Do any religions actually have an official viewpoint on astronomy? Historically, religious groups have always tried to avoid/opress/downplay any scientific discovery that would countermand their belief system or undermine their power base. The Catholic Church, for example, convicted Galileo of heresay, kept him under house arrest and only apologized to him 300+ or so years later. The Bible was written before there was any sort of scientific explanation for the skies and hence contains little to nothing on the subject, so how have religions adopted the new information available into their philosphy? How do they explain its addition when it isn't supported in the Bible/Scriptures? Something like God knew (of course, he'd have to know) but we couldn't understand it so he didn't? I'm not being obnoxious here, I honestly, really don't know. I avoid the whole religious thing, having converted to atheism long, long ago. I can only say that it was very confusing as a child/teen to be taught one thing in school, and something else at home. Something akin to trying to actually believe in Santa Claus when I knew they'd explored the North Pole and never found him. On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 9:06 AM, Lowell Lyon <bolide@sisna.com> wrote:
I am an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (nicknamed the "Mormon Church") and have been all of my life. I respect other people's point of view event though it is different from mine. By doing so, I believe that explains why some of my closest friends are Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, Southern Baptist, non-religious, etc. I hope for respect from others for my religious beliefs as I honor theirs. In my opinion, if the "Mormon Church" is to be mentioned in the Astronomy News Group, then perhaps all religions views of Astronomy should be explored equally. I agree with the point of view that we leave the newsgroup to an intelligent discussion of astronomical topics. If religion is brought into the equation, I ask that we all be respectful of each other's point of view and beliefs without criticism or antagonism.
Lowell Lyon
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