Letters to the Editor
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Esprit_de_Voltaire
Ah great. Good old agnosticism, you can sit back and freely criticise both sides of an argument, without actually having to come up with one yourself.
Because you freely admit you don't know and then don't bother to do anything about your ignorance.
At least adopt a hypothesis one way or the other as a starting point if you are going to engage in an argument over religion.
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Facts, Smacts...
Do you know that Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes died nearly insane from the rejection and scorn heaped upon him by his "scientific" peers for his insistence that doctors wash their hands to avoid spreading infection? Even when faced with verifiable results, the superstitious, arrogant scientists would not swerve from the established practice of going from one infected patient to the next.
And which holy man told you that lie? Oliver Wendell Holmes was in fact instrumental in spreading the practice of aseptic techniques when attending childbirth. If you had learned to do your own research instead of letting your pastor do your thinking for you, you'd know that. (Hint: Google Semmelweis)
I find it interesting when the superstitious among us attack science by pointing to one of its successes (the spread of aseptic technique). Yes, it sometimes take a little longer to change some scientists' minds - especially the "superstitious, arrogant" ones, but facts eventually prevail. Contrast this to those who cling to Bronze Age myths and who, if I can quote Stephen Colbert, believe the same thing on Wednesday that they did on Monday, no matter what happened on Tuesday.
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Ridiculous at best, evil at worst...
Marks: "All evangelicals know that, once they get out of their own personal sphere, they will be seen as ridiculous at best, evil at worst."
This is a sweeping statement, and false in my experience. My personal sphere is about 80% unbelievers, and I'm the only believer in my family, at work, most of my friends are unbelievers. Maybe I'm just too used to them, but I've never encountered a stranger who ridiculed me or called me evil. Maybe being 6'4 keeps their mouths at bay... But in our postmodern world most people approach me with the attitude of 'Well if it works for you, great...' And though I know it works for all of us, I don't cram that down their throat.
Anyway, just thoughts from an Eva...
Peace,
XY
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@Hawkdriver
Before insulting someone, why not read a little more carefully what they say. I am well aware that Holmes was instrumental in spreading anti-bacterial practices. What I said was that the other "scientists" of his day scorned him for it, thus proving that what many scientists do or say does not always support what is true and verifiable. My pastor does not think for me. I think for myself. No need for Google, just go to
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/hand_background.html
for more information about Holmes.
"Contrast this to those who cling to Bronze Age myths and who, if I can quote Stephen Colbert, believe the same thing on Wednesday that they did on Monday, no matter what happened on Tuesday." said the Quantum Theorist to the General Relativist.
What has happened since I was convinced of something greater than myself has served only to reinforce my convictions. The evidence is everywhere and overwhelming. It takes the blindest of fools to... never mind.
I like what Hawking (who admittedly, does not necessarily believe in God), says in his book A Brief History Of Time. "So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator [the cosmological argument]. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?"
This is why some scientists hate the Big Bang theory, as it implies creation, while others think them fools for not agreeing with it.
Mr. Driver, I do all my own research. How about you? Do you have any "holy men" in your life?
Poco
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@Taliesan
You have truly exposed your ignorance of the topic.
"It was not science that prevented doctors cleaning their hands, it was superstition, in part based on the only religious culture in the world to not have any basic codes of cleanliness (Christianity.)"
What an utterly ignorant statement.
Any Jewish Saloners wish to help him out?
Here's a hint Mr. T: The Old Testament.
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Why do 40,000,000 non-believers go to church?
Did you really ask that question? And did Marks really give that answer?
They go to sell cars and real estate and aluminum siding. They go because it's a social prerequisite for the success of their careers and businesses, same as it is for most members of the Rotary and the Kiwanis and even, in some places, the KKK. Church has become, for many if not most, pretty much the same as Charles Stross' excellent parody in Glasshouse.
As someone else already pointed out, Christianity lost whatever power it had to be an agent of positive change in the world at the Council of Nicea. Many Christians I know walk around thinking that their belief system won out over Paganism through divine intervention, never realizing that the belief system assembled for them all those years ago is Paganism (self indulgent, narcissistic, and intolerant of opposing beliefs), with Jesus standing in for whoever the supreme being in the region was at the time and the saints representing all the lesser gods. The only difference between it and Santeria or Voodoo (among many others) is the size and brutality of the armies that stood behind the priests.
The bright spot in all of this is that there are people who adhere to the spirit of what Christianity was supposed to be, and they actually do it all on their own. And I'd be willing to bet that they would never consider spreading their beliefs through torture and force of arms.
There is definitely a place for faith in this world, and unlike others I don't see those who need or embrace it as weak. But it's good to see that people are beginning to realize that faith doesn't come in a book or a bottle.