Tree of life not real (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, February 22, 2014, 14:29 (3905 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

TONY: I am just tired of seeing bad science. I'm tired of them talking speculation as scientific fact. I'm tired of them ignoring evidence that doesn't fit their theories...-DAVID: You are describing incompetent, immoral people. Perhaps that is why the sciences are populated with so many atheists; no basis in ethical living.-Dhw: Much as I sympathize with the attack on bad science, this correspondence is now bordering on the fundamentalism you both deplore in people like Dawkins. The claim that atheists have no basis in ethical living is almost libellous... etc.-TONY: Did I say anything about atheists? Did I make any comment about one particular group of people at all?-Tony, that was a reply to David. You obviously didn't read his comment. In all these discussions, it's essential that we quote the comments we are replying to, and that each of us reads the quotes. Otherwise it's all too easy to get sidetracked. Later in the same post, you wrote: "I do not think I have ever said that ethics were the province of the godly." Same problem, and you will see that in his latest post David has graciously withdrawn his "poorly thought out off-hand comment".-In fact, the only difference between us in this particular discussion, Tony, seems to be the implication that somehow things are different now than they used to be. You complained that education no longer "teaches how to think, but rather what to think". I pointed out that this is and usually has been the case in religious societies, and I'd go so far as to say that throughout history it's caused far more damage than that done by individual scientists pursuing their own careers. Eventually there is every chance that they will be exposed, but it's far more difficult to expose the falseness of religious fundamentalism (if indeed it is false, since nobody knows the mind of God, if he exists). However, that's no excuse for the culprits. I am as sickened by bad science as you are, but we should keep things in perspective, and I am heartened by David's more moderate comment that he is sure "95% or more of atheists and agnostics are honorable folks." I expect it's about the same with theists.