science and religion, was Re: Intelligent Design Invading Liberal Classrooms (was: South Park taunting Scientology)

Chris L Peterson wrote:
> Yes. But being psychologically damaged does not necessarily preclude
> creative thought- it could even enhance it.

When you characterized religious feeling as irrational, I found that
uncharitable, but accurate. However, I do not feel that way about
"psychologically damaged." That presupposes that humans begin life
rational, and that in order to harbor religious feeling, something must
first damage them. I see no evidence for that whatsoever. In my
experience, people with no psychological trauma find themselves capable
of a great variety of religious feeling--however irrational that feeling
might be.

Aside from religious *feeling*, asserting that some deity created the
universe, and is in some manner responsible for the way it is, is simply
an axiomatic position. In a formal sense, there is no difference
between that position and the position of empiricism--that nature can be
plumbed by observing how things have behaved in the past--or the notion
that mathematical rules govern much of the natural world.

It is true that the empirical position has a lot going for it. For
instance, it has worked well for us so far. But that is, after all, the
empirical position; we can't, from a formal perspective, use that fact
to justify the empirical position itself.

Of course, we get to define what science is, and science is about
creating natural explanations for natural phenomena (and the universe is
certainly a natural phenomenon). However valid a religious schema might
be as a way to "the truth"--as I say, that depends a lot on your
axiomatic make-up--it is by definition not a science, inasmuch as it
relies on a deity for driving the universe. It *might* be made a
scientific theory if you interpret "deity" as super-powerful being, and
make other suitable refinements and clarifications. But I doubt that
most religious people mean *merely* super-powerful when they think
"deity."

--
Brian Tung <brian@xxxxxxx>
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
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