Re: Physics Cultists

From: Gregory L. Hansen (glhansen_at_steel.ucs.indiana.edu)
Date: 03/14/05 

Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:06:42 +0000 (UTC)

In article <C0aZd.4$45.1423@news.uchicago.edu>,
 <mmeron@cars3.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>In article <lf9Zd.66355$r55.4284@attbi_s52>, Sam Wormley
><swormley1@mchsi.com> writes:
>>Jack Martinelli wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Now, here's the thing. People believe in God. Lots of people believe in
>>> lots of Gods. In fact most people believe in some form of super-being(s).
>>> Nature has not gotten rid of the human tendency to believe. Therefore
>>> belief must be useful & religion must be useful. Believing in yourself is
>>> pretty useful. So is believing in others. Right?
>>
>> We only have evidence of historical evidence of religion for possibly
>> 4-5 thousand years... not very long on the evolutionary time scale.
>
>Just to nitpick a bit, we only have historical evidence of anything
>for 4-5 thousand years. The reason the time earlier than this is
>called "pre-history" is that we have no clear historical evidence
>about anything there. So, in this case, an absence of evidence is
>clearly not an evidence of absence.

But there's some scanty and interpretable evidence from paleontology--
Venus figurines, neadertal burial rituals...

>
>> Humans may cause their own extinction in the next few hundred years--
>> religion being one factor.
>
>Hardly. Humans tend to power struggles, regardless of whether
>religion is or isn't involved. None of the great conflicts of the
>20th century (or, for that matter, of any of the European conflicts
>past the 30 years war) had much to do with religion. Don't confuse
>correlation with causation.

Some people come up with creative uses of the word religion. The various
Communist purges with communism identified as a religion, our own physics
cult with physics identified as a religion, etc. I've been imbibing of
the holy waters of the Coca Cola Company and soon I'll have to purge
myself at the sacred porcelain of Crane Plumbing.

To paraphrase Freud, sometimes an egomaniacal grab for power is just an
egomaniacal grab for power. 

-- 
"No one need be surprised that the subject of contagion was not clear to 
our ancestors."-- Heironymus Fracastorius, 1546

Relevant Pages

  • Why do biblethumpers get a free pass???
    ... Hey Religious Believers, Where's Your Evidence? ... evidence for religion that I haven't seen yet -- I want to know. ... So why should it be beyond reason or evidence? ...
    (alt.politics)
  • Re: Science versus religion fnord
    ... i just told you i dont use faith. ... evidence free and not susceptible to evidence. ... When ever you use the phrase "religion does X", ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: canRe: Moderatorial Note
    ... It's a matter of making a serious effort to ... have one's beliefs proportioned to the available evidence ... apparent decline in religion. ... far enough to help in the alleged weakening of communities. ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: The ToE kept alive by governement grants.
    ... It's not important that they offer "scientific" evidence for ... like where supernatural reasoning lead somebody to do something good, ... I am willing to grant ground for other epistemologies based upon the ... Religion is not the enemy, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: What are we doing here?
    ... is any evidence for it. ... However, that is not the case with the culture itself, which is ... >> didn't invent it, ... the notion that spirit and religion are identical is an assumption that ...
    (talk.origins)