Letters to the Editor
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How ridiculous!
"What holds a 'belief system' together?", Carse asks. A belief system! What can that possibly mean? Is it like a cardio-vascular system? Heart, blood vessels, liver, etc. all working together to bring Oxygen and nutrients to cells and carry away wastes? Does a belief system have a function that gives the system an integrity? What could the function of a belief system be? Could it be the reinforcement of the component beliefs? Who knows? It's muddy language.
In science, I think it fair to say that beliefs are based on observations and experiments. One may call the aggregation a system, but that really obscures their foundations, observations. A scientist does not believe something because it is part of a system; rather because it is supported by observation. Thus, to refer to science as a belief system is highly misleading.
I don't know what supports religious beliefs, except perhaps other religious beliefs. All very inbred!
Science is now trendy? I don't know about that. In this country, astrology, faith, creationism, parapsychology, esp seem very much alive and doing well.