: : Exactly. I have no problems with people who say there is a God; I do not know one way or the other; indeed, I cannot know to any reasonably objective standard.: : However, when people use a self-contradictory text like the Bible to try and deny the measurable and observable, like evolution, I start to see red; deliberate short-sightedness annoys me.
: : And when they try teaching such abuses of logic as 'fact', I go on the warpath.
: And I couldn't blame you for one second ;)!!
: This guy in Belfast gave my mate a creationist leaflet the other day that suggested that the creationist account was correct because the banana was purpose made for the human hand!?!!
We call that the "Pangloss principle," after Dr. Pangloss in Candide ("everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds"). The reason we have noses shaped like this is to give us a place to balance our spectacles, of course!
:He's a bit quite and didn't take him up on it but I would have definitely, I think it's insulting to the intellect and gives Christianity, faith and religion in general, a bad reputation as a bunch of nutbars.
You're well within the Catholic tradition there. St. Augustine (in City of God IIRC) said something along the same lines. I don't have my copy handy, but paraphrasing;
"occasionally a pagan will have knowledge of something that a Christian does not have. When this happens, it is wise to listen and observe, rather than reject all pagan knowledge. To fail to do so makes the Christian seem foolish and diminishes the faith in the eyes of unbelievers."
As I said, I'm sure that's not an exact translation, but it expresses Augustine's point. When a Christian (or indeed a follower of any religion) tries to use holy writings as though they were adequite alternatives to scientific texts, non-believers tend to think that the individual is a fool. Worse, the fool makes his whole faith look foolish. Such people are, in my opinion, doing much more harm to their religions than they are helping.
Augustine was the greatest of the "Doctors of the Church," IMHO, and I've always wondered why, after the Reformation, Protestants seem to have ignored his work.
: It should be fought every foot of the way too because I've read in detail the accounts of the row the catholic Church had with Galileo and I hope that the flat earth nonsense and anti-science sentiment never ever becomes prevailent again.
: God Will it;)
Indeed! I strongly advise you not to move to, or even visit the States, Lark, you wouldn't like what's happening to science education over here! It frightens me.
-Floyd
