Shark Evolution

by metatron 135 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  cofty

  How can an "evolutionist" - not a word I would ever use any more then gravitationalist - be dogmatic?

  Evolution is just a fact. It does not depend on dogma, it is fully supported by all the evidence.

  Also what do you mean by " religious minded atheist"? Do you mean an atheist who is also interested in the harmful consequences of commonly held superstitions?

  we don't proceed in real to live by testability (to that extent) and falsification as in real life this would be very negative.

  Is that an excuse for basing our lives on superstitons?

  Everybody agrees that having meaning in your life is crucial to well-being. We don't have to reject the fundamental basis of biology and adopt myths in order to have meaningful lives.

  I'm still as puzzled about what you mean by "fundamentalist atheist" as I was before.
• 

  Ruby456

  in other words does the writing on the wall spell death or live or both?

  where is everybody when I want to talk?

  ooops cofty we posted together

  cofty asked

  I'm still as puzzled about what you mean by "fundamentalist atheist" as I was before.

  I had to go re-read Dawkins God Delusion whe I made that comment to remind myself as i knew I would be challenged by you cofty - if you have the book the intro says it all. Indeed Dawkins also takes the trouble to explain what a religious minded atheist is (in chapter 1 A deeply religious non Believer) and also claims (with qualification and tongue in cheek) such for himself p19. (I must say I'm realising that I am quite a fan of Richard Dawkins)
• 

  cofty

  But that has nothing at all to do with evolution.

  Dawkins wrote that book to challenge theism, it never pretended to be a science book.

  Evolution is just a fact. Every living thing, including humans, evolved from a common ancestor. This happens to be inconvenient to fundamentalist christians and Muslims who prefer to take ancient myths literally.

  This is why scientists like Dawkins address the wider issues of the harmful effects of religion and explain why creationism is pernicious.
• 

  cofty

  In summary - you can't be dogmatic or fundamentalist about evolution any more than you can be dogmatic or fundamentalist about gravity.

  They are just facts.

  Religious people don't argue against gravity because there is nothing in their Bronze Age books that contradicts it.

  Therefore scientists don't have to write books taking on christian anti-gravitationalists.
• 

  Ruby456
• 

  snare&racket

  Ruby, bringing anything to the table other than facts is not science.... evolution and 'x' is not science. Whether x be atheism or religion.

  Satanus was NOT saying that, he is denying evolution itself. Why all the word games and semantics, why talk about religious and atheist evolutionists... it is all farts in the wind.... lets just discuss evidence.

  Look back from the OP and you will see that is all we did.

  If it seems like the science police are out......it is because it is important to be factual , anything less leads to 20 years ina cult !
• 

  Ruby456

  snares are u serious - here is what satanus says about how he views views evolution in his own words

  While i don't have all the terms down pat, i do subscribe to evolution. Some have the know-it-all attitude and smack down new ideas without considering them or understanding them - a fundamentalist type of reaction. Some people cut themselves a lot of slack, but, are unwilling to do so for others.

  S

  in fact now one here has denied that evolution is a fact - I certainly have not. no one is saying atheism is science, no one is saying religion is science.

  you say lets discuss evidence - the problem is that most people don't have access to evidence and secondly most of us don't want to be scientists - we just want to invest our lives with meaning. If you and Cofty are concerned that your choices in life are restricted by these endeavours then the good news is that the world outside of JW and JW like thinking is much less constraining
• 

  Viviane

  fundamentalist evolutionist: dogmatist.

  You still haven't explained what that means. Dogmatic about what?

  religious minded atheist : an athiest who is willing to see how religious idiom connects to science and that ordinary people theorise (theorise as in seek and form explanatory frameworks for themselves) as much as scientists do and are experts in their own lives and in their arguments.

  But that's already a field of study and had nas nothing to do with whether one is an atheist or not.

  I still don't understand what they are trying to convey.
• 

  Satanus

  'Satanus was NOT saying that, he is denying evolution itself.'

  Where did i do that?

  S
• 

  Viviane

  No you did not, Satanus. I believe Snare made a mistake on that.