Re: OT: Why is s.a.a. a target for religious discussion?

On Mar 15, 2:05 pm, Chris L Peterson <c...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:45:05 +0200, "Ioannis" <morph...@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Apropos of the latest discussion on religion, I am seriously wondering why this
group attracts these discussions.

This is not a troll. I follow around two science newsgroups and in no other
group such passionate discussions about religion take place.

Is it because astronomy is a science which lies on the boundary between man and
the universe? Is there some other reason? I am extremely interested in WHY
people in this group engage in religious discussions more often than, say, in
sci.math or sci.optics for example.

There are certain branches of science that threaten the dogma of many
religions. Astronomy is clearly one of these (the first, perhaps).
Optics and math are not. I suspect you'd see the same thing on open,
unmoderated discussions of biology as well.

As a rule these discussions don't start by discussing religion, but by
discussing the conflict that occurs when specific beliefs of certain
religions are shown by scientific evidence to be incorrect; from there
the discussions may shift into the abstract, where there can be no
conflict between science and religion- but by then things have often
become contentious.
_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatoryhttp://www.cloudbait.com


The variation on the theme that the Church,at least the one that
existed at the time of Copernicus,was opposed to observations that the
Earth is in motion was treated by Galileo and remains the only real
acceptable history of the matter.As contemporaries refuse to accept
the resolution for retrogrades as proposed by Copernicus or accept an
invalid one by Newton,this era has inherited the dubious honor of
distorting both technical and historical details surrounding human
involvement in structural astronomy -

"In order to facilitate their designs, they seek so far as possible
(at least among the common people) to make this opinion seem new and
to belong to me alone. They pretend not to know that its author, or
rather its restorer and confirmer, was Nicholas Copernicus; and that
he was not only a Catholic, but a priest and a canon. He was in fact
so esteemed by the church that when the Lateran Council under Leo X
took up the correction of the church calendar, Copernicus was called
to Rome from the most remote parts of Germany to undertake its reform.
At that time the calendar was defective because the true measures of
the year and the lunar month were not exactly known. The Bishop of
Culm, then superintendent of this matter, assigned Copernicus to seek
more light and greater certainty concerning the celestial motions by
means of constant study and labor.

With Herculean toil he set his admirable mind to this task, and he
made such great progress in this science and brought our knowledge of
the heavenly motions to such precision that he became celebrated as an
astronomer. Since that time not only has the calendar been regulated
by his teachings, but tables of all the motions of the planets have
been calculated as well. Having reduced his system into six books, he
published these at the insistence of the Cardinal of Capua and the
Bishop of Culm. And since he had assumed his laborious enterprise by
order of the supreme pontiff, he dedicated this book On the celestial
revolutions to Pope Paul III. When printed, the book was accepted by
the holy Church, and it has been read and studied by everyone without
the faintest hint of any objection ever being conceived against its
doctrines."

http://www.galilean-library.org/manuscript.php?postid=43841

Galileo took time out to signal a specific quality of an individual
which is important in dealing with highly intuitive matters , more of
the internal bedrock which feels its way through arguments,physical
considerations and disparate information in order to arrive at an
arrangement to satisfy observations,such as Copernicus in astronomy
and Steno in geology.Galileo used Augustine to carry this important
point,which is as true today as it ever was,this applies to believer
and non-believer alike -

"If anyone shall set the authority of Holy Writ against clear and
manifest reason, he who does this knows not what he has undertaken;
for he opposes to the truth not the meaning of the Bible, which is
beyond his comprehension, but rather his own interpretation, not what
is in the Bible, but what he has found in himself and imagines to be
there."
St Augustine

The great creative centers have been diminished as can be seen in
views here of either science,religion and especially the scientific
tradition within Christianity.It is not a matter of which side is
right or wrong but that there is a distinction at all as I act as
though no distinction existed as they once did centuries ago .A few
things also did not exist at the time of Copernicus and that is where
the trouble began in the late 17th century when clocks and telescopes
arrived after the great discoveries were already made and especially
the still prevalent tendency to allow timekeeping astronomy to dictate
structural astronomy.

It may be yet that an individual will raise themselves above the
racket of science/religion as it is presented here and find that
intuitive intelligence does light up science investigation is the most
spectacular way rather the the emerging dismal solution based on 'two
ways of thinking'.,a solution which leads to mediocrity.






.

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