Truth and the Devil

Just watched Francis Collins on the Colbert Report from Thursday, and this type of debate makes me want to side (if I were to choose sides) with PZ Myers in the ongoing atheist debates. Francis Collins is one of those scientists attempting to reconcile religious belief with science and I think he’s undermining both in the process. His explanation of evolution as a way of God giving “upgrades” is neither theologically coherent, nor scientifically valid.

For some occasions, Myers might be right that theistic evolutionists can actually hurt the teaching of science. A moderate, middle-of-the-road position is not always the correct one. I’ll try to find a link to the video later.

In one of the last sections of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, he talks about religion as child abuse. I think it might even be more coherently spelled out in his The Root of All Evil? television documentary. His main argument addresses the idea of raising children to promote sectarian divisions among pluralistic societies. Raising children in strictly Jewish or Muslim or Protestant or Catholic schools (among others), promotes a deep-seated division between people of a society who would otherwise be recognized as friends, or at least members of the same community. These faith-divisions are imposing the ideological dispositions of the parents onto the children, who, initially, have no idea what it means, and are not of sufficient age where they can make such extremely important philosophical decisions themselves.

As the debate between science and religion rages on, I am simultaneously inspired and dejected at the ramifications of it and how it affects those on the sidelines. I am optimistic regarding how much publicity atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris are getting in the mainstream media, and that many ridiculous religious claims are being examined out in the open. Unfortunately, despite the exposure of atheistic ideas to the theistic world, many of the same misrepresentations of atheists remain.

I believe the logical arguments proposed by secular thinkers against belief in gods or religion actually resonate with a large portion of people, however, the prospect of a world without religion is also frightening for many.

This is one of the most important concepts for people professing the removal of church-state separation to understand: the danger of letting religious rather than constitutional law be the guiding force of the land.

The perfect example of transference regarding this issue, is exemplified by the following quote by Jan Markell (of Worldview Weekend) about the first Muslim to hold public office.

Ellison will be sworn in on a Koran. So now the Bible is equivalent to the Koran in the halls of Congress? Doesn’t this then mean he is pledging allegiance to Islamic Law (Sharia) rather than our Constitution? Where is the outrage here?

Ed Brayton puts the rubber band on the other claw and throws the quote right back at her.