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To: Fester Chugabrew
"A good many high school biology textbooks refer to it."

They refer to a lot of things that are not in the theory of evolution; what's your point?

"We've been down this road before."

Yes we have, and you make the same mistake every time.

"To state that God is, or always be, beyond the purview of science is to make an atheistic statement about science."

First of all, those two statements are not the same. It is not the same to say that God is now outside of the purview of science and that God will ALWAYS be outside the purview of science. The first is my position, the second is your mischaracterization of my position, after I have repeatedly told you you were in error about what I was saying.

Secondly, saying that God is outside of science, now or forever, is NOT saying that God doesn't exist. It is ONLY saying that God is outside of science. Atheism is the conviction that God doesn't exist. Agnosticism is the belief that there isn't enough information to say if God does or doesn't exist. You want to redefine atheism to mean anything that doesn't mention God. Sorry, you don't get to rewrite the English language because you feel like it.

" NO God = atheistic by definition."

Only in your definition. Is relativistic physics atheistic? It never mentions God. Is germ theory atheistic? It doesn't mention God. Like ALL scientific theories, evolution doesn't mention God. That does not make it or all of science atheistic.

"Public school textbooks on biology hardly present the subject from an "agnostic" perspective. They don't say, "it is possible that a higher intelligence is behind all this organized matter and life but we just don't know for sure."

They also don't say that Pink Unicorns keep the planets aligned. Or Santa Claus causes the wind. Why should they bring up subjects outside of the purview of science? If they spent their time on all the *possible but untestable* claims that people have, they would have no time for real science.
189 posted on 01/19/2006 1:56:51 PM PST by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is grandeur in this view of life...")
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To: CarolinaGuitarman

As long as science textbooks make no reference to God and consider God to be outside its purview, they will be by definition atheistic, not agnostic. Agnostic acknowledges the two possibilities yet remains undecided about either. Science textbooks do not acknowledge both possibilities and state an undecided position.


191 posted on 01/19/2006 2:01:25 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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