Posted: Jan 19, 2015 3:21 pm
Darwinsbulldog wrote:John Platko wrote:Science is a method. People do fair tests. Some of them are scientists. Some of those scientists are religious. Some religious non scientist do fair tests to find truth. It's all very complicated and interwoven - very hard to tease apart what caused what.
Yes, some scientists are religious. But all scientists, irrespective of beliefs or lack of beliefs, has to follow methodological naturalism. A religious scientist may be motivated to study natural phenomena. Perhaps they believe that science can be a form of worship or celebration of god's works in nature. Fine. I get it. religion can be a motivator [but by no means the only one]. That has nothing to do with science as procedure and method. Effectively, all scientists who do good science leave their religions at the door.
I doubt that. It's certainly not necessary. There's no reason for a Christian scientist, hmmm that won't work ... There's no reason from a scientist who is a Christian to leave their religion at any door while they do their work.
In effect, science is an agnostic enterprise. God[s] are not part of scientific models, and we know what happens when that is attempted-failure. Newton might have believed that god created the clockwork universe, but his science was about the clockwork mechanism, not it's posited creator.
Even religious scientists do not do fair tests when it comes to their religion. Their "arguments" dissolve into apologetics. Pascal, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, came up with Pascal's Wager! When anybody, even brilliant scientists start to ponder god, their output turns to shit. Why is that, do you think?
There's simply no reason not to do fair tests with it comes to religion. If your religion is hurting people it's messed up and you need to fix it.