[extropy-chat] Atheism in Decline

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Daniel Fogelholm <daniel.fogelholm at kolumbus.fi> wrote:> 
> I'm a wee bit busy but, since my previous post went unnoticed (?),
> I'll post the same link again and some other material that may be
> relevant to the discussion.
> 
> The most promising empirical explanation for religion today seems to
> be the cognitive science of religion. This fairly new science is
> perhaps best represented by Pascal Boyer's "religion explained" ,

I had posted a link earlier, which discussed this, at the beginning of
this thread.

 
> Moving on to how science is supposedly conforming a God endowed 
> universe I'd like to introduce Victor J Stenger ( 
> http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/ ) into the discussion.  
>  From his web-site (where there's a lot more, so don't be afraid to 
> check it out):
> 
> > Why Science Can Now Prove That God Does Not Exist
> >  In my 2003 book Has Science Found God? I provided a critique of 
> > contemporary claims that science supports the existence of God and 
> > found them inadequate.  In this book, I will go much further and
> > argue that science makes a strong case against the existence a God
> > with the traditional attributes of the Judaic-Christian-Islamic
> > God. My argument will not be based simply on the gross absence of
> > evidence for God. Not only is there no evidence for God, I will
> > argue that the evidence we have can be used to conclude beyond a
> > reasonable doubt that God does not exist. Not only does the
> > universe show no evidence for God, it looks exactly as it would
> > be expected to look if there is 
> > no God. In a final chapter I will show why it is preferable to live
> > in a Godless universe.
> 
> I'd be glad to hear what you people think of all this put together.

Firstly, relying on a restricted set of "traditional attributes" of the
J/C/I orthodox version of God (there are plenty of alternates, from
Arian to Gnostic and others which were put down as heresy over the
years which can still be considered 'christian', as well as similar
sects in judaism (the Essenes for one) and Islamism, as well as
pre-judaic sects like the Mandeans of Iraq.

Furthermore, as he published his last and current work after the
publication of The Simulation Argument and long after the publication
of the Drake Equation, he is quite clearly cherry picking his data.

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


	
		
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