When I began this blog in 2001, I was appalled by President Bush's headlong rush to an illegal war (we were not in fact under attack). As time wore on and Bush began his assault on the Constitution and any people bold enough to criticize, I believed that "the republic is endangered more by actions of our own government than by those of any terrorist." With the election of a high-minded, compassionate, intelligent man like Barack Obama, my fears have ceased.
"Honor them with peace, not war"
United for Peace
Saturday, October 08, 2005
The idea of god creating the world is all well and good, in its place -- but it's not science (it's religion).
The conservative religionists who believe in the creation idea are anxious that nothing their kids hear in school should disagree with what they learn in Sunday school. Toward that end, they tried to get public schools to teach so-called "creation science."
When that got laughed out, they came up with a variation: "intelligent design" which basically holds that the universe hangs together so well that it could not have happened by chance. There must have been Someone arranging it. That idea does not lead inexorably to the idea of a loving god , but the aforementioned christians leapt there in a hurry, because that's where they were headed in the first place (which is exactly why "intelligent design" is not science, no matter how many worthy christians say it is. They started with an answer and looked for ways to get to it; whereas scientists start with questions and potential answers (they call potential answers 'hypotheses') and look for ways to test those potential answers. Many of their answers end up discarded because they don't adequately account for all the (known relevant) facts.
It is my opinion*that much of the universe did not exactly happen by chance; rather, a few things got started -- how is anybody's guess, and a question I reserve judgment on-- and many other things that occurred happened in certain ways and not other ways because of the nature of the things already in existence. To explain that idea further, let me offer an example. Say there are six tomatoes in a basket; you might close your eyes and pick one out randomly. Which one you picked could be by chance -- but it's not exactly "by chance" that you pulled a tomato out rather than an elephant. Reality limited the options. A lot of possibly random combinations have been going on continuously -- are going on today! -- faster than the average christian can imagine, unless he watches his computer racing through files during a virus scan, and then he would have an inkling of how fast something might combine and recombine until something viable happened.
These christians hate the idea of randomness... if it's random, who is running things? (no one?) If no one is running the show, what's the point of praying for preferred outcomes? (no point?)
I maintain thqat even without the notion of a Creator or Designer, one can enjoy the world, one can try to preserve it -- but would have to fight off a passel* of christians to do it.
Let's suppose for a moment that these christians are correct and that Someone created the universe and us. Wouldn't you think they would honor that creation and preserve it? Instead they gleefully pave it over with malls, parking lots and highways, and are content to destroy wildlife in order to drill for oil.
I'd like to know where in the Bible Jesus said God created the world for you to tear through destructively, rip to shreds, and blow up.
Interestingly, although christians seem quite willing to take from the world whatever they want in order to get rich, the natural world - the one "created" by their god -- in some ways seems to terrify them. Gosh, sex! Gosh, homosexual lovers!
But more than that, the world seems to be disposable. Use and toss is the way they like to live. Plow on through like an ill-mannered child.
I hope they will learn to stop and smell the roses... before it's too late and the roses are gone.
* Disclaimer I am not an astrophysicist nor any other sort of scientist. I had a modest high school and undergraduate science course, that's all. However, I claim the right to think about these topics as much as did Aristotle or Plato, neither of whom got a PhD in astrophysics from MIT.
* Passel A large quantity or group, from "parcel" bartleby
Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
It's a grand world (USA style)
The idea of god creating the world is all well and good, in its place -- but it's not science (it's religion).
The conservative religionists who believe in the creation idea are anxious that nothing their kids hear in school should disagree with what they learn in Sunday school. Toward that end, they tried to get public schools to teach so-called "creation science."
When that got laughed out, they came up with a variation: "intelligent design" which basically holds that the universe hangs together so well that it could not have happened by chance. There must have been Someone arranging it. That idea does not lead inexorably to the idea of a loving god , but the aforementioned christians leapt there in a hurry, because that's where they were headed in the first place (which is exactly why "intelligent design" is not science, no matter how many worthy christians say it is. They started with an answer and looked for ways to get to it; whereas scientists start with questions and potential answers (they call potential answers 'hypotheses') and look for ways to test those potential answers. Many of their answers end up discarded because they don't adequately account for all the (known relevant) facts.
It is my opinion*that much of the universe did not exactly happen by chance; rather, a few things got started -- how is anybody's guess, and a question I reserve judgment on-- and many other things that occurred happened in certain ways and not other ways because of the nature of the things already in existence. To explain that idea further, let me offer an example. Say there are six tomatoes in a basket; you might close your eyes and pick one out randomly. Which one you picked could be by chance -- but it's not exactly "by chance" that you pulled a tomato out rather than an elephant. Reality limited the options. A lot of possibly random combinations have been going on continuously -- are going on today! -- faster than the average christian can imagine, unless he watches his computer racing through files during a virus scan, and then he would have an inkling of how fast something might combine and recombine until something viable happened.
These christians hate the idea of randomness... if it's random, who is running things? (no one?) If no one is running the show, what's the point of praying for preferred outcomes? (no point?)
I maintain thqat even without the notion of a Creator or Designer, one can enjoy the world, one can try to preserve it -- but would have to fight off a passel* of christians to do it.
Let's suppose for a moment that these christians are correct and that Someone created the universe and us. Wouldn't you think they would honor that creation and preserve it? Instead they gleefully pave it over with malls, parking lots and highways, and are content to destroy wildlife in order to drill for oil.
I'd like to know where in the Bible Jesus said God created the world for you to tear through destructively, rip to shreds, and blow up.
Interestingly, although christians seem quite willing to take from the world whatever they want in order to get rich, the natural world - the one "created" by their god -- in some ways seems to terrify them. Gosh, sex! Gosh, homosexual lovers!
But more than that, the world seems to be disposable. Use and toss is the way they like to live. Plow on through like an ill-mannered child.
I hope they will learn to stop and smell the roses... before it's too late and the roses are gone.
* Disclaimer I am not an astrophysicist nor any other sort of scientist. I had a modest high school and undergraduate science course, that's all. However, I claim the right to think about these topics as much as did Aristotle or Plato, neither of whom got a PhD in astrophysics from MIT.
* Passel A large quantity or group, from "parcel" bartleby
Palema
1:31 PM
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Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
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