Actually, the universe is in chaos. The Laws of Physics are not sacrosanct.
If they were, and we knew them, then no further scientific progress would be
possible- the Laws of Physics have told us once upon a time that heavier
objects fall faster than light ones, that supersonic travel is Impossible
Magic, and that 640K should be enough for anyone (sorry, just had to throw
that one in...) In other words, science can't stand opposed to spirituality
because science is in no way prepared to fill in for it. In spirituality or
religion, faith is good, because it gives you that secure feeling (rather,
it gives some people that secure feeling- it hasn't ever worked for me). In
science, faith is bad- it tells you lies and blocks your progress. So, if
you're the kind of person that gets a lift out of faith, then no amount of
scientific reasoning is going to shake the fact that you like going to
church. Call it what you will, but if you think that the billion plus
Christians in the world are simply deluded, then you have no recourse but to
be cynical and confused. If you see Christianity as more of a spiritual and
social pursuit that has little to do with science and logic, then the world
makes a little more sense. And isn't making sense of the world a big part
of science?
Socrates figured out that you can't have knowledge without a bit of
faith- that if you keep asking "How do you know that?" you get to the point
where you say "I just know"- a belief not grounded in empirical evidence.
Christians reach this point much more quickly than we Atheists, but it's
there nonetheless...
Flames, comments, hemlock to:
Patrick D. Bunt
pbunt@indiana.edu, patrickb@io.com
812-857-7149
http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/~pbunt/index.html
"Most people who criticize Karl Marx have not read his works. Of course,
most people who support him have not read his works either. This guy writes
a nine hundred page treatise on economic theory and calls it Volume One,
it's a wonder anybody has read his works."