"Bear" <bigbear1wh@native.web.net> wrote in message
news:Dd6dnbXcB9_oo-3fRVn-uw@comcast.com...

The amount of unreason in the mightiest country the world has ever known
is
astonishing and frightening. Half of all Americans, 150 years after
Darwin,
reject evolution. Yet, evolution is a basic component of science, and
essential to biology and geology. How can anyone understand science if
they
do not understand evolution? The reason that so many Americans reject
evolution is that only one in seven Americans have rejected
Christianity-only backward Catholic and Moslem countries have fewer
disbelievers.

You write as though half of Americans are in an educational position to
understand science and evolution... rather, one doesn't need an education
to watch a television, use a mobile phone, or to an extent understand a
computer. Most of these things make life easier. A simple understanding
of the theory of evolution may not do that for most. Rather, you can say
that uneducated Americans really don't find themselves asking if evolution
is real. They may be more concerned with "Am I earning a enough to feed
my family?"

You do, understand, that many would say I do not believe in evolution
because I apply the Divine as an inspiration of evolution. All those
things you listed (detergents, electricity, fabrics, anesthetics,
disinfectants, lighbulbs, etc.) are all black-box technologies. It is
great that people educate themselves to produce them, but hte standard
consumer doesn't need to understand how they work in order to know that
they work. Faith has been and always will be a strong part of human
culture, sometimes separate from science, sometimes a part of science.
Just because we can't prove with formulas or scientific research that the
Divine exists, that doesn't mean our beliefs are wrong.

Christianity is an opinion and nothing more, and it is shown in
Christians'
selective choice of data. Opinions and values are more important than
facts
and reason. It is the opinion of some people that God came to earth to
save
mankind. There is no evidence that this is true, yet Christians base
their
lives, and worse, try to base other people's lives on their opinions.
When
evidence is ignored and conclusions are based on opinion, then knowledge
suffers and our rational society is endangered. That happened in the fall
of
classical society and its replacement by the Christian Dark Ages. That is
the seriousness of Christianity.

It is hardly an opinion, as much as it is a trait of culture. Opinions
and values are mostly more important than fact and reason. I have a
values and morals which guide me. Fact and reason don't always play a
role in that. If I were to reason for every single choice, I would find
myself making selfish decisions much more often rather than if I were to
simply follow my morals. Knowledge is hardly limited by scientific.
Thousands of religious scholars would completely disagree with you and
tell you that knowledge expands all areas of human culture. Having a
religion hardly rejects rationality, because for us, rationality is
defined by our faith as well as our interaction with the world.

Christianity rejects science, logic and reason.

No it doesn't. Millions of Christians are strong and learned scientists,
understanding that their faith and science are hand in hand. God inspires
wisdom and knowledge. He has given us the ability to understand the
physical world so that we can evolve as cultural and social creatures.

In the face of so much
anti-science, supporters of science and reason are concerned about the
replacement of empirical and logical evidence with religious and dogmatic
belief. Religions may be based on evidence, but most often they are not.
The
trouble is that religious people take their religion to be truer than
anything based on experiment and sound assessment.

Don't claim that since our approach isn't based in scientific experiment
that it doesn't include sound assessement. Discernment is a huge part of
our faith. Much thought, prayer, meditation, and contimplation goes into
our religious lives and the results we achieve from them, presuming
inspiration from God, is sound.

Thus empirical knowledge
is replaced or denied by religion. The sensible thing for people to do is
to
ensure that whatever religion attracts them is soundly based on evidence,
but they will not. It is never scientific or even sensible to accept what
seems as though it ought to be so, without testing. Most often what seems
sensible is not what it seems to be in reality. Belief is incompatible
with
skepticism, and skepticism is necessary for science. (God's Truth; Dr M D
Magee; http://www.askwhy.co.uk/)

You would benefit from reading Augustine. He writes that people born into
the city of men aren't necessarily bad people. They live their lives
seeking morals and peace, but to the end of having peace so that they can
enjoy goods of the world. They fight in wars to restore the peace and
even when having peace, divide themselves among different issues. Since
they live for short-lived peace and joy, they will always end up feeling
sorrow in the end. Rather, those who are born of the city of God live for
that which brings eternal joy.

Belief is quite compatible with skepticism. We must be skeptical about
everything that is told to us by those around us in matters of faith, and
through prayer and meditation, determine whether or not it fits in with
what God wants us to believe.

I do respect your opinion. It is well thought out, though doesn't seem to
be your own... It is biased and lacking the two-sided understanding
necessary to fulfill a completely justified statement.

-RS