Comments on: Pope Backs Intelligent Design http://thegoodatheist.net/religion/07/26/pope-backs-intelligent-design/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:17:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 By: homer http://thegoodatheist.net/religion/07/26/pope-backs-intelligent-design/#comment-131 homer Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:19:33 +0000 http://thegoodatheist.net/religion/07/26/pope-backs-intelligent-design/#comment-131 I completely agree with you, but, just to play devil's advocate (no pun intended) if priests that have no scientific training can't comment on science, can scientists with no (priestlike) religious training comment on religion? I completely agree with you, but, just to play devil’s advocate (no pun intended) if priests that have no scientific training can’t comment on science, can scientists with no (priestlike) religious training comment on religion?

]]> By: Jacob Fortin http://thegoodatheist.net/religion/07/26/pope-backs-intelligent-design/#comment-132 Jacob Fortin Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:07:58 +0000 http://thegoodatheist.net/religion/07/26/pope-backs-intelligent-design/#comment-132 That's a good question! I would argue that it all depends on what, exactly, this "scientists" would be commenting on. Good scientists usually try to stay out of the realm of the supernatural, and instead try to focus on the aspects of religion that are measurable, the same way that anything that obeys natural laws are. If a priests makes a claim that prayer has a real effect, a scientist can try and test that claim. You have to remember that some religious people don't just make claims about their own beliefs: they make statements about objective reality, and those CAN be tested. In that sense, a scientific person can comment on their findings, since they are, at least, interested in testing the validity of claims that are made. That’s a good question! I would argue that it all depends on what, exactly, this “scientists” would be commenting on. Good scientists usually try to stay out of the realm of the supernatural, and instead try to focus on the aspects of religion that are measurable, the same way that anything that obeys natural laws are. If a priests makes a claim that prayer has a real effect, a scientist can try and test that claim.

You have to remember that some religious people don’t just make claims about their own beliefs: they make statements about objective reality, and those CAN be tested. In that sense, a scientific person can comment on their findings, since they are, at least, interested in testing the validity of claims that are made.

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