Of course, I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Science is a human enterprise and suffers from all the same weaknesses any such enterprise does, like ego and greed and so forth. Some truly awful things have been done in its name and it has to take responsibility for the consequences. But religion makes claims that seem to me to be unique, and power corrupts it uniquely because of them. Most faith traditions make some absolute truth claims, and it's an easy step from there to claiming both a right and a duty to interfere in the lives of people who don't accept them. That is the danger, it's the reason for the separation of church and state, and the reason why they must stay separate.
Wow...That's a mouthfull. I can see a parallel between what you're
saying about Religion, and the Global Warming Movement....but
that's another Thread.
Religions have been at war with each other since the dawn of religions. Nobody seemed to take exception to it so why is anybody getting their panties in a knot about science jumping into the fray? At least they bring something tangible to the argument.
A very interesting insight there Cliffy, it never occurred to me to put it that way, but I think you've hit on something profoundly true. And I promise you I'll steal that idea for future conversations. The religious have been telling each other for millennia that every other religion is wrong, and fighting and dying over their claims and counter claims, now science is telling them they're ALL wrong and it's time to stop that nonsense. And I take some small comfort in the thought that science is extremely unlikely to organize armies to march against the religious. It'll just argue.
This would be the Thread. Can anyone else see the parallel between Religious
Zealots and the Extremist Advocates of the Global Warming Movement? God
Forbid (Pun intended) that you question Global Warming/Cooling/Change, you
will be a Heretic to the movement!! The Science it Settled!! Hallelujah Brother!!
Can you give the Reverend Al Gore an Amen? Can you give the Reverend Al
Gore an Amen???
I didn't think Science was ever settled myself. Science is questioning and
questioning hypotheses that try to explain observations, and testing those
hypotheses in valid and repeatable and reliable ways...but nothing is ever
set in stone...'cuz if the questioning stops, the knowledge stops, and the
right question that might prove an old hypotheses incorrect might never be
asked. Wouldn't "Settled & Unquestionable" Science be a Religion?
I know I'm out'a my scope here....but what if Hawking never questioned
Einstein? I'm not a member of the Tinfoil Hat Crowd, but I'm not sold.
Organized Religion sets off my Spidey Senses, and so does blind faith
on one side of a debate calling the other side Heretics for questioning it.
That stops feeling like Science and starts feeling like Organized Religion.
"Hey Galileo! The World is Flat and the Sun Circles the Earth! Now shut-up
and Stop Asking Questions, You Heretic!" That's the vibe I get just reading
through most of the AGW Threads here. Are my Spidey Senses failing me,
or does anyone else get that vibe? Much of the science is beyond me. I'll be
honest....but my gut tells me something about those arguing the different sides.
I don't want to argue AGW here. There are many Threads on that already. My
question is, "Has the Global Warming Advocates Movement become an
Organized Religion?"
Here's a Definition of Organized Religion to get things started: A religion in
which rules exist to govern the means by which adherents participate in the
religion. Yes...I know...the word "religion" is used twice in the one sentance to
define Organized Religion....it came from here: organized religion - Wiktionary