Sam Harris

The amount of miracles that a society experiences is inversely proportional to their scientific understanding.

What is scientific understanding? Do you see it as when the masses of people have learned some minimal-basic bits and pieces of science, or when the scientists themselves excel? Or something else—maybe a combination?

nonverbal - 12 June 2011 02:16 AM

What is scientific understanding? Do you see it as when the masses of people have learned some minimal-basic bits and pieces of science, or when the scientists themselves excel? Or something else—maybe a combination?

Science is an approach to understanding the physical world that involves constant re-evaluation based on arising of data
as opposed to religion which relies on ancestral dogma to determine the nature of reality.

This is very interesting subject and something we have discussed in bible study recently. Science and religion do not see eye to eye on many things but there is room for both in a person life. Because religion is not just based on “ancestral dogma to determine the nature of reality”  but is more about a faith that there are some things we have not even begun to understand and it is faith that is the foundation of many different religions.

FishBicuit - 13 August 2011 09:08 PM

This is very interesting subject and something we have discussed in bible study recently. Science and religion do not see eye to eye on many things but there is room for both in a person life. Because religion is not just based on “ancestral dogma to determine the nature of reality”  but is more about a faith that there are some things we have not even begun to understand and it is faith that is the foundation of many different religions.

That there are some things that we have not even begun to understand has nothing to do with faith; it is a simple fact.

I think that religious faith, when you come down to it, is something that we could do entirely without and not lose any sense of compassion, humility, or humanity. That “there is room” for it in life is in no way a justification for having it.