I really like this video on Newton by Neil DeGrasse Tyson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=danYFxGnFxQ
From a beleivers point of view Newton was one of God's star pupils.
-Sab
Freedom from religion foundation - I'm joining!
by tootired2care 47 Replies latest social current
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tootired2care
Who cares about what Newton beleived anyways, it's really not even relavant to this discussion about freedom from religion.
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sabastious
Who cares about what Newton beleived anyways, it's really not even relavant to this discussion about freedom from religion.
I think it is, but it's your thread.
-Sab
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cofty
countries like England where they are allowing people to get Sharia law going
This is not true despite hysterical reports in the tabloid press.
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rather be in hades
Scientific progress and moral/social progress are interconnected, wouldn't you agree (think contraception)?
how about the atom bomb? scientific progress is NOT interconnected with morality in the least bit.
Also Newton's religious ferver played a vital role in the development of his sciences. God was his motivation and drive, there is no denying this.
newton was a very religious man. i don't ever recall reading that god was his motivation for science. i could be wrong, but that's not something i ever remember reading about and newton has always been someone i admired and liked.
i can't imagine god was his motivation and drive for trying to discover alchemy.
Therefore it's not at all illogical to say that he greatly affected the moral and social progress of the future.
this can go several ways. newtonian physics has helped us make better weapons. his work in calculus is used in creating chemical weapons, etc. not the kind of progress that's moral. that brings us back to how scientific progress is not enterconnected with morality.
really, it boils down to individual intent. a lot of scientific progress has been made by way of military research. especially in the fields of aerodynamics and computer sciences.
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King Solomon
Sab said:
"Scientific progress and moral/social progress are interconnected, wouldn't you agree (think contraception)?"
Could you have picked a worse example to undermine your own argument? Are you unaware of the RCC's stance against contraceptives? Don't pick stem cell research, either, as that's another example where scientific research has been frustrated by religious fundamentalists.
"Also Newton's religious fervor played a vital role in the development of his sciences. God was his motivation and drive, there is no denying this. Therefore it's not at all illogical to say that he greatly affected the moral and social progress of the future."
Just imagine how much more he could've discovered had he not had that religion monkey on his back, eh?
Your argument is like pointing out that a great musician is an alcoholic, as if that addiction is what caused their talent, rather than hindered it, as if it proscriptive.
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King Solomon
RBIH said:
"newton was a very religious man. i don't ever recall reading that god was his motivation for science. i could be wrong, but that's not something i ever remember reading about and newton has always been someone i admired and liked."
I remember he used references to God as an excuse for his working, spinning it by saying that what could be more worthwhile than to discover the laws which God created. Remember, Newton lived in a time when scientists were being charged with heresy if their ideas threatened the Church, so he was no dummy, and learned to talk the talk.
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tootired2care
This is not true despite hysterical reports in the tabloid press.
Fair enough Cofty, Maybe it's not full blown Sharia law yet, but aren't companies required by law to respect and allow such stupid religious traditions in their places of business as allowing women to wear burkas and cover their faces? Does this make any sense at all?
If enough politicians that believe in Islam as strongly as the Taliban do, came to power in parlament what would stop them from implementing tenets of Sharia in England's policies? I don't believe this is a strawman argument, given how pervasive Islamic culture has gotten in europe. I can see it now, legislation up for a vote in 2020 "all women muct cover up and wear burkas". Why the west tolerates this absolute nonsense is beyond me.
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fakesmile
thanx tootired. its a reminder to myself to stop. i really like the stated goal of this group. its about time to quit living in the united "christian" states of america. we have enough religious influence in this country. how about those honorary p.h.d.s for televangelists. lmao.
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sabastious
Could you have picked a worse example to undermine your own argument? Are you unaware of the RCC's stance against contraceptives? Don't pick stem cell research, either, as that's another example where scientific research has been frustrated by religious fundamentalists.
Why are you using the RCC as some sort of precedent for religion? Isaac Newton was in a relgion too, but it was fringe for his day. The claim in the site was that social and moral progress have come from the non religious. That's not true, in part, because of Isaac Newton. Obviously he would have thought that his sciences applied to his God and his religion, not what the science of today says about them. Without Newton's religious ferver we don't get the laws of motion. Without the laws of motion society doesn't progress morally or socially. They stay in the dark ages.
The reason I brought up contraception is that it shows how science can change the moral and social landscape of civilization, therefore Science is interconnected with moral and social development.
Your argument is like pointing out that a great musician is an alcoholic, as if that addiction is what caused their talent, rather than hindered it, as if it proscriptive.
I think you greatly minimize the religiosity of Isaac Newton and the vital role it played in what sciences he chose to focus on.
-Sab