Are you small A or big A?

[Phase]

Quote:It does so matter. Part of being a scientist means ascribing to the scientific method. A scientist does not believe claims without the corresponding evidence to support them. He does not take things "on faith". Making an exception for God is the same as making an exception for zeus.

Not to mention the matter of bias. A scientist working in abiogenesis, for example, would be suspect to a conflict of interest if he believes an intervening god is responsible for the origin of life.

I'm curious, how many credits of math and science have you taken? How many research projects have you worken on?

I've never had the religiousness of my professors affect the quality of my learning, or the religious beliefs of my teammembers affect the quality of our research.

[Naomi]

Thanks, but I'll stick to my science career with my scientist colleagues. Doing our empirical thing.

[Hollandmichigan]

(05-13-2012 04:32 PM)Naomi Wrote:  Also, have you ever heard of assigning probabilities to beliefs? It does not have to be all or nothing.

This sounds more like something an apologist would say than an atheist. Theists are not agnostics, for starters, they are not assigning probability to the existence of god when they say they have faith in him.

You don't seem to understand the difference between "beliefs" and facts. You can attempt to determine, for example, the probability that alien life exists in the universe based on known information.

You do not assign probability to "beliefs". This is a canard and a caricature in apologetics.

[Hollandmichigan]

(05-13-2012 04:45 PM)Phase Wrote:  

Quote:It does so matter. Part of being a scientist means ascribing to the scientific method. A scientist does not believe claims without the corresponding evidence to support them. He does not take things "on faith". Making an exception for God is the same as making an exception for zeus.

Not to mention the matter of bias. A scientist working in abiogenesis, for example, would be suspect to a conflict of interest if he believes an intervening god is responsible for the origin of life.

I'm curious, how many credits of math and science have you taken? How many research projects have you worken on?

I've never had the religiousness of my professors affect the quality of my learning, or the religious beliefs of my teammembers affect the quality of our research.

What are their religious beliefs? Do they believe in a personal god? What kind of school are you attending? If they ascribe to theistic evolution, for example, that would mean they hold to a type of deism. If you can find a religious scientist who doesn't find anything contradictory to their beliefs in science, i have no quarrel whatsoever.

I'd just argue that they make for lousy christians and do not practice christianity in a way that is recognized by most people.

[Naomi]

(05-13-2012 04:52 PM)Hollandmichigan Wrote:  You do not assign probability to "beliefs".

LOLOLOL!!!!!!!! Like I said, I'm just going to stick with science over here.

(05-13-2012 04:59 PM)Hollandmichigan Wrote:  I'd just argue that they make for lousy christians and do not practice christianity in a way that is recognized by most people.

An Atheist policing Christians' personal levels of belief and religious practice? How original.

[Phase]

I go to a large state school. The point I was making was that peoples' religious beliefs have no affect on any scientific ability. Of all the professors I've worked with, I don't think any have ever expressed anything that would give me an idea of their religious beliefs.

Of the people I've worked with on research projects, I'm only aware of the religious beliefs of one of them. She is probably the most devout Catholic I know, and she was instrumental in the success of our project.

[Hollandmichigan]

(05-13-2012 05:02 PM)Naomi Wrote:  You do not assign probability to "beliefs".


LOLOLOL!!!!!!!! Like I said, I'm just going to stick with science over here.

You're welcome to actually correct me if you think im wrong.

Quote:An Atheist policing Christians' personal levels of belief and religious practice? How original.

A former member of baptist, evangelical and non-denominationsl churches, thank you. What is completely unoriginal is an apologist making pleas to subjective experiences and accusations of ignorance.

[Hollandmichigan]

(05-13-2012 05:06 PM)Phase Wrote:  I go to a large state school. The point I was making was that peoples' religious beliefs have no affect on any scientific ability. Of all the professors I've worked with, I don't think any have ever expressed anything that would give me an idea of their religious beliefs.

Of the people I've worked with on research projects, I'm only aware of the religious beliefs of one of them. She is probably the most devout Catholic I know, and she was instrumental in the success of our project.

Well If they haven't expressed them then they don't matter. Many in the US are just plain secular and religion is seen as a cultural entity, in my opinion. It doesn't excuse what goes on in less educated quarters though.

[Naomi]

(05-13-2012 05:08 PM)Hollandmichigan Wrote:  You're welcome to actually correct me if you think im wrong.

Not worth my time. You can google it.

[Hollandmichigan]

(05-13-2012 05:18 PM)Naomi Wrote:  

(05-13-2012 05:08 PM)Hollandmichigan Wrote:  You're welcome to actually correct me if you think im wrong.

Not worth my time. You can google it.

Well youre certainly no atheist whatever you are. Yes, baye's theory, the branch of which assigns probability to subjective beliefs, is used by some theologians to argue for the existence of god. A) this is NOT a stance that most christians take. And it's not what's meant by "faith" either. B)it's apologetic nonsense. Richard Dawkins argued against it in TGD. He did a good job of kicking it in the ass.

And theres a huge difference between subjective probability and objective probability, the latter of which is used in science and what i was giving an example of in the previous comment.