Comments interspersed At 01:18 PM 8/3/2005 -0600, Guy wrote:
You believe in science, yet science can't prove everything.
Well, yeah, that is why research is an integral part of science, it's called learning new stuff.
Scientists believe in black holes but no one has really ever seen one. No one has ever been in one. We take it on faith that they exist because science can't prove otherwise.
Hmm, seen gravity lately? How about atoms? Ever seen an ultrasonic wave?, nope, you may have seen the effects of those things on the surrounding areas, and therefore you can deduce that they exist, but you have never actually "seen" those.
How many times have scientists been wrong about something? No ones
perfect. As far as I'm concerned, there is only one person who was ever perfect, and God
help us if we should mention him. We don't want to upset those who choose to believe in someting else. Science doesn't know the origin of life. They speculate a lot about it, but no one knows for sure. Science can create human life in a test tube, but, they need a donated egg and sperm to make it work. Let's see science make the egg and sperm from scratch, using raw materials. Let's see them make man, or beast from scratch for that matter.
You assume scientists don't believe in God? I have met hundreds, and I think only a handful did not believe in a God of some sort, although the box that some use to limit their view of God may be different than the box another person uses. As to the prior statement about scientists being wrong, well that is the whole point of science. It is constantly evolving, as we learn more, we add detail to those things that were right, and we come up with new theories in those places where it becomes clear that we were wrong. It's called learning, and that is what science is all about. We hypothesize and theorize and experiment, and we apply a large body of existing knowledge, and we try to figure it out. Some scientists have a lack of flexibility in learning, as Don will attest to, but, eventually the truth will stand out, because the facts support it. When the facts quit supporting it, we try to think of what will accommodate all the facts. Kind of like fixing a car engine or solving a mystery.
I think there is a place for both views. Beyond that which we can actually handle, measure and test, both are theory's, each requiring a certain amount of faith and belief. Expose the kids to both views and see what happens. I don't think it will harm them in any way. It might help open their eyes. As long as my tax money is helping to fund public education, then I don't have any problem with the public schools offering both. Big deal!
Oh, and for the record, that Fred Hoyle quote is just a great line that is absolutely meaningless. No one has ever actually calculated the chances of a tornado making a 747, or the chances of life evolving out of primordial soup (and the next question, how many primordial soups have there been, on all the possible planets. I know of no way of calculating that part of the equation with any certainty). Hoyle and his co-writer proposed that dormant life spores from outer space landed here on earth and found conditions suitable for life (panspermia). He believed an unknown and unknowable force created this life form that found a hospitable home on earth. Can we all say Creationism? I do not "know" how life started, but I suspect that the God that I believe in may have had a hand in nudging a few of the early combinations in the primordial stew. Others believe that is not the case. None of us have scientific proof enough to meet the standards of a scientific theory. That is why we do not teach it in school as science. I would like to mention something I heard that I enjoyed. It was called "the God of the Gaps". It says that those of us who use God to explain what we do not yet understand, are cruelly used by science, which keeps shedding light on new areas that were previously a mystery, forcing our God to become ever smaller and less powerful, or forcing us to reject science. Let us keep God and science separate, and enjoy the mystery and beauty of both. Jo