that it lets you subvert what would otherwise be the natural order of things.
So the moon really does go away when you're not looking at it, does it? ;)
Nowadays the deeper answers are floating visibly at the top as homo sapiens engage the imagination to increase, interrupt, or otherwise disturb gravity in order to render its status as "natural" irrelevant.
Eyeglasses and antibiotics render certain sorts of natural selection irrelevant to your life as well, but in either case, gravity or natural selection, irrelevant is not the same as nonexistent.
tp, I may or may not spend any time collecting research data for you. If you care, you may wish to look for yourself.
How weird that you think I want to 'research' your imaginings about being ridiculed..
No, wait, here (and you can take the word "Creationis" simply to refer to the universe having a Creator, who created things, as He wished, how He wished): Here's something I recall, there are traces of it here...
The "Threat" of Creationism, by Isaac Asimov
And anything that pushes "objectivism" and closely related isms are in that category. That is what these belief systems inherently do.
Bizarro. Asimov's article proves my point, not yours.. You see 'traces' of what? A 'ridicule' of god from Azimov? Where?
In any case your last couple of lines above on "isms" are simply meaningless words, tacked on as what, a form of rebuttal on points never made?
A is A and existence is existence and gravy is gravy. How about that! It's time for my shut eye.
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