It can insulate people from it.
The Wall Street Journal article by John Horgan that reviews Darwin follower Jerry Coyne’s latest is behind some paywall. But we hear from a reliable source that it says, among other things:
Mr. Coyne repeatedly reminds us that science, unlike religion, promotes self-criticism. but he is remarkably lacking in this virtue himself.
…
The popularity of multiverse theories, a hypothetical corollary of several highly speculative physics theories, merely shows how desperate scientists are for answers. Multiverse enthusiasts seem to think that the existence of an infinite number of universes will make ours appear less mysterious. The problem is none of these other universes can be observed, which is why skeptics liken multiverse theories to untestable religious beliefs.”
Wow. Reviewer Horgan is playing our song. Truth is, he helped write it.
He has this weird obsession with evidence. Maybe there is a cure for that—and we will all be forced to hork it down.
Also, as I (O’Leary for News) said earlier, what is with this stupid claim that science, in particular, promotes self-criticism? As opposed to what? Business? Try going five quarters in a row without sales, and see what happens.
Business is self-correcting too (market discipline). So is religion (reformations and revivals, for example). In fact, all human endeavours that succeed for any length of time must be self-correcting.
Otherwise, they just explode/implode.
So why are we still listening to nonsense about science, typically promoted by science promo hacks? (Horgan does not appear to be one of those.)
Also: Keep the Internet free. Give to Uncommon Descent (currently a tax number charity) in the US.
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You are entitled to criticize opinion, but not allowed to criticize fact. Evolution is fact. Evolution is true. Haha. Ha.
Any wonder Dawkins & Coyne & Krauss & Harris & Etc will never do great Science? Nope. Will any of their followers do great science? Nope. It’s true. A fact.
For some reason the paywall dropped for me.
Same thing happened for me on Metaxas’s Christmas Eve WSJ article on fine-tuning:
Here is the article for anyone interested in reading it in full:
A link from Google to WSJ articles will take you to the entire article when other links don’t.
BTW, John Horgan is clueless about the meaning of, “Don’t preach to the converted.” It means, you don’t need to preach to people who already believe in whatever it is that you’re evangelizing about. Duh.
Here’s a neat quote that I just found that goes well with Horgan’s article:
Jackasses like Coyne and Dawkins are not interested in science. They’re only interested in bashing religion, especially Christians. They got a bone to pick with Christian churches. They think they can use science to feed their perverted obsession (we know that Dawkins was molested as a child; but what’s Coyne’s excuse?)
It’s really easy to spot a true scientist. A true scientist only criticizes science because he or she knows that this is how science improves. Coyne and Dawkins are not true scientists.
Erecting a wall around science is a sure sign that science has been taken over by impostors, pretenders and other jackasses. But not for long, I predict. Their worst nightmare is about to become true. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’ll be watching the whole thing unfold with a beer in one hand, a bag of cheetos in the other and a smirk on my face. 😀
Mapou
That’s a great insight. Coyne actually wants to purify the scientific population within the walls so any scientist who is even respectful of religious belief is “unfit”. In the end, the group of “true scientists” according to his rules just keeps getting reduced. Then, the most entertaining part of it is when they start fighting with each other and then declaring their own inner-circle of ‘real science’ is the true one. They’re only going to destroy themselves – and they’ll do some damage to science along the way.
I find it hard to believe that anybody can take Coyne seriously.
Talk about an arrogant egotist. His little books and blog are going to vanquish belief in creation?
Coyne doesn’t actually offer any arguments against faith — he doesn’t seem to know anything about it.
That’s the best thing about him.
That’s a keeper.
If science was truly as self correcting as Coyne and other materialistic atheists pretend it is, then why have these materialistic atheists not allowed science to ‘self-correct’ their false materialistic presumptions?
I’m borrowing your above post #8, BA77 to start a thread on Christian Forums. I hope it’s all right with you. If not I can delete it. If I just post it as a regular post, it won’t get the attention it deserves.
jstanley01:
Actually, Horgan is light years ahead of you in his understanding. You’re the idiot here.
Axel, I certainly don’t mind and am glad that you find it as interesting as I did.
jstanley01, this is not about “preaching to the choir”. The followers of Dawkins/Coyne are choirboys and girls.
This is about preaching to the group that are NOT followers. The converted religious folk. Preaching to them is NOT effective. Helping them, bribing them, brainwashing them – those strategies are more effective.
“Preaching to the Choir” is not the same as “Preaching to the Converted” is this case.
Absolutely, BA. More great grist to the mill. Alongside Cornelius’ piece-meal demolition of Evolution, between the pair of you, you seem to be building up a Christian-apologetic magnum opus. And thank you for the OK. Certainly the death of materialism and evolution.