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You Cannot Eliminate The Possibility

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Posted by Mario Dovalina on April 13, 2001 02:56:55 UTC

You can't eliminate the possibility that they are not deluded. But you can get close. In the same way that mathematical theorems are never considered absolute truth, one can never consider an idea to be absolute. Something better may always come along. However, if an idea explains what it purports to satisfactorily then it can be considered "true" for all intents and purposes until something better comes along or until holes appear in the theory. For example, science's transition from a Euclidean universe to Relativity and quantum mechanics.

If some of you are planning to use this point as a defense of religion, allow me to jump the gun. While it is true that one's opinions can't ever really be discredited 100%, the foundations of religion never really approach the point where they can be considered unilaterally true. This is for one main reason, as I see it.

First, it cannot be empirically proven. Evolution is accepted as true because its effects have been seen over and over. We share 98% of our DNA with chimps, that is reason enough to suspect some common anscestry. Religion, on the other hand, puts its stock firmly in the invisible and unseen. So the rational foundation of religion is the same as the rational foundation of any unprovable opinion. If one considers a religion true on these grounds, then one must by extension consider UFOs and any paranoid conspiracy theory to be real regardless of available evidence. You can't apply a double standard: if your faith cannot even be partially proven and yet is still considered true, all faiths of similar provability must also be considered "true."

I'll come back later and write some more.

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