08-30-2006, 08:50 PM
Quote:(Aside) As to the arrogance of atheists, that comes from the fact that they've at least thought about the issue. I've often asked my religious friends what it is that they believe and how that distinguishes their particular brand of Christianity from all others. In over forty years of doing this, I've found two people (other than ordained ministers) who could give me a coherent answer. The usual answer is that they belong to the specific congregation (note, not 'sect') because the people there are nice, friendly, and work and play together. That's not religion, that's a social club. But anyone who claims that religion is important enough to be an issue and worth defending and yet does not examine the issue is a fool. And if recognizing and despising ignorance makes me arrogant, then so be it.
--Pete
I like the way you are thinking.
When I was studying chemistry I had a fellow student that was very religious (one of those very tough dutch forms of protestantism). At least he was thinking about his religion very much but, (call me arrogant) what he said sounden very ridiculous to me.
He seriously thought the earth was only around 6000 years old. Phenomena like the Grand Canyon he explained with actions of God, and the layer structure and dinosaur bones were 'other things'. Carbon dating was not correct because the earths magnetic field would swith polarity once in a while.
So this guy was trying to use all kind of scientific 'proofs' (that made no sense) that would make his belief correct.
I know there are more (deeply) religious people in the world of natural sciences...something I can't really understand.