Courtesy of Number Watch comes this well written piece about the fastest growing religion on the planet - environmentalism.
Faith is a belief held without evidence. The scientific method, a loose collection of procedures of great variety, is based on precisely the opposite concept, as famously declared by Thomas Henry Huxley:
The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.
Huxley was one of a long tradition of British sceptical philosophers. From the Bacons, through the likes of Locke, Hume and Russell, to the magnificent climax of Popper’s statement of the principle of falsifiability, the scientific method was painfully established, only to be abandoned in a few short decades. It is one of the great ironies of modern history that the nation that was the cradle of the scientific method came to lead the process of its abandonment. The great difference, then, is that religion demands belief, while science requires disbelief. There is a great variety faiths. Atheism is just as much a faith as theism. There is no evidence either way. There is no fundamental clash between faith and science – they do not intersect. The difficulties arise, however, when one pretends to be the other.
Read it all.
4 comments:
I would always describe myself as an agnostic rather than an atheist (even though atheist would be more accurate) because I can't be bothered to argue about the existence, or not, of God. It's not a subject of great importance to me, and even if there were a God it wouldn't change the way I live my life because I very much doubt that any God would be a vengeful God - what would be the point?
Theism requires more faith because religion is, more often than not, prescriptive. Atheists tend live by their own judgement and don't feel the urge to prosthelytise or force the rest of society to live by their moral code.
''Atheists tend live by their own judgement and don't feel the urge to prosthelytise or force the rest of society to live by their moral code.''
Not heard of Richard Dawkins then?
or the EU?
"Atheists tend live by their own judgement and don't feel the urge to prosthelytise.."
whats that then?
converting people to wearing dentures??
Dear Stan:
Your ranting and chanting have both caught my attention. I thoroughly enjoyed your treatment of Environmentalism -- you will never be accused of excessive political correctness...perhaps this is attributable to the fact that you say precisely what you mean.
Compliments!
Faithfully,
Douglas Castle
THE INTERNATIONALIST PAGE/ THE GLOBAL FUTURIST
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