On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:37:51 -0700, Patrick Elliott wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Well, I wouldn't say all people who believe in a God (NB difference
>> from "supernatural explanations") refuse to see things that don't
>> support that position.  There are quite a few people in the scientific
>> community who believe in "god(s)" and who acknowledge that there is a
>> bit of a strange dichotomy there.  They generally rationalize this by
>> saying that what they believe in is that there is more to the universe
>> than we know, and that there may well be something (or indeed someone)
>> there that (who) has a bigger view.
>> 
> Its also a bit of a cop out.

Well, maybe, but what's wrong with that?  Religion has always been used 
to explain that which can't be explained.  The ancient Romans used a 
polytheistic system to explain various scientific phenomena that they 
couldn't understand.  There's a well-established historical precedent for 
using it that way.

This isn't a binary option - ie it's not "either you believe the whole 
bible is the truth as written or you believe the whole thing is 
fiction".  Mythologies don't evolve that way.

I'm not a believer, but I do see how it is that some people can believe, 
and I can't begrudge them their beliefs if they work for them.

(BTW, you really need to break your writings up into paragraphs - your 
post was incredibly difficult to read)

Jim

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