Quote from: Lethn on April 01, 2014, 10:38:08 PM

Quote from: zolace on April 01, 2014, 08:23:33 PM

Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

This is precisely what pisses me off about religious people, if there was a god, scientists would accept it,

Only a god that was material would be accepted by scientists, as they reject as a fundamental fact that there is anything beyond matter & energy.

But a god that existed only materially wouldn't be a god.

Of course, this also has the hidden assumption that scientists don't believe in God. Historically speaking, far more scientists have been religious than have been atheist. But even in modern times, you cannot make the flat assertion that scientists as a rule are atheist.

According to a survey of members of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, conducted by the Pew Research Center in May and June this year, a majority of scientists (51%) say they believe in God or a higher power, while 41% say they do not. - LA Times.

You can argue the exact percentage, different polls have different numbers, but it's always going to be a healthy number.

Quote from: Lethn on April 01, 2014, 10:38:08 PM

but religious people would only accept it as long as it fits 'their' version, what happens if it turns out there are millions of gods that are nothing like what they believe in but they exist? They'd be pretty fucked then with their logic but it seems that scientists are discovering how life clicks step by step, finding out if there's an afterlife is the only real problem because you have to physically die in order to find out about it.

I can respect people for wanting to believe in things, but I can't respect people who deny reality and expect me to respect that.