[Osx-nutters] The separation of church and state.

[Stefano Mori]

On 2007-Dec-06, at 00:52, Anthony Morton wrote:

> So, essentially what you are arguing is that science is a way of life,
> not just a method for investigating the natural world.  It's rather
> more than most scientists claim for their discipline.
>
> Now, if what you mean by 'science' here is really just the rational
> Enlightenment worldview, as the discussions have been suggesting, it
> may be a defensible position.  The thing is, it's entirely possible to
> be rational about religion as well.  If you read something like Blaise
> Pascal's Pensées, or much of Teilhard de Chardin's stuff, or a lot of
> contemporary high-church theology, there's really nothing anti- 
> rational
> or 'mythic' in there to speak of.  Speculative yes, but scarcely more
> so than the more esoteric realms of theoretical physics.  It really is
> 'thinking about God' in the same way that having opinions about Pride
> and Prejudice is 'thinking about literature'.
>
> That's the thing: once you move away from the Biblical-literalist
> smiting-deity style of religion, it ceases to be radically opposed to
> the spirit of scientific enquiry.
>
> At the same time, it's interesting that undergraduate science classes
> seem to be fertile recruiting grounds for religious fundamentalism.  I
> think we teach a naive approach to science at our peril, whether that
> be 'science as natural enemy of religion' or 'science as body of
> unquestionable knowledge'.


Whoa, cool post.

Stefano