Quote:
Originally Posted by SeattleUte
The problem, however, is when people use the inevitable tendency of scientific knowledge to change as a rationalization for failure of religious fundamentalism to find any support in empiricism or reason, or worse, as tooblue seems to do, as a basis for arguing that there is no such thing as objectively verifiable truth. Is it really so hard to appreciate that endless testing and reassessment of received truths is part and parcel of empiricism? Can the same thing be said of religion? On the contrary. Is it so hard to appreciate that incremental accumulation of objectively verifiable truth is (perhaps paradoxically) as well part and parcel of empiricism, and what saves us from ignorance? I wish I understood better what tooblue's point was. He keeps stating the obvious but conclusions he draws from such unsurprising developments in scientific fields seem bizarre, if I get them, and I'm not sure I do.
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So does is this only a problem for religious fundamentalists or was that just to help me realize you meant me, tooblue and other believers? Also, you are doing the same thing woot and NS are doing; accusing Tooblue of something he hasn't said. While he may very well mean what you say, he certainly didn't' say it here. I can't speak for Tooblue, but I can say that this thread smacks of the sort of gang mentality that so many here complain about enduring on CB. Let the guy speak, disagree if you want, but can we do so based on what he says as opposed to what you think he means?
Look, empiricism has many answers, ultimately it might have all the answers, but not yet. Faith exists and, IMO, it is independent from empirical probing. The lack of empirical proof is not an insurmountable problem for me, or many others, even though we don't ignore the truths that we find are well supported as result of empirical truth. At the same time, assuming the inviolability of certain scientific precepts as the basis for criticism of religious belief, even of a fundamentalist strain, is no wiser in some instances than the problem you describe. This may be tooblue's point.