[lbo-talk] Signs of the times

[mart]

as a side note, i have made the argument that the cure is worse than the disease when scientists get all upset about teaching Intelligent design in evolution courses.    I think it can bring it up some good points, and also that some of the anti-ID thing is actually to indoctrinate people into some sort of 'scientific' worldview so that they beluieve every single thing scientists  ('experts') say.   (I was just looking at one news article on how ADHD is 'biological' and 'inherited'.  )
 
i think possibly science and yhumanities should be jettisoned to a large part (or put into either history or job skills) and something like 'natural philosophy' be the 'core curriculum'.  
 
the evolution / science guild promotes being 'scientific' but alot of it is just crap, and organized to get people to plan for careers duing forensic science, internet surveillance, intellectual property law, pill pushing (ads, knockoff drug chemistry) , etc.   there is also the whole dawkins/shermer/harris/scienceblogs 'anti-ID' or 'war on science' industry which is also prety much lightweight crap.     
 
 
 
 

--- On Sat, 9/26/09, Bill Bartlett <billbartlett at aapt.net.au> wrote:

From: Bill Bartlett <billbartlett at aapt.net.au>
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Signs of the times
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Date: Saturday, September 26, 2009, 3:14 AM

At 10:50 PM -0400 25/9/09, RicardoStarkey at aol.com wrote:


> And in  case you think that I believe
> that mocking religious people will make them see  the light, you are mistaken.
>  I think that in the huge majority of  cases, there is no cure for
> supernatural beliefs, and the best tactic is to  give believers a wide berth.  The
> only hope is a good education for the  young, which of course they deserve.

While it makes sense to  give religious fanatics a wide berth, I don't think that's wise and correct in case of immediate family. I had a sister who joined a religious cult, one of those American Pentecostal type cults that go in for strict "Tithing" and zealous promotion of members work ethic to ensure they earn enough to keep the "Pastor" in the manner to which he would like to become accustomed. She was a member for years, until the hypocrisy of the "pastor" finally drove her  to rebel.

The rest of her family never found any reason to avoid her. Rather we just overlooked her eccentricity. I did have to endure a meal at her house once where the "Pastor" was invited and I had to talk to him. For some reason there was never any suggestion that this should be repeated. Thankfully.

I'm not sure what you mean by "a good education for the  young" being the only hope to save us from this racket. I certainly hope you aren't suggesting that the young be indoctrinated with anti-religious notions. That is a cure that is as bad as the disease. Indocrination is the problem, not the solution.

Bill Bartlett
Bracknell Tas
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