> Darwinism is, in fact, an edifice of faith. And people love to throw rocks at
> it while others try to catch the rocks before more windows are broken. This
> is parallel to how people love to throw rocks at religion beliefs while other
> feel compelled to "defend their faith".
The implication here (and in an earlier post today) is that if Darwinism
was *only* a scientific theory, people wouldn't be so protective of it.
If people are so eager to rush around catching rocks thrown at the
Darwinian edifice, it must be an edifice of faith. Right?
Wrong. Oh, sure, Darwinism is an edifice of religious faith for some
rock-catchers (and an edifice of evil heresy to some rock-throwers).
But I can think of a reason why someone might rush around defending
something which -- for them -- is not an edifice of faith but merely a
scientific theory. The reason is this:
Their intelligence and moral integrity has been repeatedly attacked
because they believed that scientific theory to be true. If attacked
often enough, it's hard not to "rush to the defense" of the theory even if
that theory holds no particular religious value (one way or another).
If attacked often enough, someone might even "rush to the defense"
inappropriately, responding to a well-reasoned and sensibly cautious
scientific critique as if it were yet another round of rhetorical mortar
fire.
Perfectly understandable human reaction.
Loren Haarsma