but your defense of them with no evidence given
is exactly the same but in the opposite direction
I am trying to avoid a digression (1) from the discussion of the Harappan civilization. I thought tjradcliffe might consider phrasing his comments more courteously next time. Of course he doesn't have to, but I believe it would be the right thing to do, especially if someone is interested in healthy discussion and separation of theological and secular issues.
Anyway, the underlying questions about the role of God in nature and reality (and the exploration of it through science) are essentially metaphysical questions. Many people take materialism (all reality is physical, people are just fizzing bags of chemicals) as a first principle. Some of these people then dismiss other viewpoints as irrational.
A different position would be that proving God exists is hard to impossible and to prove materialism is true is not any easier. Again, it's all metaphysical and a result of what first principles you start from. In a monotheistic view, scientific exploration and discovery only explain how the Designer created things. Even filling in gaps (like the fossil record) doesn't disprove God's existence, it could instead be showing that He created an internally consistent universe. Even old fossils cannot disprove God because He could have created the universe on Nov. 5, 1955 as if it had started with a big bang a long time ago.
My point is that, like any metaphysical question, there is no definitive answer that can be reached from physical evidence.
...so I think we should give each other some slack by keeping things civil. This includes forgoing pot shots that can't fairly be responded to.
1. OK, so I digressed a little in hopes of convincing people to be more courteous. I'm not sure how to create a space on HN to discuss the religion and science topic. I'm happy to move this discussion elsewhere if people are interested and if the whole thing results in mutual understanding (as opposed to the typical polemics).
The existence of God is non-falsifiable and hence unscientific. This doesn't mean that God does not exist, but it does mean that there's no observable phenomenon that we can explain by his existence.
Anyway, the underlying questions about the role of God in nature and reality (and the exploration of it through science) are essentially metaphysical questions. Many people take materialism (all reality is physical, people are just fizzing bags of chemicals) as a first principle. Some of these people then dismiss other viewpoints as irrational.
A different position would be that proving God exists is hard to impossible and to prove materialism is true is not any easier. Again, it's all metaphysical and a result of what first principles you start from. In a monotheistic view, scientific exploration and discovery only explain how the Designer created things. Even filling in gaps (like the fossil record) doesn't disprove God's existence, it could instead be showing that He created an internally consistent universe. Even old fossils cannot disprove God because He could have created the universe on Nov. 5, 1955 as if it had started with a big bang a long time ago.
My point is that, like any metaphysical question, there is no definitive answer that can be reached from physical evidence.
...so I think we should give each other some slack by keeping things civil. This includes forgoing pot shots that can't fairly be responded to.
1. OK, so I digressed a little in hopes of convincing people to be more courteous. I'm not sure how to create a space on HN to discuss the religion and science topic. I'm happy to move this discussion elsewhere if people are interested and if the whole thing results in mutual understanding (as opposed to the typical polemics).
EDIT: Wikipedia's summary on some ideas is serviceable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_between_religion_a... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_between_religion_a... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_between_religion_a... ...and there are summaries of the interaction between science and different religions linked from that page.