Subject: [AthofSV] 'Good science' can co-exist with religion

From: "earthboundje" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 09:30:41 -0000

A friend of mine is a reader of this NYC "liberal" paper (4th largest 
in NY) and has asked that someone send a LTE as he is relatively 
unversed in the ID issue.  There are a number of interesting things 
in the language here.  

One I find disgusting is the use of "some scientists say that X had 
to have happened for Y to be true" as a legitimate scientific 
refutation.  Random opposing hypotheses do not negate mountains of 
evidence.  And what the hell is the scientific meaning 
of "Intelligent Power" outside of pure anthropomorphic mythological 
propaganda?  Then there's the old "when you see a watch - you know it 
must have had a maker".  What makes a watch look like it has a maker 
is the fact that it differs from everything that isn't made.  Not 
being able to add that up... and then repeating it as scientific 
evidence of God... this is madness.  Oh, and ID is not a scientific 
theory, PERIOD.  Join me in sending an LTE!

- je

GOD SQUAD
'Good science' can co-exist with religion
{ http://tinyurl.com/bnm7b } 
August 20, 2005

Q:
I'm going into ninth grade and wonder about evolution. I am 
religious, but I also want to be a scientist. It would mean a lot to 
me if you would answer the following questions: 1. Do you agree with 
Darwin's theory of evolution? 2. Do you accept the traditional 
biblical account that God created man? 3. Can a person believe in 
Darwin's theory and the Bible's version of God creating man? 4. How 
should evolution be taught in the schools? 

A:
We love God, but we are not experts on God. We also love science, but 
we are not experts in science. Here are our answers to your very good 
questions: We agree that Darwin had a good theory, but it is a 
theory, which means it might or might not be true. His theory is that 
mutation and natural selection determine how life on Earth evolves. 
If that theory is false, it's false because scientific facts make it 
false. Darwin's theory cannot be false just because it doesn't agree 
with the Book of Genesis. Genesis is a religious book, which includes 
the science of 4,000 years ago.

The Bible is definitely true in what it tells us about how God wants 
us to live, but some scientific statements in the Bible (like the 
idea that the Earth sits on poles in a pool of water and that there's 
a hard shell above the Earth with gates that open for the rain to 
come down) are not good science.

Maybe Darwin's theory is good science, but some scientists don't 
think so. They point to the cell, for example, saying that all the 
parts of a cell had to work correctly from the beginning for cells to 
exist, and that if each part of a cell had to evolve, there never 
would be cells at all. These scientists say Darwin did not know about 
DNA or about the parts of a cell, so he didn't understand how 
everything had to be in place all at once and not over time. They say 
some intelligent power had to design life on Earth.

Think of a watch. If you look at one, you know there had to be a 
watchmaker because only a smart designer could have made something 
with so many parts that works so well. Scientists who differ with 
Darwin point to the world, noting that it has even more parts and 
works even better than a watch. Their logic says that just as we know 
watches are designed by watchmakers, it's clear that a world maker 
created the Earth. Some of these scientists call the world maker God, 
while others refer to Intelligent Design. 

We do not think the biblical story of Creation should be taught in 
school, but we do agree with President George W. Bush that the 
concept of Intelligent Design should be taught in science class as 
another scientific theory on how life came to be. 

Maybe Darwin's theory will win out over the theory of Intelligent 
Design, or maybe ID will win. In any case, we don't think science 
teachers should keep you from hearing both sides of the argument. 

{ http://www.newsday.com/features/religion/ny-
lsgod4389083aug20,0,6637634.column }

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Wed.  8/24 7:30 pm - Debate: Does God Exist?
Wed.  9/14 7:30 pm - Social Meeting. TBA
Wed.  9/28 7:30 pm - Movie: The God Who Wasn't There
Wed. 10/12 7:30 pm - Social Meeting. TBA
Wed. 10/26 7:30 pm - Religiosity's Correlates (Are the religious dumber?)

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