Supernatural Dimension

Sat, 12 May 2007 18:59:00 GMT

I listen to and like the BBC but they often do not seem to be willing to post comments contrary to their honored contributors. In this BBC article, a self-prophesed scientist claims all sorts of pseudoscience/religious nonsense: Here is my comment:

"There is already enough confusion among lay persons about science and the scientific method. This commentary by a medical 'scientist' only adds to and deepens the confusion. For starters, there is no struggle between science and the divine. Science assumes (almost) nothing, religion assumes everything (God thus the universe). Religion/the Divine/God/etc is in itself the product of our brains and thus is to be studied scientifically. The comment "[science] leaves more unanswered questions" almost seems to imply scientific investigation confuses rather than enlighten us. When we look at the moon through a telescope, our initial questions about the moon (does it have mountains, for example) are in fact answered. A curious mind, however, doesn't then dismantle the telescope and sit idly but builds an even more powerful telescope and starts asking finer questions, more questions. Lastly, science does give us certainty about ourselves and our origin. There is no supernatural "dimension" except in the conversations of human beings living in the four dimensional space-time. No amount of commentary, books (holy or otherwise) can hide the fact that no proof of supernatural phenomenon, much less God/the Divine, exist today despite how long these ideas lasted. Speaking of enduring ideas, humanity believed for millennia as they looked up at the night sky, stars are mere decorations not far off from where they stood."

Mary Midgley on The God Delusion

Sat, 05 May 2007 21:55:00 GMT

Midgley's critique of The God Delusion in the October 7-13, 2006 edition of the New Scientist magazine can be summarized as an embarrassing display of lack of understanding of Dawkins’ central arguments.

Beyond Common Sense - Review category

Supernatural Dimension

Mary Midgley on The God Delusion