On Tuesday, March 11, 1997 11:46 PM, David McFadzean:
The copyright prevents me from reproducing the whole article in
this forum so you'll have to check out the web page:
http://www.infidels.org/org/aha/publications/humanist/dawkins-science-rel=
igion.html
anonymous responds thus:
Thank you for the URL. I read it. It was quite interesting, but I =
thought a little overblown. I mean the truth of one's evidence doesn't =
always speak to the truth of one's conclusions.
Dawkins: "And who, looking at Northern Ireland or the Middle East, can =
be confident that the brain virus of faith is not exceedingly =
dangerous?"
Response: The existence of religious fanaticism is sufficient to prove =
the existence of religious fanaticism. What philosophy true or not does =
not have it's fanatics?
Dawkins: "I believe in the fact of evolution."
Response: The fact of evolution proves the falsity of creation myths. =
How does it prove the falsity or danger of religion?
Dawkins: "Science is actually one of the most moral, one of the most =
honest disciplines around."
Response: M. Scott Peck, M.D. wrote that dishonesty is perhaps the soul =
of evil. If so, then science certainly can rightly claim to have =
contributed mightily to the moral evolution of man. Why then did so many =
scientists embrace bolshevism as the proper expression of a rational and =
scientific society?
Dawkins: "[S]cientists are so often fooled by paranormal tricksters and =
why the debunking role is better played by professional conjurors; =
scientists just don't anticipate deliberate dishonesty as well."
Response: How can this lack of anticipation be reconciled with the =
scientist's vaunted skepticism, or is it just of organized religion that =
scientists are skeptical?
Dawkins: "Thus religions should not be allowed now to retreat."
Response: Hmm. Sounds like tolerance to me.
Dawkins: "But if consolation comes that cheap, science can weigh in with =
other cheap palliatives, such as pain-killing drugs, whose comfort may =
or may not be illusory, but they do work."
Response: How do you explain the scientifically proven fact that prayer =
improves the health of suffering patients who are unaware of the prayer? =
Should we require that this treatment proven to be effective be stamped =
out, because it is practiced by people who wrongly believe creation =
myths?
Dawkins: "The merest glance through a microscope at the brain of an ant =
or through a telescope at a long-ago galaxy of a billion worlds is =
enough to render poky and parochial the very psalms of praise."
Response: Good point. Besides what is awe inspiring about shepherds =
anyway. Except maybe they seem to have quite a bit of empathy for their =
charges. And surprisingly, empathy is scientifically proven to be a =
great predictor of moral behavior.
Dawkins: "Science can offer a vision of life and the universe which, as =
I've already remarked, for humbling poetic inspiration far outclasses =
any of the mutually contradictory faiths and disappointingly recent =
traditions of the world's religions."
Response: Religion isn't meant to offer poetic inspiration but moral =
inspiration.=20
Dawkins: "[W]e know from the second law of thermodynamics that all =
complexity, all life, all laughter, all sorrow, is hell bent on leveling =
itself out into cold nothingness in the end."
Response: Good point. Can we look at entropy as a model for evil? If all =
morality is in fact the evolutionary tendency to coalesce into complex =
and cooperative superorganisms for the purpose of the maximum =
reproduction of the common genetic legacy, then is evil merely the =
tendency of individual cells and organs to resist this coalescence and =
to push instead for simplicity, independence, and freedom from the =
tyranny of orderly society? Or better yet the benefit of the part at the =
expense of the whole?
Dawkins: "I believe that some familiarity with the King James version of =
the Bible is important."
Response: The superior functioning of the societal superorganism depends =
upon maximum communicative effectiveness. A canon becomes part of the =
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