> -----Original Message----- > From: Nick McClure [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 6:41 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: Bush wants religion taught in the science classroom > > You telling me faith isn't needed to explain science? I'm sure as hell > relying on faith every time I board and airplane. Sure I know the > science behind it, air beneath the wing is denser than the air above it.
Faith isn't needed for the explanation - it's needed for your acceptance of the phenomenon. This isn't something that can be taught, it's personal. I, for example, do not have faith that an airplane can fly: that's a fact. I simply have faith (or more specifically, hope) that THIS airplane will fly. Your faith in the airplane's ability to stay up has nothing to do with it's ability to stay up. An airplane full of people that don't believe it can fly still flies. > We must rely on faith, because we certainly don't know for sure. We have > a pretty good idea, but what is to say there isn't something that can > change those rules? Again, an individual may rely on faith, but science doesn't. In large part that's the whole point of science. People (including, of course, scientists) can be petty, superstitious, arrogant, prideful or stupid. The methods of science attempt to reach the truth of a matter by eliminating all of that. In large part it's successful. Peer review, predictive testing, the scientific method, etc all work very well to "get at the meat". Failures may upset humans but are embraced by science. Successes are successes only until better tests and evidence come along. > What if tomorrow gravity was just a bit stronger? What if the world > started to spin faster? Then things would change. Things always change. But they would change logically because of an observed difference. That's the way science works. Science doesn't demand to know the cause for everything. However it does demand evidence, lots and lots and lots of evidence, before a cause is promoted to a Theory. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:167732 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
