[FoRK] More faith-driven insanity: kill the teacher!

[Jeff Bone]

On Nov 30, 2007, at 3:07 PM, Sat N wrote:

>> BTW, the problem with this challenge is this:
>>
>> Those who need convincing of this and related propositions are not
>> likely to be convinced by any sort of "scientific" or rational or
>> academically rigorous attempt to support the assertion in the first
>> place.
>>
>> And those who would be convinced by such an attempt are not likely to
>> need convincing in the first place.
>
> Ha Ha...this argument sounds so similar to the argument of a church or
> a temple, its quite funny.
>
> Try asking any religious person to prove existence of God, they will
> give you similar answer.

Yes, but which is the more extraordinary claim?

> My point is that its people that are stupid,

We agree on that much!

I tend to believe that, with strenuous and constant effort, people  
may from time to time rise above that basic condition and have  
moments of, if not brilliance, then at least something better than  
baseline stupidity.

My further argument is that while science in general *encourages*  
that sort of achievement, religion tends do discourage or even  
outright prevent it.

>  There are people who would argue that science
> is the ultimate truth, but so are some religious fundamentalists who
> would argue that god is the ultimate truth. Both are dangerous.

I'm not so much concerned about "ultimate truths" (whatever that  
might mean, I'll leave that sort of fruppery to, cough, Lion) as I am  
about insisting on a certain shared epistemological framework for  
determining a minimum consensus reality within which you and I interact.

jb