More on Compatibilism
Timothy Sandefur on May 15th 2006
Reader Chris Berez has the following to say about my recent post, Shh! Say What You Want! Shhh!
I think you are right on in your latest post on PL. I used to be one of those that thought that evolution and religion were compatible. Not only do I think the exact opposite of that now, I also think that science and religion are not compatible at all. I’m sick off the bullshit we have to put up with when it comes to science these days. This school of thought that feels we should water down science, lest it offend the superstitious, will only serve to harm the scientific field. I remember when I was a child, asking my parents how God could have created the earth and the universe in just seven days if the earth itself was billions of years old. They of course gave me the standard answer: that a “day” for God might equal a million years for us.
What horseshit.
When religion has something to contribute to the scientific field, then I’m all ears. But watering down science so that it can still appeal to the superstitious is not only detrimental to the field, it holds back all of humanity. The creationists prey on peoples fuzzy feelings towards their beliefs. And this PC science gives people the idea that creationism is somehow an equal theory to evolution. We need to come out and show people why these theories are incompatible. Yes, most people will not like it. But if we go by what “most people” like or dislike, we might as well give up on science all together. Scientific findings are what they are. They change, they develop, they are revised. Making people happy only hurts science.
Maybe in someway, evolution and superstition are compatible. If so, then I’ll admit I was wrong. It just seems to me that watering down a well-established theory in order to bring more emotional people over to our side is too high a cost. Science is what it is. It isn’t perfect, and it makes mistakes. But it constantly examines itself for error. Religion does not do that. If we’re going to start exploring ways in which religion might be compatible with science, then it seems only fair to expect religion to start examining why it might not be compatible with science.
It takes two to tango, as they say.
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