PDA

View Full Version : The frontal lobe roots of religious belief

Insp. Clue!So?
02-22-2007, 11:00 AM
http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2003/april/index.php?ft=sapolsky

"Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg, the first 'Emperor' awardee, says that although few of his scientific colleagues believe in a god, they keep their atheistic/agnostic views to themselves. But not scientist and author Robert Sapolsky--he is not shy about identifying himself as an atheist, as evidenced by his books."

Fascinating piece.
Skidoo
02-22-2007, 12:48 PM
"Many scientists do believe in both science and God, the God of revelation, in a perfectly consistent way."

- Richard Feynman (winner of the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965)
madnak
02-22-2007, 02:15 PM
Yeah, Feynman's a devout fellow.
CallMeIshmael
02-22-2007, 02:18 PM
"God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand. Now, when you finally discover how something works, you get some laws which you're taking away from God; you don't need him anymore. But you need him for the other mysteries. So therefore you leave him to create the universe because we haven't figured that out yet; you need him for understanding those things which you don't believe the laws will explain, such as consciousness, or why you only live to a certain length of time -- life and death -- stuff like that. God is always associated with those things that you do not understand. Therefore I don't think that the laws can be considered to be like God because they have been figured out. "

- Richard Feynman (winner of the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965)
Skidoo
02-22-2007, 02:35 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, Feynman's a devout fellow.

[/ QUOTE ]

He was making a general observation about his fellow scientists, not himself.
madnak
02-22-2007, 03:57 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, Feynman's a devout fellow.

[/ QUOTE ]

He was making a general observation about his fellow scientists, not himself.

[/ QUOTE ]

And he was right - but it was neither a defense of religion nor particularly relevant to this thread.
Skidoo
02-22-2007, 04:03 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, Feynman's a devout fellow.

[/ QUOTE ]

He was making a general observation about his fellow scientists, not himself.

[/ QUOTE ]

And he was right

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm glad you think so.

[ QUOTE ]
but it was neither a defense of religion

[/ QUOTE ]

Obtuse and irrelevant.

[ QUOTE ]
nor particularly relevant to this thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

I suggest extra effort in the reading comprehension department.