3 ms·

With religion ymmv. A lot of people do not believe in some super-being, but do believe in belief and the benefits it brings them. A feeling of happiness, a soci

by dstick 6y ago

With religion ymmv. A lot of people do not believe in some super-being, but do believe in belief and the benefits it brings them. A feeling of happiness, a social group to belong to, and a way of coping with the bigger philosophical questions around death and the meaning of life. Religion is too broad a term to sweep everyone under. It’s very diverse. Now creationists, who believe the world is 5.000 years old - yeah, that’s a whole other bag-of-fish.

Covzire 6y ago
To your first point, even creationists believe in empirical science and I doubt you'll find any meaningful disagreement between a die hard creationist and an evolutionary biologist on the empirical data. The line between empirical and circumstantial or interpretive evidence is often very blurry, however.
- mcculley 6y ago
  My 3rd though 6th grade education was at a private Christian school. We were explicitly taught that the Earth is ~6,000 years old and that fossils are a test of faith in that belief. Fundamentalist creationists exist. https://enki.org/2018/07/30/things-i-learned-in-elementary-school/ https://enki.org/2018/07/30/things-i-learned-in-elementary-s...
  - Covzire 6y ago
    I don't doubt you, but neither of those ideas are empirical in nature and not what I was referring to.
    - mcculley 6y ago
      Maybe I am misunderstanding you. What good is empiricism if you will reject evidence that conflicts with your beliefs?
      - Covzire 6y ago
        This isn't my field so forgive me if this is a little confusing, but consider the big bang's origin. We have empirical data that suggests that the universe is expanding. To be clear, the interpretation of the data is that it's expanding, but it's non-controversial since virtually everyone accepts that almost all galaxies are moving away from each other. It's also not controversial to suggest the idea to creationists that everything could have come from one point, and that point expanded in all 3 dimentions (time, space) then matter. The belief on the creationist side is that this original event must have a cause, because everything else in the universe that we can empirically study obeys that principle. The belief on the atheist side, for lack of a better label, is that the universe was/got created out of nothing. It must be possible for it to occur without God, in the purest sense of the word atheist. But whether God created it or it created itself, there are only interpretations and no direct empirical evidence.
        mcculley 6y ago
        That doesn't help with the direction from my Seventh-day Adventist teachers that I should ignore empirical evidence. They specifically taught that any evidence found which would falsify their calculated age of the Earth should be ignored. Yes, one can be a creationist and choose to believe that God created the universe with a big bang. But some creationists literally believe that the Earth was created in six days.

by dstick 6y ago

Covzire 6y ago

To your first point, even creationists believe in empirical science and I doubt you'll find any meaningful disagreement between a die hard creationist and an evolutionary biologist on the empirical data. The line between empirical and circumstantial or interpretive evidence is often very blurry, however.

mcculley 6y ago
My 3rd though 6th grade education was at a private Christian school. We were explicitly taught that the Earth is ~6,000 years old and that fossils are a test of faith in that belief. Fundamentalist creationists exist. https://enki.org/2018/07/30/things-i-learned-in-elementary-school/ https://enki.org/2018/07/30/things-i-learned-in-elementary-s...
- Covzire 6y ago
  I don't doubt you, but neither of those ideas are empirical in nature and not what I was referring to.
  - mcculley 6y ago
    Maybe I am misunderstanding you. What good is empiricism if you will reject evidence that conflicts with your beliefs?
    - Covzire 6y ago
      This isn't my field so forgive me if this is a little confusing, but consider the big bang's origin. We have empirical data that suggests that the universe is expanding. To be clear, the interpretation of the data is that it's expanding, but it's non-controversial since virtually everyone accepts that almost all galaxies are moving away from each other. It's also not controversial to suggest the idea to creationists that everything could have come from one point, and that point expanded in all 3 dimentions (time, space) then matter. The belief on the creationist side is that this original event must have a cause, because everything else in the universe that we can empirically study obeys that principle. The belief on the atheist side, for lack of a better label, is that the universe was/got created out of nothing. It must be possible for it to occur without God, in the purest sense of the word atheist. But whether God created it or it created itself, there are only interpretations and no direct empirical evidence.
      - mcculley 6y ago
        That doesn't help with the direction from my Seventh-day Adventist teachers that I should ignore empirical evidence. They specifically taught that any evidence found which would falsify their calculated age of the Earth should be ignored. Yes, one can be a creationist and choose to believe that God created the universe with a big bang. But some creationists literally believe that the Earth was created in six days.