Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science?

dont get defensive guys, im just pointing out the hypocrisy. most religious types like to glorify their own purportedly virtuous lives, but only follow the teachings when it is convenient. and this thread was headed that way long before i posted.

as far as there being different "translations" of the bible.... either it is the infallible word for word scripture of god, or it isnt. if man has translated it to his own interpretation, then it cant be the word of god, can it? just the word of the translator?

 

• by some folks accounts, that's a few hundred years ago in the scope of human history but irregardless of the timeline, humans have miscalculated the truth and propped up their theological beliefs or non beliefs by less than objective means throughout most of history. The term religious war is an oxymoron we've been forced to evolve through or suffer the wrath of the powers that use it as a politcal agenda. Science is a process of elimination through experimentation and result. Religion is based on belief or faith in a set of guidelines that is for the most part, extremely rigid. Lao Tse made the most sense to me because he left it entirely up to the individual and believed that any attempt to organize a theology would fail..the answers were all to be found in nature and were actually very simple..it's people who complicate the experience of life and predict an outcome..not everyone needs an answer to life's journey or afterlife's judgements

 

I am a firm supporter of studying history, and encourage everyone to do so. Knowing where we have been is a big clue to knowing where we may be going. There is little doubt that science has been manipulated by many people and organizations in the past. We can now sit back and point a finger at them and say, “wow, they really fucked up”.

My point is, are we now also fucking up? Will our great-grandchildren point a finger at us and say, “Wow, they ignored warning signs that organizations with agendas were misusing science? Our great grand parents really fucked up.”

I firmly believe we are fucking up, and on many levels and issues. Most all organizations, politicians and individuals with power are now using only the parts of science that supports their agenda.

Example: There is a large group of people, including university professors that believe all fish hatcheries should be removed from our rivers because they are not a “Natural part of nature”. Then they use studies that show how native and hatchery fish behave differently in the rivers. They quote studies that show native fish appear to be more aggressive while hatchery fish appear to be less so. They then go on to say this proves how bad hatcheries are on the environment because native fish might spawn with hatchery fish, which would result in a weaker species.

So I read the entire study they quoted. Guess what I found out? While the study did show “some” native fish are more aggressive than “some” hatchery fish, it also showed “some” hatchery fish were more aggressive than “some” native fish. When you balanced out the behaviors, they were no differences between native and hatchery fish. They only used the part of the study that supported their agenda, and ignored the parts of the same study that proved their agenda was wrong.

I encourage everyone to spend more of their energy researching the information that is feed to them that is trying to gain their support of an agenda. The more research you do of today’s science, the more you will realize that we are FUCKING UP NOW, just like people did in the past.

 

Great post! I think there have been great renaissance periods throughout history but always tell my son that my generation did fuck up. Born in the 50's we went from a thriving period of innovation to an entertainment crazed, substance abusing, selfish period of apathy in a lot of ways. Some good has come out of it in terms of equality and tolerance but too many of my generation sat in front of a TV and basically consumed themselves into ill health and addictive behavior. Transportion access has definitely had an impact on the escalation of damage we can achieve globally. I was on a boat in southeast asia and a barge was dumping garbage on the shores of the Tonkin gulf...talked to the sailors from that ship and they told me it was garbage from New York City that they paid the locals to dump on their shores because it's illegal to do that in the Atlantic

 

Please explain. And let's not talk about the "infallible" Pope.

 

I still think Brady had something to do with defalliibling the Pope

 

We are talking about the "popular account". There are people today that still thinks the world is flat. Who gives a fuck what they think?!

To think that religion and science cannot work together is fucking moronic, especially seeing religion funding a great deal of science through the history of science. Whatever their agenda was, it couldn't of happened without their money. Just like why there isn't research for ALS because there isn't enough suffering from the disease for science to find a cure.

Don't act so pompous on the anti-theism camp

 

The bible says all men come short from the glory of God. The Popes, which supposedly is the highest of high in the catholic faith falls short throughout history. It's happened over and over, therefor the results of multiple testing is "all come short"

 

LOL. That doesn't mean that the bible "God' word" isn't infallible to those with Christian beliefs. Those beliefs never change or waver no matter what science proves.

 

Well, technically that concept is infallible and science has proven that.

 

Religion ignores science bro...

 

Science ignores science bro. Or liberals ignore science. Or conservatives ignore science. Or pro abortion to con abortion. Ask the pro global warming scientists vs con global warming scientists

 

My religion absolutely believes in scientific laws.

 

Sounds like our ages are within a decade of each other; I also was part of the change brought about by TV. I did not notice how much affect TV had on our culture at the time. However, about 20 years ago, I had a unique opportunity to watch how quickly TV can change a society.

I kept a sport fishing boat in a small village in Mexico for 4 years. I drove their often during that period. I learned to love the locals and emerged myself into their culture. Good times.

When I first arrived there, they did not have a single TV in the village. The village square was the social activity, especially in the evenings. Almost everyone would gather there and enjoyed visiting with their relatives and neighbors, often late into the evening under the lights. Young single couples courted while being watched by parents from a distance. Young kids played soccer while others played basketball, all on the same court at the same time. It was a marvelous experience, until they got TVs.

Everyone sat at home watching tv all evening. Overnight the town square lights went dark

Mexicans are a happy people. However, after the TV arrived, my impression was they were less happy with their lives, but did not realize why.

 

mags, you need to stop defining me for my views..I respect your views but that doesn't make me fucking pompous...I'm trying to have an objective conversation here but you are over the top defensive about your faith ...this is where religious wars sprouted from. Your thread asked a question...my views are the views of an agnostic who's interested in the Tao as a spiritual contemplation..not a Hatfield vs McCoy feud. I agree religious groups have funded good things from profits they've generated. Jimmy Carter is one of my heroes for his Habitat for Humanity campaign as well as Tsi Chi Buddhist foundation for their disaster relief efforts...my problem with one religious opposition to science is stem cell research. I work with the disabled 24 hours a week...many with Parkinson's or MS. The argument against stem cell research is in my view ..ridiculous. I'm happy to discuss things here but baiting opinions to create a divisive culture is part of the problem and has been for ages.

 

Aw you are bending the issue badly. Jesus never advocated taxing the hell out of people an have the equivalent of the pharisees distribute the take as they see fit.
The Pope is jumping on the Obama scam wagon without any help from Jesus.

What Boat?

 

Apparently they do as well as anthropologists, and scholars who study human behavior..why wouldn't you? I haven't read one post here that says religion and science can't work together but there are many examples throughout history where they haven't

 

Sure it does. More and More people are becoming indirectly aware of the teaching of Mohammad and are disgusted by it. On the other hand people every day try to find something wrong with the teachings of Jesus. But you hardly every see anyone find him wrong. They just bad mouth religion, implying Christianity.

 

Uh, you best learn to interpret the teachings of Jesus. Speaking in parables was his style.
"Jesus spoke in parables - earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. He did so that his disciples would comprehend his teachings and that unbelievers would be without comprehension. Those interested in understanding the truth of his message would understand while those not interested would remain without understanding."