Jer, are you seriously saying we don't know if there are virgin births, or people rising from the dead as proof that they are your benevolent dictator, or if dinosaur bones should really be labeled "4,000 years old"? Did you think we were just talking about shaky metaphysics like heaven or reincarnation? Religious teachers make preposterous claims about our physical world of science, and go on believing in the teeth of evidence, because they see faith as giving them a free pass. What's worse, they encourage those in their charge to do this.
Rachel's right. There's no comparison to weathermen. I wish preachers were like weathermen saying there's 10 percent chance of rain this weekend. "Ten percent chance of heaven if you say this prayer." Instead they claim 100% certainty.
If religious faith were like the trust we place in scientists, we would not be considered sinful for withdrawing our trust when we see that the evidence doesn't point that way after all. Like a dollar bill which is supposed to be redeemable for gold on demand, our trust that a scientific claim is true is supposed to be exchangeable for evidence on demand without being accused of a disloyal lack of faith.
"If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded of afterwards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men that call into question or discuss it, and regards as impious those questions which cannot easily be asked without disturbing it—the life of that man is one long sin against mankind." —W. K. Clifford
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Rachel's right. There's no comparison to weathermen. I wish preachers were like weathermen saying there's 10 percent chance of rain this weekend. "Ten percent chance of heaven if you say this prayer." Instead they claim 100% certainty.
If religious faith were like the trust we place in scientists, we would not be considered sinful for withdrawing our trust when we see that the evidence doesn't point that way after all. Like a dollar bill which is supposed to be redeemable for gold on demand, our trust that a scientific claim is true is supposed to be exchangeable for evidence on demand without being accused of a disloyal lack of faith.
"If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded of afterwards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men that call into question or discuss it, and regards as impious those questions which cannot easily be asked without disturbing it—the life of that man is one long sin against mankind." —W. K. Clifford
http://www.nemorathwald.com/How_to_Choose_Truth_Claims.htm