Q,
The interests at sciforums seem to be representative of world opinion, although perhaps more biased towards American opinions since most here are from the USA. And in that sense the bias towards religion is understandable.
The USA is one of the most religious countries in the world, and I believe South America has been identified as the most superstitious. The distinction is not very significant.
Regarding the USA: At the same time it is recognized that the quality of science education has fallen in recent decades and the number of University admissions to science courses has also declined.
This is very sad and we need to work harder to correct this as soon as we can. It doesn’t help that current prominent USA politicians seem to be pushing religion before science and that is a very disturbing trend. While I live in California I am originally from the UK and there, and in most of Europe, the trend is away from superstition and religion. The USA seems to be an exception in the western world but then the America culture also seems to be relatively inferior and unsophisticated when compared with Europe, I hope I don’t offend anyone here but I can’t help but notice the differences.
The things people are taught, or not taught, are reflected in how people live their lives and what they want to talk about. And many people, especially Americans, have come to expect instant answers. Science requires hard work, diligence, attention to detail, strict logic, and a grueling search for evidence and proofs. Unfortunately most people don’t want to either wait or are too lazy to apply themselves. The result is the easy way out, they believe what they want to believe and ignorance and superstitions are becoming the norm.
Many, if not most, of the posts in the religion forum are not about religion but about how we determine what is real and not real. I think at the moment non-believers outnumber the believers. The religion forum is certainly not a preaching area, and those that try that are severely rebuked. Many of the battles are about science versus religion (or reason versus faith, or rational thought versus irrational thought) and in that sense you could divide the number of total posts in the forum by 2 and add one half to the side for science.
There are no limitations or restrictions at sciforums, except perhaps an expectation that everyone is courteous to each other. And with a large number of members from all walks of life and ages then you must expect that the proportions of the discussions represent similar proportions in the real world.
Science is about a search for knowledge. Religionists believe that faith also discovers knowledge. If you support the scientific method then you should have an interest in logic, reason, and the importance of evidence and proofs. The religion forum offers you an opportunity to test your skills of reason and logic against those who do not hold such things of much value. The rational thinkers among us know we can never win a logical argument against those who do not think rationally. But boy it really helps to put effort into a well thought out reasoned argument. Perhaps in the hope that it might sway the irrational, but more because it is fun to think things through and try to explain what one really believes and understands.
So don’t see the religion forum as a place for bible study or similar. At sciforums it is a battle of logic and requires the same skills as those required for science.
But of course all of this is from my personal perspective as one who requires evidence and proof before believing a hypothesis as truth.
Cris
