On natural phenomena

Creationism, Evolution, and other science issues

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Diagoras
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On natural phenomena

Post #1

Post by Diagoras »

Inspired by this quote in the ‘Questions about the earth’ topic, posted in the Science and Religion forum by brunumb:
No phenomena previously attributed to a god has been resolved in favour of a god rather than natural phenomena.
I’m interested in debating this, as I consider the claim as it stands to be truthful. In support of the claim, however, I would like to stress the significance of the word ‘resolved’ as used above. Used as a verb, it is usually defined as ‘to come to a determination; to make up one's mind’, but I think it makes the statement clearer if ‘resolved’ is taken as meaning ‘to establish the truth’ (i.e. confirm, settle, prove).

Therefore, the scope of this debate topic must necessarily exclude unresolved natural phenomena, i.e. ‘things for which there is currently no single, accepted scientific explanation’. An obvious example would be the beginning of the universe: something which science would accept as being currently ‘unresolved’ (although not necessarily unresolvable in the future). On the other hand, the theory of plate tectonics is a ‘single, accepted scientific explanation’ of why we see similar fossil strata on separate coastlines, and find seashells on mountain tops.


So, rewritten slightly, the question for debate is:

“No observed natural phenomena previously attributed to a god has been proven to be explained in favour of a god rather than by natural phenomena.�

Menotu
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Re: On natural phenomena

Post #91

Post by Menotu »

[Replying to post 1 by Diagoras]
“No observed natural phenomena previously attributed to a god has been proven to be explained in favour of a god rather than by natural phenomena.�
Seems there are natural phenomena that happens without known explanation. That used to be enough to say 'God did it'. Today, even if we can't say with certainty what did it, we know it's not likely God based on previous experience.

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