Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views.(The rabid part is in that "expose the perceived flaws" bit.) By this definition, there are scientific apologetics as well. Try this on for size:
Scientific apologetics is a field of scientific thought that aims to present a rational basis for scientific theories, defend the theories against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views.Now, I think science is all that, and I don't believe in God or a creator or karma or reincarnation or pixies or Mother Nature. I do believe there may be things science doesn't yet explain; maybe some people really do see auras, and maybe there is some aspect of our physical being that lives on after most of it dies, and maybe some people can see what we consider the future. Just because we can't explain it now doesn't mean (a) it can't be true or (b) external intelligence is required.
But just because the scientific world view and its associated methodologies ring true for me doesn't mean other world views are invalid. Even if alternate explanations of the universe don't meet Occam's razor and fail to have useful predictive value, why should it bother me if they resonate more soundly for someone else? Why do we care whether other people believe just what we believe?
And why are religion and science always viewed as opposites? They seem to me to be the same creature: a way of explaining how things happen and why we and the world around us exist. Intolerance is the world's scourge, not religion.
3 comments:
Interesting post. I agree, intolerance is the problem.
AMEN!
I once saw a lecture about how some people just needed authority in their life and thus they became fundamentalists, usually in the religion they grew up in. Science was covered in there too, because the strong apologists followed the same pattern ;)
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