Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Genesis in terms of physics

Please don't do this...
Mary Anne — (archived)

Though I recognize that people often want to reconcile and rationalize religion in scientific terms, the two are not compatible in this way.

Religious creation myths have deep poetic and psychological roots that stand on their own as works of literature and imagination. They have spiritual meaning to millions of people, past and present, precisely because they do not rely on rational analysis for their validity.

Science, being all about doubt and proof, has elegance and its own beauty, but is not useful in supporting or deconstructing religious belief. It can't support religious belief because faith is a different kind of cognitive function. As for deconstruction, science can surely show religious stories to be literally false, but literalism is not religion's strong suit in the long run, so science just looks petty and shallow as it puts itself on the same level as the most shallow of religious understandings.

Keep religion. Keep science. They may both live on the same shelf of intellect in your cupboard. But please don't attempt to store them in the same vessel. The combination is volatile, and the product is toxic.

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