Culture wars (Introduction)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Monday, August 02, 2010, 23:30 (5226 days ago) @ David Turell

Not only are Republicans and Democrats fighting at arms length, but the N.Y Times has a commentary pointing out the wild harangings coming from so-called science writers against ID'ers and others of that ilk. An interessting read:
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01FOB-medium-t.html?_r=4-To say a culture doesn't surround science is folly--one need only look at Hollywood to see that vampires are usually caused by "a virus" whereas in the 1800's it was supernatural--demonic evil. However, I will still hold that the central thesis of ID is unscientific. Either God is material or he is not. If he is material, then there will be direct evidence somewhere. For ID to be scientific, it must be testable--in the here and now--end of story. Things that are not testable are not science. Period. So at best, ID sits in the same boat as String Theory; pure philosophy. That is why it's so incredibly easy to beat up on ID. (The political machinery surrounding has much more to do with it than that.) -The goal of the ID culture war has been directly stated--to destroy scientific materialism. How science could possibly work without materialism has not been dealt with. David is unique in that he came to accept a God that has no form outside the leap of faith he has taken on God's existence. The rest of the ID movement (Dembski, Behe, etc.) have all signed on with an evangelical beast that should frighten anyone who cares about science. Actual science. By that, I mean results-driven research programs that have translatable impact on something other than philosophy or theology. So far ID has had no impact on anything else.

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"