Is Believing In God Evolutionarily Advantageous? by Alix Spiegel An article on the National Public Radio site
My Response:
I am an atheist because there is no evidence of the existence of a god and any attempt to prove or disprove the existence of a god is a frivolous waste of time. I certainly would not confuse a wind chime with a "god detection device" and continue to call myself a scientist. Wind chimes are called wind chimes because they make sounds in response to wind not because they send messages from the spirits of dead mothers who want to inform their offspring that they have successfully "crossed over." What does that mean: 2 "dings" for heaven, 3 "dongs" for hell. The assumption that human co-operation exists because of a scheme of rewards and punishments enforced by a supernatural entity ignores the existence of altruistic behaviour in "social" animals like elephants which have been observed to protect their fellows often against apparent self-interest and at risk of their own lives.
September-01-10 1:01:29 AM
Showing posts with label creationism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creationism. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Paleontologists visi Ohio Creationist "Museum" NYT
I think it was a wise decision for the organizers of the Paleontology Conference to include a tour of the Creation amusement park for the attending scientists. Most of them will immediately understand that creationism /intelligent design is not proposed as an alternative to evolutionary science. It is a political organizing tool with two objectives
1. people who are submissive enough to accept creationism, intelligent design, bible in-errancy are probably sufficiently psychologically impaired that they will work without questioning on other church campaigns to ban gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research. abortion, etc. most proponents of creationism don't believe it either - they know it is simply an organizational tool.
2. It diverts rational thinkers from pursuing their own political objectives - into a debate with virtual idiots. It is a debate that science cant win because creationism is prescribed - according to church authorities - by the divinely inspired and therefore inerrant bible. It is tragic to watch talented, capable, intelligent scientists debating the relative merits of creationism and evolution at the school-board level before a dull-eyed audience of believers who have already outflanked science by electing a majority to the board.
From its foundation, the church has been about political power. It had no history of its own so it stole popular components of other religions which it then proceeded to persecute and exterminate. Before Lenin admitted that "the end justifies the means" It had been the practice of the church for almost 2000 years to lie, intimidate even to use mass killing of its opponents to achieve political power. I hope we don't reach a point when biology classes have to be placed under tight security like abortion clinics out of fear that teachers and students might be assassinated.
The scientists from the Akron conference were immediately aware that the Creationism "museum" is not a museum but an amusement park. They understood that it is situated in Ohio for political purposes - an easy drive for the majority of american voters. The next step for scientists and their supporters is to contest elections at the local level so that our schools aren't administered by people who have so little self-respect that they would publicly espouse creationism/ id
1. people who are submissive enough to accept creationism, intelligent design, bible in-errancy are probably sufficiently psychologically impaired that they will work without questioning on other church campaigns to ban gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research. abortion, etc. most proponents of creationism don't believe it either - they know it is simply an organizational tool.
2. It diverts rational thinkers from pursuing their own political objectives - into a debate with virtual idiots. It is a debate that science cant win because creationism is prescribed - according to church authorities - by the divinely inspired and therefore inerrant bible. It is tragic to watch talented, capable, intelligent scientists debating the relative merits of creationism and evolution at the school-board level before a dull-eyed audience of believers who have already outflanked science by electing a majority to the board.
From its foundation, the church has been about political power. It had no history of its own so it stole popular components of other religions which it then proceeded to persecute and exterminate. Before Lenin admitted that "the end justifies the means" It had been the practice of the church for almost 2000 years to lie, intimidate even to use mass killing of its opponents to achieve political power. I hope we don't reach a point when biology classes have to be placed under tight security like abortion clinics out of fear that teachers and students might be assassinated.
The scientists from the Akron conference were immediately aware that the Creationism "museum" is not a museum but an amusement park. They understood that it is situated in Ohio for political purposes - an easy drive for the majority of american voters. The next step for scientists and their supporters is to contest elections at the local level so that our schools aren't administered by people who have so little self-respect that they would publicly espouse creationism/ id
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
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