What would it take for religious folks to see that reality is much more interesting & exciting than mythology?

Question

With a rational worldview you have to follow the evidence wherever it leads, and it has led us to all kinds of fascinating and exciting discoveries about the Big Bang, the origin of stars and planets, the evolution of living organisms and so on. It seems such a shame to me that people are content with religious explanations when reality is so much more interesting. 'God Did It' is an intellectual dead-end - Not an answer to any of our questions about the universe, but a way of avoiding the question.

So, is there any way to inspire religious folks to seek the truth about the universe and not be content with the banal mythology which has been foisted on them as if it were something deep and meaningful? How can we educate and excite people about science instead?

...............: There is a *vast* amount of evidence which shows beyond the slightest doubt that all living organisms are related by common descent.

TommyG: You're certainly right to point out that science is constantly revising its ideas in the light of new evidence, and that's a *good* thing - Religious belief *has* no evidence, so how can it be an explanation for anything at all?

AJ: No, I can't do an equation for the big bang but I can understand why the evidence supports the idea. We don't yet have the technology to search for life any further than our own solar system.

Your reasoning about an 'unmoved mover' only demands that at some point there was an uncaused event, which is what quantum mechanics seems to indicate anyway (the quantum vacuum, Casimir Effect etc). It doesn't make sense to say "a god must have done it" - that would be a non sequitur.

Amino acids: The important point is not that Miller's 'soup' was identical to the early earth, but that complex molecules can come into existence without requiring an intelligence to put them together. We know that there are even amino acids in interstellar dust clouds. I think that tells us something crucial about the way the universe works - i.e. about how order and complexity arises from simplicity and chaos by the action of natural unthinking processes on disordered matter.

I could go on...

Answer 1

They have all been drawn in to the biggest scam in the history of man...religion! for some of them there may be no hope. Just leave them to it and ejoy your own life safe in the knowledge that you know the truth and they dont.

Answer 2

*Sigh* Why do you people always come to a religious debate area to ask this question?

1) have you ever worked out the equasion for the big bang? ever? and can it tell us where another planet supporting life is because it's pretty illogical that we're the only one.

According to the laws of physics, everything that is put into motion was acted on by another thing in motion. Following this line of reasoning, at some point there must have been an "unmoved mover" to start things off.


2) the Stanley L. Miller experiments were flawed- our new scientific knowledge of the beginning of earth indicates that it was not the same soup that Miller designed. Also, it created amino acids- *not* life. No_scientist has ever created life.

3) where did homo-sapien: neandertals go? it was stronger and bigger than us during a period of history where we didn't have sophisticated weapons- why did they just die? also cro-magnon man had a larger cranial capacity than modern humans as well as having much stronger muscles and a heartier frame. why did we devolve physically *before* we evolved mentally?

4) how exactly does soft tissue inside a dinosaur bone stay pliable, have blood vessels & cells?

"If we need an atheist for a debate, I'd go to the philosophy department?the physics department isn't much use."
-Robert Griffith, a member of our U.S. Academy of Sciences

Why is it that humans are the only creature on earth that is measurably sentient? How did DNA "evolve"?

As you can plainly see- i'm quite interested in science. :)

Answer 3

You assume a lot.Where is your proof of how the universe was created?There is none,only assumption from interpretation.That it is widely accepted means nothing .In every generation people have thought they knew the true answers and every successive generation has corrected them.What an ego you have.Most Christians are intrigued by science.I personally think science builds on bad foundations in many areas,and until they go back and repair that foundation they will continue to discard anything that does not fit the pattern they have.Remember when dinosaurs were cold blooded reptiles?Now it seems they may have been birds.I take what science puts out with a grain of salt and wait for the next revision.

Answer 4

Take ur comments to the Mythology and Science section. Do you realize that you have no proof of ur own existence? "Mutations,Monkeys,Rocks,scissors,paper etc..." is an intellectual Dead-End-not an answer to any of our questions but yet you avoid the question or argue with no proof for ur claims. Go back to the lab then come with evidence and maybe we will let you educate or excite us!

Answer 5

Your calling god a myth ,that's not gonna go down well, It takes all kinds to make a world while some need the security and community of organized religion others are free thinkers . different strokes for different folks.

Answer 6

Let them believe what they want. Just don't give them any power or influence.

Answer 7

by ridiculing them on yahoo answers

Answer 8

a few smacks to the head perhaps.

Answer 9

The christian myth has to be exposed.