Sherlock Holmes wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 1:16 pm
Which is my point, we should not be accusing one another of emotive actions like "attacking science" it has no place in civilized polite discourse - IMHO.
What would you consider to be "attacking science"?
The very phrase carries the presumption of error, "attacking science" implies a groundless denial of obvious truth, that's misleading though. Science is not truth, it is a man made model of reality and is based on a vast array of assumptions and interpretation of data. Questioning any reasoned conclusion on the basis that it's assumptions are suspect or subjective is not to be discouraged and certainly not to be misrepresented as intellectual inferiority.
Except that's not what's going on here. We have someone who knows very, very little about science (as evidenced by the contents of their posts), trying to debate science, even though their position is actually based on their religious beliefs.
Even if an argument did attack science so what? can we not simply focus on the arguments, the reasoning, the interpretation.
You can, but it's guaranteed to never go anywhere. The arguments are mere window dressing for the root issue....the conflict between the conclusions of science and specific religious beliefs. And as long as the person takes the position that their religious beliefs will always trump the conclusions of science, no matter what, trying to counter their arguments by showing them data and explaining the science will be a waste of time (except perhaps for the lurker effect).
This isn't about science. If it were,
the people on your side of the issue would actually be familiar with it, and thus wouldn't have to ask basic questions about how science is conducted. This is about religion, and more deeply, psychology....i.e., the psychological factors that drive people to hold to religious beliefs (emotional well-being, social security, sense of certainty, etc.) regardless of how they correspond to reality. Evolution is hardly the only subject where that dynamic comes up.
Being apathetic is great....or not. I don't really care.