|
Hi Scott,
You have invited us all to comment so I will comment. In my opinion, (and please understand that this is opinion only) the biggest problem with thinkers is that they think they can think: i.e., they all go off half cocked with the assumption they know what they are talking about! The problem is simple sloppy logic with confused concepts. There are two concepts covering rather different ground which are invariably confused: facts and explanations. Most people put forward explanations as if they are facts. What any rational person capable of careful logic will recognize is that "God" is not a fact at all but rather the name of a particular kind of "explanation". The great difficulty between "science" and "religion" is that "God" is not a very good explanation: i.e., the various variations on the concept explain little if anything of any value. An atheist is someone who realizes it is not a good explanation but who does not realize that it is an explanation and thinks of it as a fact to be refuted which, of course, it is not!
Now, any intelligent individual knows that he (or she - as I sometimes feel women are much more intelligent than men - notice that there are none on this forum) do not know: i.e., that they personally can explain very little of what they experience. Some will overtly state that they do not know (those are your agnostics) but the great majority simply say nothing. They are too intelligent to bring the issue up, knowing full well that to do so is to open an infinite spigot of Bull which will be a complete waste of time. Instead, they just do whatever feels like the right thing to do and take their chances with the result. They do their best to "go with the flow".
However, there are always those who live by Bull! And we can always expect more of the same from them. Basicly, I trust most people not to want to burn me at the stake; it's usually the minority that like that kind of thing. I just hope they don't get in charge of the flow!
You asked so I provided!
Have fun -- Dick |
