Originally posted by youth_cycler
As an atheist, I find your statement somewhat stingy.
And I do too. To make an extremely broad generalization, most atheists are far more open-minded than most deeply religious people. It is true, Athesists are not willing to accept religious beliefs that are presented as fact, and grant them the same weight as scientific
theories (a word that some people don't seem to understand very well) that are backed up with objective, observable fact.
If this is what you call "closed minded", then I accept that label. To me, a closed-minded person is someone who denies the evidence of their own senses, and supresses the logical capacity of their own brain, in favor of unprovable words written by men making an unprovable claim of divine inspiration.
Those people are "welded shut" because they reject any evidence, no matter how strong, that conflicts with their chosen set of beliefs. When they suspend rational and logical thought (as they must do, in order to preserve 'faith'), they have completely fortified their mind against any sort of new learning, any sort of new discussion, and any sort of new idea.
Many religious people don't understand the differences in meaning of the words 'myth' and 'theory', and they tend to confuse how they use them.
Evolution is a theory:
1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
Creation, on the other hand, is a myth:
1. A traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society.
Can you understand the difference?
Those religious people who claim science is arrogant, and laugh at scientific 'mistakes', totally misunderstand what science is all about. In some cases this is a willful misunderstanding. in others, the person is a victim of an upbringing that has closed their mind as stated above.
Science is all
about being wrong. If scientists believed they understood the universe 100%, they'd all go have a beer and play golf instead. Science is the continual, ruthless, and uncompromising quest to refine our understanding of the universe. It's not about being correct - it's about being
more correct than you were yesterday, and than humans were 5, 500, or 5000 years before that.
People claim that the theory of Evolution can't be proved and is therefore wrong. They're missing the point so utterly that it must be on purpose. The theory of Evolution is a set of rules and an understanding of the physical evidence found in our world. After nearly 200 years of refinement, it's a
pretty darn good explanation, and it continues to get better each passing day. It's certainly a better physical explanation than any found in a creation myth that was laid down in a time of very little understanding, has become dogma, and therefore has been allowed to change only slightly, despite a vast weight of evidence that has accumulated in the last 2000 or more years.
Note that I am not specifically singling out the Christian religion, or any particular person here. The same holds true for any religion.
For the record - I am not against the study of comparative religions from an anthropological standpoint at all. There is nothing wrong with teaching the historical significance of religion (which is huge). People who claim that the "separation of church and state" means that no religious word can ever be uttered in public schools are deliberately overstating the issue, in order to make their argument in favor of religious teaching look better. But there is a vast difference between teaching
about religion and
teaching religion in school.
There is way more to go into here, obviously, but that will do for an opening statement from me.
and this thread....
