prog | (no subject)

I think I'm going to up(?)grade my personal religious label from "nonreligious" to "skeptical". It takes my lack of faith in the supernatural to a more aggressive stance without crossing all the way over into "atheist". Skepticism says neither "I have no opinion" nor "you're a deluded sheep"; it says "prove it". (As a bonus, it also gives me a definitive answer to whether or not I believe in God; "I'm skeptical" works on two levels here.)

The trigger is that I lately feel I can no longer afford to have no opinion on religion, as fundamentalism is becoming increasingly dangerous to my own civilization. Fundamentalists from a different civilization trying to attack us is one thing; domestic fundamentalists trying to erode secular government I enjoy is another. But the two working off of each other in a frighteningly anti-intellectual vicious cycle? OK, you've got my attention now.

Not that I know what I'm going to do about it yet. But it seems like a proper internal recalibration before continuing.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This is heartening, but what really concerns me is how science education has been under a (perhaps unprecedented?) organized assault for a couple of years in this country, on several fronts. Sadly, I don't think that many members of that college's faculty would be too keen on signing a petition opposing the teaching of "intelligent design" in public science classes. (I could be wrong. But I bet I'm not.)

The fact that this even comes up for a debate just goes to show how many people, academicians included, don't even know what "science" is.

Don't you know? It's a loosely organized collection of opinions and conjectures as to how nature works, with a centuries-long tradition of literature and ceremony. We should embrace science and its adherents with the same tolerance that we extend to people of all other faiths.