2006-12-08 15:47:43 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Cos its fun to antagonise Christians
2006-12-08 15:50:04 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I respond on this site because several of the questions are not about religion but about misunderstandings of topics that have been clarified in the worlds of science and math. Many people who I respond to have improperly given religious explanations for something science has proven to be natural phenomenon. It would be like someone telling you that your car engine is powered by angels who use angel juice, and that the gas pump is a gateway to heaven. You would think that is ridiculous if you knew just the basics of a 4 stroke engine. Would you try to straighten that individual out?
I happen to have quite a bit of experience with the calculation of probability, physical laws and genetics, and these happen to be the categories that many incorrect religious explanations fall into. Consider the effectiveness of prayer, if 10 people are given a 1 in 10 chance of survival for some horrendous disease and 8 of them pray, the chances are pretty good that the 1 who survived will have prayed. Does this mean that prayer worked? No, it means that a good percentage of the population that was sick had also prayed. So the chance that the 1 person who survived had also prayed was very good. The only way this could have demonstrated that God answers prayers are if the odds were significantly beaten, I would say 4 or greater of the diseased that prayed also survived. Entropy is likewise misunderstood. While entropy relates to the dispersal of energy in a closed system, in an open system entropy tends to drive the formation of complexity. For 30 years scientists have been modeling naturally occurring phenomenon that form this complexity with no intelligent hand. Consider the formation of complex crystals, snowflakes and other complex molecules. Complexity does not require any kinds of intelligence. Related to this, genetics is the biggest and most misunderstood bone of contention in the evolution vs. creationism debate. Many creationists, and quite a few evolutionists here, don’t seem to understand the link between genes and the evolutionary process. After Watson and Crick discovered DNA, Darwin became old hat because genes were shown to be the drivers of evolution. Dawkins explained that evolution is directed and specific because it is a process involving the replication of genetic information. This had several implications for our understanding of biology from taxonomy to human psychology. Despite this, most arguments people make regarding creationism are the same one’s made back in the 1800’s – arguments proven false time and again.
This misunderstanding seems to happen because science and math are difficult subjects and statistics indicate they are not taught well in the US. I would say that most of the people touting religious explanations don’t have a firm grasps in these areas. Many of them don’t have a grasp on basic logic, such as why one can’t prove a negative. This lack of proper understanding is detrimental to their own judgment and society in general. Such inability is the reason why societies collapse to dictatorial rule or are overrun by religious extremists from a Parliamentary and Congressional systems that require reason and debate. It is the reason that science is good at finding cures for disease, provides medical solutions to recurrent human problems, and develops technical solutions to the challenges of human living, while religion can do none of these things. Some of the basic scientific beliefs that most people in the world hold today would have been considered heresy just a few hundred years ago, but science and reason persisted. One could say debating religion is an attempt to stop a fall back to a time when we thought disease was caused by demons and the Earth was the center of the Universe. The religious extremists have clearly shown that such a fall back is possible.
2006-12-09 00:18:55 · answer #2 · answered by One & only bob 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Where is the Christian section? this is the R&S section.
2006-12-08 23:57:23 · answer #3 · answered by =_= 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This isn't the Christian section. It's the religion and spirituality section. And they're here because they have questions regarding religion and spirituality.
2006-12-08 23:49:34 · answer #4 · answered by Jennifer F 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is NOT the Christian section and we want to make sure CHRISTIANS understand that. We are tired of you forcing your opinions on everyone and we are here to tell you there are other opinions.
Peace.
2006-12-08 23:57:19 · answer #5 · answered by -Tequila17 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
JackBauer, this is not a specifically Christian section. As a Christian, I welcome intelligent dialogue with people of all walks of life, whether they agree with my beliefs or not. Atheists have a right to express their opinions here just as much as we Christians do. Be blessed!
2006-12-08 23:55:14 · answer #6 · answered by Terri 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
this isn't the Christian section. . Why are there so many Christians here?
2006-12-08 23:54:37 · answer #7 · answered by Sage Bluestorm 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
This isn't a Christian section, it is a Religion section.
Atheism is a religous belief, just as Christianity is.
2006-12-08 23:56:26 · answer #8 · answered by sudonym x 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Fighting Daleks
2006-12-08 23:50:53 · answer #9 · answered by My Giant Co.ck 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What "Christian section"?
2006-12-08 23:57:21 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Actually, I'm not in the Religion section, I'm in the All Catagories section.
2006-12-08 23:53:10 · answer #11 · answered by Barry 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋