It Is Ridiculous To Say That Religious Beliefs Conflict With Science

[David Sklansky]

Yet another thing that irritates me. Putting aside true nutcases who claim things like the sun moves around the earth, religious people are happy to admit that the laws of physics and chemistry will determine what happens to something. EXCEPT for the one exception that occurs when God wants to suspend those laws. Scientists on the other hand are busy deducing the laws that apply to all cases except specifically the ones where God intervenes. It is not a scientific statement to say "God never intervenes". YOU CANNOT USE SCIENCE TO COME TO THAT CONCLUSION.

You can however, use statistics and evidence evaluation to form a probability judgement that God has never intervened. (Especially if you don't count the Big Bang or the moment humans became conscious). And I'm pretty sure this method would lead to a probability near 100%.

I AM positive that this method (statistics, knowledge of magicians tricks, knowledge of hallucinations and dreams, etc) shows that if God ever does usurp the laws of physics, chemistry, or probability he has done so incredibly rarely. And this fact itself has implications. Perhaps his reason for allowing his science laws to determine the vast majority of outcomes, is that he doesn't want people to have slam dunk evidence of him in order to test their faith. Perhaps there is another reason.

But one thing is for sure. If he insists on accomplishing goals WITHIN the laws of physics he handcuffs himself away from omnipotence as we normally define it. Religious people laugh off the silly statement that God can't build a rock he can't lift. That logical dilemma is unimportant so they don't mind admitting that even an otherwise omnipotent being is trapped by that conumdrum. But what about if the goals are simultaneously to keep rational humans from being certain about him even without "faith" and to heal amputees. Or to divert a succession of tornados. Or to keep not 43 scud missiles, but rather 2000 scud missiles, from killing anyone in Israel?

See where I am going with this?