Religious Tolerance

QuarkMoon said:
What about Deism? You do realize it is possible to believe in God without organized religion, right?

Sure.

You acknowledge the question of what was happening at T-1, but I'll take it a step further and ask who or what decided the laws of physics? We know that planets orbit stars because of gravity, who or what created gravity? Why is gravity a byproduct of mass? Matter tends to compress into spheres, why is that? And who or what decreed that is how it would be? We have many such question about our Universe, what is wrong with using a supreme being or a all-powerful "force" as an answer? I'm not talking about a God that floods the Earth because people are mean, I'm talking about a supernatural, all powerful entity or "force" that decided the very laws the Universe lives by.

"who or what decided the laws of physics?"

Excellent question. No one knows. But the more we know about the fundamental nature of things, the closer we get to understanding.

"We know that planets orbit stars because of gravity, who or what created gravity?"

"Why is gravity a byproduct of mass?"

Gravity is currently understood to be the curvature of spacetime caused by the presence of mass. What is the origin of this and why does gravity behave as it does? These are some of the most important questions in science right now.

"Matter tends to compress into spheres, why is that?"

This we do know. Any force (e.g. gravity) that attracts particles equally in all directions will, in aggregate, cause those particles to group as a sphere. This is just basic math and geometry at work. Smaller bodies, such as asteroids, that don't have enough gravity to overcome the friction between the particles that make it up stay lumpy and irregular. Beyond a certain point however, gravity overcomes this and the matter naturally forms a sphere.

"what is wrong with using a supreme being or a all-powerful "force" as an answer?"

The best question of all. If everyone took that stance, no one would investigate the above questions further, which was the state of affairs throughout most of human history, mainly due to religious oppression of free inquiry. If you doubt this, study the history of the great revolutions in scientific thought and look at what scientists had to go through at the hands of religious overlords.
 
superluminal said:
The best question of all. If everyone took that stance, no one would investigate the above questions further, which was the state of affairs throughout most of human history, mainly due to religious oppression of free inquiry. If you doubt this, study the history of the great revolutions in scientific thought and look at what scientists had to go through at the hands of religious overlords.


If we agreed to not let the belief in God interfere with scientific advancement, would it be okay? And would you become tolerant?
 
i am deeply spiritual, and follow a particular religion.
i also fully recognize the validity of science, and believe that we can use science to learn ALL things that are physical phenomena.
where does that put me, then?
 
QuarkMoon said:
If we agreed to not let the belief in God interfere with scientific advancement, would it be okay? And would you become tolerant?
Well... I suppose so.
 
superluminal said:
Well... I suppose so.


Great, I just wanted to understand your reasoning since your other posts seemed strange to me. Now I can see we are actually in agreement.
 
The Devil Inside said:
i am deeply spiritual, and follow a particular religion.
i also fully recognize the validity of science, and believe that we can use science to learn ALL things that are physical phenomena.
where does that put me, then?

This implies that you think there are phenomena that aren't physical (i.e. spiritual). Meaning that they have no effect on our physical observable universe? Yet you believe they are real nonetheless? This puts you in the self-contradictory gorup of all theists who accept the method and rationale of science yet still have "faith" in the unseen, unmeasurable, wholly untestable "god" proposition.
 
QuarkMoon said:
Great, I just wanted to understand your reasoning since your other posts seemed strange to me. Now I can see we are actually in agreement.

Strange how? I've always said that I don't care what one believes as long as it dosen't interfere with the functioning of society and free inquiry.
 
is your imagination physical? nope.
but it can still affect the physical world, right? yep.

i am probably the most reasonable spiritual person you will ever meet. why are you being inflammatory? i agree with you!
 
Not trying to be inflammatory. You asked a question, and I told you wher I thought it put you. But my imagination is certainly the result of the physics of my brain wiring and chemistry.
 
by that logic, if you had 2 clones of the same person, and they were controlled to the most minute molecular degree, they would imagine the same things at the exact same time....given the EXACT same stimuli, of course.
just a question.
 
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