Smallholder on Religion: Ad Nauseum
Since I seem to be on the topic of religion lately, I will continue the trend.
A religion is, by definition, something that is held without a reasonable basis. A leap of faith, as you will.
Faith is something you believe, despite the lack of evidence. Faith is not something that can be proven true or false.
Science is something that can be measured and used to make testable predictions. If the measurements and test results run contrary to the theory, than the theory must be set aside and a new one, based on those inconvenient measurements and test results, must be developed.
In a previous post, I condemned Christians who made the poor choice of placing their faith in opposition to science.
People of faith once challenged Pi. But Pi is measurable, testable, and the "theory" of Pi's nature can be used to make predictions of the circumference of circles. When faith ventured into the realm of science, trying to muscle it aside, it failed. I doubt many of you were taught the biblical measure of Pi to be 3. Most of us learned it was 3.14… to however many decimal places your geekishness demanded.
People of faith once challenged heliocentrism. But, unfortunately for those confused about the interrelationship of faith and science, orbital patterns are measurable, testable, and can be used to make testable predictions. I doubt many of you learned the geocentric theory of the Universe in school. You geekishness level probably predicts whether or not you can talk about orbital eccentricity and elliptical foci, but I'd be willing to bet that you learned that the earth orbits the sun.
People of faith now challenge evolution. Unfortunately for them, and the perception of Christianity as a whole as people generalize from the specific to our entire religion, evolution is measurable, testable, and makes testable predictions. So Kansas or no Kansas, our grandchildren won't be learning Intelligent Design.
A religion is, by definition, something that is held without a reasonable basis. A leap of faith, as you will.
Faith is something you believe, despite the lack of evidence. Faith is not something that can be proven true or false.
Science is something that can be measured and used to make testable predictions. If the measurements and test results run contrary to the theory, than the theory must be set aside and a new one, based on those inconvenient measurements and test results, must be developed.
In a previous post, I condemned Christians who made the poor choice of placing their faith in opposition to science.
People of faith once challenged Pi. But Pi is measurable, testable, and the "theory" of Pi's nature can be used to make predictions of the circumference of circles. When faith ventured into the realm of science, trying to muscle it aside, it failed. I doubt many of you were taught the biblical measure of Pi to be 3. Most of us learned it was 3.14… to however many decimal places your geekishness demanded.
People of faith once challenged heliocentrism. But, unfortunately for those confused about the interrelationship of faith and science, orbital patterns are measurable, testable, and can be used to make testable predictions. I doubt many of you learned the geocentric theory of the Universe in school. You geekishness level probably predicts whether or not you can talk about orbital eccentricity and elliptical foci, but I'd be willing to bet that you learned that the earth orbits the sun.
People of faith now challenge evolution. Unfortunately for them, and the perception of Christianity as a whole as people generalize from the specific to our entire religion, evolution is measurable, testable, and makes testable predictions. So Kansas or no Kansas, our grandchildren won't be learning Intelligent Design.
posted by Anonymous at 5/31/2005 08:13:00 PM
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