Sorry about the delay in my posting -- I've been busy. I just have to
respond to this post, however.
"Hakeeb A. Nandalal" <nanco@trinidad.net> wrote:
> The most interesting thing about the Newsweek article was that these
> religious scientists kept looking for ways to let science validate
> their religious beliefs. It is as though God was "unrejectable".
> The God meme is here to stay.
Another conclusion that I see in "looking for ways to let science validate
their religious beliefs" is that SCIENCE has become the standard -- the
theists are playing on the scientists turf! It's my opinion that their is
an enormous home-team advantage, for either side, and as long as they are
content to play here, <God> cannot win...
> Exactly : scientists (i.e. the most brilliant minds) who believe
> in God. Why do we have atheists who can't pass high school but
> scientists who believe in God?
>
> Can we create a new category of intelligence : the "God-smart" ability
> like physics and art? Can we say "He's math bright, but God-stupid"?
I think that "intelligence" is a compartmentalized type thing -- it's like
many different abilities which we have rolled all up in one term. I know
lots of people who are very very smart in math class but struggle with
english (and vice versa as well); indeed, I used to be one!
Even more interestingly, however, is the relationship between intelligence
and coercion:
"Coercion: the psychological state of enacting one theory
while a rival theory is still active in one's mind. A person
doing one thing while having a real, active wish to do
something else, is acting under coercion. A person not doing
something while having a real, active wish to do it, is acting
under coercion. ..
...Coercion impairs creativity. Its effects are cumulative and
effectively permanent. Coercion destroys a person's ability to
think and solve problems in the affected areas of his mind.
When a person is acting on one theory while still retaining
the wish to act otherwise, that is what we call "acting under
coercion".
-- TCS definition, from the FAQ
So, if you like, one could concoct many "just-so" stories about child-hood
coercion in relation to <God>, and this coercion *destroys* a persons
ability to think about that subject -- and so the belief lasts even in
individuals who are otherwise quite intelligent.
These just-so stories, of course, are doubly easy with Christianity --
where the coercion is usually over threats of hell fire and damnation, not
to mention the more subtle (but far more serious) disapproval of the
believing parents...
Unfortunately, TCS has no 12 step program designed to help people overcome
child-hood coercion damage -- TCS is about *preventing* that damage before
it occurs!
ERiC