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Thursday, January 23, 2014

The Biology of Faith and Religion

Rufina Kim has re-started the discussion group we had last year. Join us for an evening of interesting conversation in room 5243 on the 5th floor of the Medical Sciences Building at the University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada). Bring your own food and beverage. The date is Wednesday, January 29, 2014 and the time is 6pm.

Everyone is welcome. You don't have to be a student or a faculty member to attend. Add your name to the list on Facebook at The Biology of Faith and Religion.
Is there a God? Why is the majority of the global population religious (and why are some not)? Why does religious faith lead to resistance in the face of scientific evidence? Why are research findings in evolutionary biology and cosmology still contentious among the public, while those in chemistry and physiology are not? What are the implications of religious belief in scientific progress?

These are some of the questions we will delve into at our next Thoughts on Science (TOS) meeting. Individuals of all worldviews are encouraged to attend to enlighten and be enlightened.


10 comments :

mregnor said...

"Why does atheism lead to resistance in the face of logic and scientific evidence?"

Why are atheist metaphysics that constrain evolutionary biology and cosmology still not acknowledged among atheist scientists, while disciplines such chemistry and physiology that are not beholden to atheist metaphysics are so much more successful as science?

What are the implications of atheism in scientific progress? Why would atheist scientists seek understanding of natural laws when they deny the possiblity of a source for natural laws?

Wish I were at the meeting.

mregnor said...

This would be a great definition for discussion:

Atheism (n): "the belief that there was nothing and nothing happened to nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically reearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs."

I doubt it'll come up.

Larry Moran said...

Wish I were at the meeting.

Me too. I'd like to see if you are real.

John Harshman said...

Is he always like this?

colnago80 said...

Considering that IDiot Egnor is also a climate change denier, he's often even worse. It's always amusing when folks like him who don't know their nether orifice from an excavation in tierra firma pontificate on subjects on which they have no competence.

mregnor said...

Colnago:

Atheist climate science:

Climate is changing, but it's happening for no reason.

Sean Boyle said...

Here's the picture for you since you've quoted it :-)

http://www.demotivationalposters.org/image/demotivational-poster/0906/christians-christians-atheism-evolution-science-demotivational-poster-1246395400.jpg

Anonymous said...

"Who or what designed natural selection?" I was recently asked by my 8 year old.... He had also asked me earlier who created God.... So... It seems even for both sides....

John Harshman said...

You seem to be implying equivalence for those two questions. God is supposed to be an enormously powerful and complex entity; it makes perfect sense to ask about the origins of such things. Natural selection, on the other hand, is just something that inevitably happens given certain simple conditions. Nobody has to design it. Who designed rain? Who designed rocks?

John Harshman said...

Do you even have an 8 year old?