On 19/09/2018 16:53, Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha wrote:
Martin Brown wrote in
news
On 19/09/2018 14:22, Rodney Pont wrote:
On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 14:57:53 +0200, Paul Schlyter wrote:

I believe the galaxy and the universe has a large population,
likely in a uniform civilization, except for the
johnny-come-latelies like ourselves. If that's true, then we
won't be allowed to interfere
with
other developing cultures.

And what if it is false? Beliefs can be wrong.

Until we either meet one of them or exchange signals or find
independently evolved light on another planet it is guesswork.

Admittedly some guesses are better than others. Big bang
cosmology coupled with the laws of physics followed by Darwinian
evolution having considerably higher credence than some
omnipotent deity deciding on a whim to create the universe last
Tuesday* and fake all the history of his new creation like a
dodgy antique dealer to make it look older.

* Some sources think it was a Monday 6000 years ago.

You imply that theology offers a scientific hypothesis that can be
judged on scientific criteria.

I imply that religions are mostly "Just so" stories invented by desert
dwelling nomads telling each other stories around the camp fire. They
have no significance beyond being good memorable foundation myths.

Religions are used by those in power to keep the poor under control and
promise them jam tomorrow but never jam today. Yours is the God of the
gaps invoked to explain anything that as yet science cannot explain.

The minimalist religious cult is:

Proposition A:
Ours is the one true religion! All non-believers will burn eternally in
hellfire.

Proposition B: It is the duty of all true believers to minimise suffering.

It is a small step from there to approving any finite amount of
torturing and burning of "heretics" at the stake for supporting the
wrong brand of "one true religion". Catholics and Protestants have been
at it ever since Martin Luther nailed his letter to the church door.

The Spanish inquisition invented waterboarding and many other horrors
long before your CIA friends but they called it toca.

As is so often the case among atheists, you have no idea what science
is. You certainly can't identify its absence.

I am *NOT* an atheist. I am a hard line agnostic.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown