Saturday, March 04, 2006

Separation of Church and Science


Is there any place in our public school classrooms for "faith-based science"? The very definition of science is "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment". There's no mention of a deity. Science is based on facts; Religion is based on faith. Granted, they are not mutually exclusive as scholarly endeavors. However, so-called "Intelligent Design" appears to be a not-so-intelligent design meant to incorporate divine intervention into a program of pseudo-scientific study. We need to be vigilant and maintain the distance between religion and science, just as surely as the distance between church and state.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great show hosted by Carl Sagan was on tonight, my favorite line:
"If just a few thousands of years worth of artificial selection (man allowing or discouraging certain traits/species to reproduce)can make such a profound difference in the plants and animals we see around us today, imagine what a few billion years of natural selection could do."
Just look at dog breeds or roses or wheat. As long as you believe in the scientifically proven fact that the earth is many billion years old, evolution is a no-brainer.

5th Estate said...

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for,the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1)

Ironic that the Bible itself explains the central problem of the "I.D." boosters.

As I explained to an unctuous evangelist trying to save my soul (at my mother's funeral no less!);
"Faith by definition demands nothing but belief, without test examination or demonstration, whereas science demands all of these. Ergo faith and science are mutually exclusive".(So piss- off!)

What really kills me is that the ID crowd try to use the scientific method and the tools of science and reason to "prove" that "logically" ID is valid and therefore evolution is not.

It would all be so amusing if it weren't so goddam scary.

btw. God just told me to add you to my blog links--at least I think it was God--maybe it was Satan. But if it was Satan then I'd have to believe in God because Satan was once an angel and tempted Jesus, so even though it might be Satan, ultimately it's God's will. WHen in doubt always listen to the voices in your head.
Gotta have faith!

eyedoc333 said...

Vesti-- what we need is a pacifier.

Brit--Thanks for adding me to your rogues' gallery!