>Sorry, but that is an incredibly facile explanation for religious
>origin myths. Two thousand years ago, when people didn't even
>know what stars were, there were many smart people who wondered
>why there was something instead of nothing, and why the world was
>the way it was.
Sorry, but people have been wondering this for many hundreds of
thousands of years, or possibly millions, depending on when you
start calling our ancestors people. Either way, clearly the
beginnings of science.
>In those days, and even a few hundred years ago, the idea of a
>creator was a perfectly rational, metaphysical explanation for the
>universe.
A hypothesis, lets see the facts.
> Unfortunately for religion, there are now better explanations for
>why this world exists (although we are still working on why there
>is something rather than nothing). But dismissing religion as
>mindless, unjustified belief does a major disservice to what has
>been a central intellectual force in this world up to the
>beginning of science, a fairly recent phenomenon indeed.
Science has been around as long as man ( L scire, know). Religion
has been one of the least intellectual of forces. But don't take my
word for it, ask Galileo, or Copernicus, or better yet Giordano
Bruno (burned at the stake by the inquisition) The Inquisition,
there were some intellectual giants!!!
> I am an atheist, but having studied the history of science and
>religion extensively, I become irritated when religions are
>dismissed lightly. Fundamentalists are loony-tunes. But science
>as we know it today would not have existed without the
>Judeo-Christian belief in "rational explanation", which contrasts
>greatly with Buddism for example, where the question of origin is
>not really considered at all. The first scientists were
>theologists, observing the universe around them and trying to
>explain it.
I too study both the origins of science and religion (patristics)
extensively which is why I haven't the slightest idea where you get
your conclusions. Rational explanation has nothing to do with
"Judeo-Christian" belief for example, and Buddhism most certainly
discusses the question of origin. The first scientists were
theologists? Theologians study theology: the study of God and
religious doctrine, by definition.
"A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle."
Brian
Member,Extropy Institute
Current reading:
Genius: the life and science of Richard Feynman James Gleick
The Gnostic Gospels Elaine Pagels
Everyday Zen: Love and Work Charlotte Joko Beck