The Problem with Science as a Substitute

[Spencermm]

Love the grass cutting example!
I pray for cooler weather so hubby won't have a heart attack while cutting the grass.

HA!!
No grass cutting for me for at least 2 more weeks- eye surgery and all

 

[adurso]

Not to shave a point too thinly, but Lady Montagu and her children were hardly "WOGs."
British faith in their superiority, scientists' faith in their superiority... six of one, half dozen of the other.
E.

No they were not wogs, but the Turks were wogs from the British viewpoint. Montagu did not invent the innoculation, the Turks did, therefore it was wog science, inferior to the Brits, from the Brit perspective of course. And the messenger was considered less than reliable.

Big difference between a belief in cultural superiority vice faith in science.

 

[Thalassamania]

The point is not how long people suffered with smallpox, it is that medical science intervened and smallpox was eradicated, albeit with some missteps along the way. Prayer was not the solution ... the World Heath Organization was. The same can be said about most disease, faith (as a disguised and misinterpreted symptom of "positive attitude") when viewed on an individual level rarely shows a small effect, when viewed on a societal or species level it is completely swamped by the effect of science and is irrelevant.

 

[Theunis]

God gave us these wonderful brains for a reason.
Spencer

I do agree with you! God gave the scientist the brains to use it and to develop the cure for smallpox!!

 

[Thalassamania]

I do agree with you! God gave the scientist the brains to use it and to develop the cure for smallpox!!

Got any evidence of that? Of course not. Just baseless claims and further foolishness.

I suppose (at least in your world view) god also gave his priests, churches and believers only half a brain to assure that progress would not be too rapid?

 

[deco_martini]

I hate to extend a thread created by a troll. However, I think the better question that is much easier to grasp and debate rationally would be "Is Religion a substitute for knowledge and science?"

Medicine: No
Geography: No
Astronomy: No
Physics: No
History: No
Anthropology: No

Where exactly can I take religion and replace the fruits of knowledge or the scientific method? I have no bone to pick with faith, but it seems like a very poor substitute for anything other than faith itself. People may switch from one faith to another but those who go without dialysis on the other hand....

 

[Thalassamania]

I posed basically the same question in the old thread and the religionists ran for the hills and never said anything. If I recall, I was asking for a single example where there was a conflict between science and religion, that in the end was resolved in favor of the religious view. Any takers? Just one single, solitary, itsy-bitsy example ... please.

And the silence is deafening.

 

[Theunis]

Got any evidence of that? Of course not. Just baseless claims and further foolishness.

I suppose (at least in your world view) god also gave his priests, churches and believers only half a brain to assure that progress would not be too rapid?

Yes, the proof is in the pudding!! Where do you think you've got your brilliant scientific brain? God has put you on earth to serve Him and maybe getting a cure for something else like AIDS.

I don't understand what you mean by the "half a brain" statement. Please explain.

 

[Spencermm]

I hate to extend a thread created by a troll. However, I think the better question that is much easier to grasp and debate rationally would be "Is Religion a substitute for knowledge and science?"

Medicine: No
Geography: No
Astronomy: No
Physics: No
History: No
Anthropology: No

Where exactly can I take religion and replace the fruits of knowledge or the scientific method? I have no bone to pick with faith, but it seems like a very poor substitute for anything other than faith itself. People may switch from one faith to another but those who go without dialysis on the other hand....

A lot of the threads on this topic have been a little over my head, especially in terms of science. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a knuckle dragging idiot. I'm college educated, but science is a weak point for me.
I think I agree with your post, however, I can't imagine why anyone would want to substitute religion for any of the areas you listed.
Spencer

 

[Thalassamania]

Yes, the proof is in the pudding!! Where do you think you've got your brilliant scientific brain? God has put you on earth to serve Him and maybe getting a cure for something else like AIDS.

That's not evidence, that's not even philosophical BS, that's hardly rises to the level of advertising bumph. I asked for evidence, and you've got none ... your bankrupt.

I don't understand what you mean by the "half a brain" statement. Please explain.

Religion has, historically, been a major impediment to the advancement of science. "Half-a-brain" was just my way of pointing out that every single conflict between science and religion has been resolved in favor of science, never in favor of religion, hence ... half-a-brain for the religionists.

Is it not strange that a god would so ill equip those who are supposedly on his (or her) side and so better equip those advancing heretical views? I mean really, the score stands at science a whole bunch and religion zero, nada, nothing, none-at-all, scoreless, shutout, time to invoke the mercy rule.