[Forgive me if my comments are over-simplified.. new here, and
not degreed, but I am a humble arm-chair science student,
philosopher, and Christian.. reply off the list if more
appropriate..]
Steve's comments also struck me:
--- Steve Petermann <SteveGP@email.msn.com> wrote:
> ...as fundamentalists. They require a high degree of
certainty
> for belief (must have empirical evidence) and they view their
> revelatory resource (typically science) as absolute and
> sufficient. ...
Firstly, if an atheist / fundamentalist "requires a high degree
of certainty for belief", is it TRULY impossible for him to
believe in things he does not yet KNOW? (No asteroids EXIST
until/unless they are SEEN? Falling trees make no SOUND
until/unless they are HEARD?) Even if he can believe in things
he does not yet know, how could his DIS-belief in things that he
CANNOT "know" prove they don't exist? (Okay, no atheist would
let himself fall into that trap, right? ..or is that flawed?)
Then again...
Even if "truth" (scientific or not) must be considered somewhat
relative and subjective (many religions, multiple geometry
theories, Q.M., etc), isn't it obvious humanity must
collectively "know" very little of this "truth" so far? Then how
can our LIMITED knowledge be trusted to DEDUCE anything about
what we don't yet know? Are "most" atheists too proud to deny
this obvious ignorance they are flaunting? (Perhaps I simply
need some reading suggestions..)
Science has its implied limits, am I right? By the method's own
definition, it must eternally attempt to disprove itself, or at
least to discern the limits of its own reach. (..still valid?)
Then how could any atheist be foolish enough to rely on science
or any other "reveal-ant" process to prove his opinion?
Science is incredible, powerful, and fun (for us), BUT unless it
can someday revolutionize ITSELF (where can I find such a
discussion?), it seems to me that it can never and neither be
omniscient nor omnipotent. In fact, the only fact I've imagined
so far which science has proven repeatedly, is how weak and
easily "threatened" humanity's collective Faith may always be.
..sure keeps ME humble.
I rarely get into debates (yet), and I'm not qualified to grade
my own thinking, so I don't know how well that would stand up to
a formidable opponent (nor a critical audience). I welcome your
scrutiny.
Thank you, love this list and your dialogues,
Jim Beardsley
Christian father, IT laborer, unactualized academic
Columbus Ohio
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Sep 13 2000 - 19:24:30 EDT