Quote:
Originally Posted by james0246
^This is not a place to discuss the validity of Darwinism or Evolution (outside of strict personal beliefs).
That being said, Berlinkski is a bit of a hack. He's got a great disposition, but his core arguments always focus on not trying to disprove what we know (or think we know), but rather emphasizing constantly what we do not know or lack the proper means of knowing (Berlinkski has an obsession with transitional fossils that borders on the silly (a recent episode of Futurama made fun of the quirk, albeit with a composite character of many evolution naysayers)).
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James, I was trying to avoid that kind of argument in my initial post, and you yourself stated this is no place for such an argument, and you are correct in that.
As Nightwish posted originally:
Quote:
No off-topic posts
The purpose of this thread is for members to state their religion or spiritual focus (or lack thereof). This can include explanations and justifications, provided you stick to personal history and not the history/tenets of the religion itself, or questions about the same.
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Therefore allow me to qualify why I posted about Berlinski.
The point of posting Berlinski is that he's telling people to question, and that is a good thing.
During my own personal spiritual journey, Berlinski caused me to question both theism and atheism, and realize that the fact is we do not have the answers.
Therefore, we must turn to faith of one sort or another.
Be that faith religious or irreligious.
Like it or not atheism is still faith or belief.
Both Theism and Atheism are arguments to ignorance.
Theists put forward the claim: Because there is no evidence against G, therefore G must exist.
While atheists put forward the claim: Because there is no evidence of G, therefore G must not exist.
Both are
logical fallacies, and THAT is whay Berlinski is saying.
Because of people like Berlinski I did not become an atheist when I left the
Thelemic belief system.
Instead I chose to look towards spiritualism and became a Zen Buddhist (two decades ago).
I followed that religion for a very short time until I was introduced to Aryeh Kaplan's work (Meditation and the Bible) by a friend from Israel.
After that I became immersed in reading both scientific (mostly theoretical physics) and Kabbalistic works.
It's from all the research over the years that I gained a Spinozian view of nature and the possibility that a thing beyond nature may have created it.
Whether that thing is intelligent or divine, as we understand those concepts, is another matter entirely.
This is why people like Berlinski are a breath of fresh air compared to the fundamentalist theists and fundamentalist atheists (esp. Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens).
Challenging the status quo ought to be the mantra of all skeptics and it should include challenging science as well as belief, which is why I question everything and do not believe anything out of blind devotion.