curiousexplorer
Posts: 77
Joined: 2/1/2007
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"...does this mean that education is the enemy of faith? Or just the enemy of excessive faith? "
Knowledge is the enemy of faith. The more you know and understand the less you have to make up and believe.
God has always been the easy answer for things people don't, or never could, understand. Having that easy answer saves them saying I don't know.
"Either way, I believe it is man, who is the enemy of faith; not education."
People are the creators and nuturers of faith.
"Since religion is anti-scientific
I disagree, I believe it is misinterpretation, that makes people believe it is anti-scientific. "
You can disagree all you like, but you are wrong. Religion is anti scientific.
"but to most people faith is not a one-time decision. "
Rubbish. To most people it's not even a one time decision. Most people simply follow the faith they were raised in, there is no thought or decision making process.
"It is a continual process, with experience directly affecting the strength of that faith. "
Actually faith is usually used to cover up experiences and possible lessons in favour of maintaining the illusions one was raised with.
"As for myself, i am probably best described as a humanist. This means, at least to me, that i have faith in the possibilities of humanity in general and humans specifically."
I wonder if this is true, or if you are just a feelgood humanist? Do you have faith in the full possibilities of humanity, the full spectrum of human nature, warts and all, or just the best end? Don't worry, I already know. One is faith in humanity and the other is observation of human nature.
"Sometimes, I wonder if I would've just been happier believing it, even if I no longer find it to be true. "
Ignorance truly is bliss.
"A very reasonable post but the question arises why after say100 years of universal education , in developed western nations at least, religious feelings and viewpoints have not withered away ? "
For starters 100 years is not many in the grand scheme of things. It took many hundreds of years to get this far. And lets not forget that religions tend to keep the masses down, dumb and docile. Christianity alone has taken us at least 500 years behind were we could be, socially and technologically. And today intelligent people go to unis, get jobs, do research and further the education of the species. They don't get burnt, stoned or banished. We've actually come a long way. The entire population hasn't reached great heights, but at least they've stopped killing off those who can.
"For 400/500 years a highly educated elite has existed many of whom were devout believers. "
Because religion kept a monopoly on education. Anyone who wanted an education couldn't avoid the church, and in many cases anyone who wanted to live believed, or said they did. Since you like pulling things from history, it might be a good idea to learn about those things, or history in general?
"Since a good deal of it is virtually the only recorded history"
Many cultures recorded their history, which is why we know the bible is fictional. The earth itself keeps records, which is another reason we know the bible is fictional.
"i am not discarding the all the wall writings of various cultures and pictorial recordings but they simply are not as extensive as the bible is"
The bible is much more made up than extensive. Also any factual references are heavily biased away from the facts.
"this assumes science knows all there is to know past present and future."
No, what he was saying is science is the best tool we have for investigating the world. That scientific knowledge today is much more reliable and effective than archaic beliefs from long dead men.
"But aren't some scientists religious?"
Not really. many were raised that way, some can't say they don't know when they reach their limits, but most will throw away a belief in favour of a fact with no hesitation. Their belief is lip service, if that.
There are religious people who claim to be scientists, but who ignore scientific principles to boost their faith, these people are not scientists in any sense of the word.
Religion = fear and ignorance.
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RE: One Third of Americans Say Bible is Literally True - 
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