Re: A Simple Question: Should We Believe Scientists?
NoShips, et al,
Looking back, I like this answer more every time I read it.
Dogma is a relative term. "Richard Dawson" and any "Islamic Cleric" I've seen, only have dogma in common from the relative position that they each think their religious views are incontrovertibly true.
NoShips » April 9th, 2017, 9:18 pm wrote:Dawkins, of course, will deny the charge : "Dogmatist, my ass! Show me the evidence/proof that evolutionary theory is wrong and I'll dump it immediately."
(COMMENT)"Islamic dogma" relative to "evolutionary theory" are not necessarily comparable; as both in Islam and Science, the constituent opinions are many and varied.
NoShips » April 9th, 2017, 9:18 pm wrote:And he means it too. The thing is, though, the Moslem is liable to say exactly the same thing: "Dogmatist, my ass! Show me the evidence/proof that Allah doesn't exist and I'll dump him immediately."
Now try showing them your evidence. And don't hold your breath.
"You call THAT evidence? Pfft!"
(COMMENT)It is extremely difficult to provide any substantial elements of proof --- one way or the other. Hebrews
(variations of the Jewish faiths), Christians
(all splinter groups) and Muslims
(all Sunni and Shia) all believe in the very same single deity surrounded by a whole host of lesser supernatural beings.
My mother and father grew-up in the first half of the twentieth century; relative poor. My dad sold News Papers on a street corner in Pittsburgh when Charles Lindbergh. Back then, there was a sucker born every minute.
(David Hannum) My Grandmother ran a very stylishly Speakeasy for some Squirrel Hill entrepreneurs. It was in a downstairs shop just down the street from the Allegheny County Courthouse. It was complete with stage, backroom gambling, and some very fashionable flappers. The shop was closed on Wednesdays for inventory; but the backroom was used by gypsy fortune tellers, Jewish Tarot Card readings and the occasional Medium to conduct a seance to communicate with dead and spirits; for people that had more money then sense. Ghost Hunters and Paranormal Spiritualists made good money off of people that believe in the same type of apparitions, specters, supernaturals, and magic as those that my Grandmother exploited for years. Most of them were affluent, coming from wealth and the "A" List.
If my Grand was still alive, she would like nothing better then to meet these people that believe they have seen evidence of a Supreme Beings, Angelic appearances, Saintly presentations, the Enchanted, the Demonic, Nephilim, the Souls of the departed and dead ancestors. My Grand would have considered them to be special
(especially if they had any money). And my Grand would certainly help them with a seance as a means of a therapeutic psychological coping mechanism. Now a days, we just look at them funny and give them a wide berth.
Most Respectfully,
R