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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: I Am John Galt who wrote (25844)	6/14/1999 1:18:00 PM
From: mark silvers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

TC, <<Just because the entire world can't comprehend God >> Why do you say that? Many people claim to comprehend God. Perhaps it doesn't fit your definition of comprehension, but that doesn't mean it isn't so. Mark

To: I Am John Galt who wrote (25844)	6/14/1999 5:03:00 PM
From: nihil	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 39621

I think you've got it. Two believers can persuade each other but neither can persuade a non-believer because the belief is not objectively verifiable (or better, falsifiable). The belief may even be true, and the believer may be willing to bet his life on its truth, but even if self-sacrifice cannot convince the skeptic. The believer in "objective science" can persuade the believer in the divine of the objective truth of science, by making predictions and demonstrating that the predicted events regularly occur within predicted bounds of error. The conflict between objective science and merely intersubjective religion is extraordinarily frustrating to the religious, and very gratifying to scientists who seem to win every test. What religion needs is an Elijah who can draw fire from the sky on demand and burn up the priests of Baal (or science). If the Pope could have set Galileo on fire (as the Church burned Jeanne d'Arc and the Oxford Martyrs) it would be far more convincing than mere arguments. He didn't believe enough to pull that off. If Pat Robertson could ignite the IRS, many would believe him. The failues of religion reinforce skeptics in their doubts. Religion never seems to accomplish anything worthwhile. We live in a world where performance matters. Science works. Religion shirks.