Comments on: A Healthy Discussion of Religion http://www.livescience.com/blogs/2006/04/03/a-healthy-discussion-of-religion/ LiveScience Blogs | Science, Technology, Health & Environmental News Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:14:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: rokeim http://www.livescience.com/blogs/2006/04/03/a-healthy-discussion-of-religion/#comment-122 rokeim Sun, 09 Apr 2006 07:28:52 +0000 http://www.livescience.com/blogs/2006/04/03/a-healthy-discussion-of-religion/#comment-122 The Universe itself is a living creature. How could something this fast and diverse NOT be alive ? Either we are part of this Universal Creature, or we are just some seperate tag-along 'things' that have no place being around at all. Personaly, i belive that we're part of a larger picture, an infantile (yes, i said infantile, when we're talking about the UNIVERSE, 13 billion years is pretty young), trying to figure itself out. People who say the Universe is God, i have an idea for ya'll. WE'RE PART GOD OURSELVES then. So, instead of standing around pointing fingers at eachother and saying your 'faith' is right, why not sit back, relax, and leave everybody else alone ? There is no real truth to the universe. As Harrison Ford so eloquantly stated in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade "If it's truth you're looking for, Dr. Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall " FACTS are much different than Truth. Precious few things are Facts, even in this day and age. Truth is a much more malable object. Much like the Ideas vs Beliefs bit. Ideas can change, Beliefs.. a true Belief, Cannot. Facts are indisputable laws, whereas Truth is in the eye of the beholder. The Universe itself is a living creature. How could something this fast and diverse NOT be alive ? Either we are part of this Universal Creature, or we are just some seperate tag-along ‘things’ that have no place being around at all. Personaly, i belive that we’re part of a larger picture, an infantile (yes, i said infantile, when we’re talking about the UNIVERSE, 13 billion years is pretty young), trying to figure itself out. People who say the Universe is God, i have an idea for ya’ll. WE’RE PART GOD OURSELVES then. So, instead of standing around pointing fingers at eachother and saying your ‘faith’ is right, why not sit back, relax, and leave everybody else alone ? There is no real truth to the universe. As Harrison Ford so eloquantly stated in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade “If it’s truth you’re looking for, Dr. Tyree’s philosophy class is right down the hall ” FACTS are much different than Truth. Precious few things are Facts, even in this day and age. Truth is a much more malable object. Much like the Ideas vs Beliefs bit. Ideas can change, Beliefs.. a true Belief, Cannot. Facts are indisputable laws, whereas Truth is in the eye of the beholder.

]]> By: hrynyshyn http://www.livescience.com/blogs/2006/04/03/a-healthy-discussion-of-religion/#comment-69 hrynyshyn Wed, 05 Apr 2006 12:23:46 +0000 http://www.livescience.com/blogs/2006/04/03/a-healthy-discussion-of-religion/#comment-69 The notion that "Atheists can point to the prayer study and say it’s proof there is no God" represents a fundamental mischaracterization of atheism and rationalism. Atheists don't claim there is any proof there is no God. They simply don't believe there is any proof there is a God. Big difference. Such studies only undermine positive belief. Indeed that's all science can ever do. Many people of faith make this mistake, falsely accusing atheists of being as dogmatic about the non-existence of a supreme being as they are themselves about the existence of one. Nothing could be further from the truth. Atheism is not a faith, it the absence of faith, and the presence of skepticism and reason. The notion that “Atheists can point to the prayer study and say it’s proof there is no God” represents a fundamental mischaracterization of atheism and rationalism. Atheists don’t claim there is any proof there is no God. They simply don’t believe there is any proof there is a God. Big difference.

Such studies only undermine positive belief. Indeed that’s all science can ever do. Many people of faith make this mistake, falsely accusing atheists of being as dogmatic about the non-existence of a supreme being as they are themselves about the existence of one. Nothing could be further from the truth. Atheism is not a faith, it the absence of faith, and the presence of skepticism and reason.

]]> By: jcphil http://www.livescience.com/blogs/2006/04/03/a-healthy-discussion-of-religion/#comment-58 jcphil Tue, 04 Apr 2006 10:48:59 +0000 http://www.livescience.com/blogs/2006/04/03/a-healthy-discussion-of-religion/#comment-58 If the author of the study had said that humans are social animals and tend to live longer as members of a social group that meet regularly to confirm their belonging, I might have felt he was making an objective statement. But instead he strays into religious advocacy. It didn't seem to occur to him that the benefits might come from the social character of religion instead of the belief system itself. If the author of the study had said that humans are social animals and tend to live longer as members of a social group that meet regularly to confirm their belonging, I might have felt he was making an objective statement. But instead he strays into religious advocacy. It didn’t seem to occur to him that the benefits might come from the social character of religion instead of the belief system itself.

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