Posted: Feb 04, 2016 10:09 am
zoon wrote:Nicko wrote:Alan B wrote:BWE wrote:The fundamentalist wing of science involves strict belief that no knowledge is valid if it doesn't have controlled experimental evidence supporting the hypotheses which support that knowledge.
The absence of knowledge does not imply the presence of belief. But the presence of 'belief' does imply a lack of knowledge.
Therefore, 'lack of knowledge' cannot be synonymous with religion.
I think you're confusing "belief" with "faith", among other things.
A claim that one believes proposition x to be true is a claim that one knows proposition x to be true.
If someone claims to believe there is a god, they are claiming to know there is a god. The fact that everyone in recorded history who has ever made this claim has had very bad reasons for thinking this true, is beside the point.
Quibbling about semantics, I think the usage is that if I say "I believe it's raining", the implication is that I'm not 100% sure, while if I say "I know it's raining" then I'm stating that I am 100% sure. If I say "he believes it's raining", I'm saying that he's sure it's raining but I have my doubts; if I say "he knows it's raining" then I'm saying he's sure it's raining and I agree with him. There are so many different religions and varieties of Christianity around that "I believe" rather than "I know" tends to be used even by believers as a courtesy, an acknowledgement that the other person may have a different belief, so that "I believe in God" does tend to have stronger force than "I believe it's raining"? It's a huge strength of science that it doesn't split up into sects as religions do.
I agree with you, that is what belief should mean. But you're forgetting we're not talking about everyday, common usage of belief here. You're falling for the game of obscurism played by religious apologists.
The theist's "belief" is "special" belief - they don't believe because they're not sure - they believe because they have faith.
I imagine faith to be something like being utter and completely confident what is believed inherently true and good is. It boggles the mind.
