One of the things that I tire of the most is being characterized into these narrow little roles; because I believe in God I must therefore be against gay marriage. Because I believe in God, I must therefore not believe in science. Because I believe in God, I must therefore think that anyone unlike me is wrong and the most vile of sinners. Except none of these things have ever been true of me. Because fanatics, small-minded people who live small lives act this way, I must as well. Forget all that we have learned about the fallacy of stereotyping, I believe in God, so I must also be these things. Take no time to get to know me, just believe that I am the same as the last person you met.
For myself, I have long supported gay marriage, but I have already written a post about that, so while one day I may revisit the issue, in order to build upon my argument, today is not that day. And if you go through my posts, I hope in general there is a theme of treating people with respect, regardless of what they believe and how they differ. I hope so, for this is how I try to live my life. So today, I am going to address my issues about the 'God versus science' issue, which has long been on my last nerve.
I know that there are people out there who believe that the two seem to be unable to coexist. There are people who use science as a 'proof' that God does not exist at all. Of course, people do not have to believe in God, or my version of God, but science is no proof against what I believe. Thought I cannot come up with physical, indisputable proof that God is there, neither can people come up with physical, indisputable proof that God does NOT exist. Such things are neither provable nor unprovable; this is why we call the believing in such things faith.
This is not my argument to force all to believe my way, but to say instead, stop telling me to supply you with proof. The world all over believes in such things as love, yet there is no tangible, measurable proof of that either. You can't bottle love, you can't find a way to measure love nor find the components that make up this feeling. There are many people who would argue that love does not exist at all, although any mother who loves and cares for her child could tell you differently. Any man who has made vows to a woman and been with her for 50+ years may also argue the fact that love exists. But these people who argue love do not get called delusional and superstitious; while I have been called both, even though there are many things in life that we are not yet capable of proving. Go figure.
Then we have those who do the opposite, and see God as the disproof of science. I've cringed as I've seen people call evolution 'evilution' and demand that science not be taught in the schools because the Bible doesn't mention dinosaurs. God never let any of His creations go extinct. Except that He has. This has been proven. We can find the bones of long extinct animals all over the world, and many more recent animals as well. Some of them face that danger even today. This is knowledge that we have, and arguing against that knowledge only discredits the rest of us, who accept these things as fact.
As for evolution, yes, I believe that we evolved, and are evolving still. God is an artist, and when an artist puts a hunk of clay down on the potter's wheel, the clay does not look like a pot until the end. Who knows what our end will be. Possibly there will come a time when the fanatics are yelling, "Humans! We didn't evolve from those primitives!" You never know.
But again, I will stress this over and over and over, I do not make these arguments to sway someone to my way of believing things. I say these things only to explain what I believe. I get tired of being judged by those who are determined to believe that every person who believes in God is a bigoted, judgmental person who believes that everyone unlike them is wrong and must be corrected and brought to the right way of thinking. I have never believed that nor have I ever acted like that, and I never will. Yes, there are those out there who will demand that you change your beliefs, and will argue and treat you like dirt when you disagree, and some of those people are Christian (of which there are so many denominations that none of us think alike anyway), but some of them are also Atheists, and some of them are Wiccan, and some of them believe in science alone, and some of them believe in something spiritual, and some just believe in nothing at all. People like this are in every single walk of life. No belief system is without it's share of fanatics and assholes. I am sorry if you have had to deal with people like this; I have as well and I can truly empathize.
My point, however, in this long-winded post is this: science is neither proof for or against God. Science is just science; a tool that we use to discover and explain the world, and beyond that, the universe. I believe that God gave us this tool, but you are free to believe otherwise, especially here in the United States. Long have we been a country that boasted freedom of religion, but that also means that while you are free to not believe in the God of my choice, I am also free to believe in Him, and to teach my child to live in the manner that best follows the way I think He would want us to live, and if that differs from your way, chalk it up to diversity and be happy that we are allowed that freedom. So many people in this world are not.
For myself, I have long supported gay marriage, but I have already written a post about that, so while one day I may revisit the issue, in order to build upon my argument, today is not that day. And if you go through my posts, I hope in general there is a theme of treating people with respect, regardless of what they believe and how they differ. I hope so, for this is how I try to live my life. So today, I am going to address my issues about the 'God versus science' issue, which has long been on my last nerve.
I know that there are people out there who believe that the two seem to be unable to coexist. There are people who use science as a 'proof' that God does not exist at all. Of course, people do not have to believe in God, or my version of God, but science is no proof against what I believe. Thought I cannot come up with physical, indisputable proof that God is there, neither can people come up with physical, indisputable proof that God does NOT exist. Such things are neither provable nor unprovable; this is why we call the believing in such things faith.
This is not my argument to force all to believe my way, but to say instead, stop telling me to supply you with proof. The world all over believes in such things as love, yet there is no tangible, measurable proof of that either. You can't bottle love, you can't find a way to measure love nor find the components that make up this feeling. There are many people who would argue that love does not exist at all, although any mother who loves and cares for her child could tell you differently. Any man who has made vows to a woman and been with her for 50+ years may also argue the fact that love exists. But these people who argue love do not get called delusional and superstitious; while I have been called both, even though there are many things in life that we are not yet capable of proving. Go figure.
Then we have those who do the opposite, and see God as the disproof of science. I've cringed as I've seen people call evolution 'evilution' and demand that science not be taught in the schools because the Bible doesn't mention dinosaurs. God never let any of His creations go extinct. Except that He has. This has been proven. We can find the bones of long extinct animals all over the world, and many more recent animals as well. Some of them face that danger even today. This is knowledge that we have, and arguing against that knowledge only discredits the rest of us, who accept these things as fact.
As for evolution, yes, I believe that we evolved, and are evolving still. God is an artist, and when an artist puts a hunk of clay down on the potter's wheel, the clay does not look like a pot until the end. Who knows what our end will be. Possibly there will come a time when the fanatics are yelling, "Humans! We didn't evolve from those primitives!" You never know.
But again, I will stress this over and over and over, I do not make these arguments to sway someone to my way of believing things. I say these things only to explain what I believe. I get tired of being judged by those who are determined to believe that every person who believes in God is a bigoted, judgmental person who believes that everyone unlike them is wrong and must be corrected and brought to the right way of thinking. I have never believed that nor have I ever acted like that, and I never will. Yes, there are those out there who will demand that you change your beliefs, and will argue and treat you like dirt when you disagree, and some of those people are Christian (of which there are so many denominations that none of us think alike anyway), but some of them are also Atheists, and some of them are Wiccan, and some of them believe in science alone, and some of them believe in something spiritual, and some just believe in nothing at all. People like this are in every single walk of life. No belief system is without it's share of fanatics and assholes. I am sorry if you have had to deal with people like this; I have as well and I can truly empathize.
My point, however, in this long-winded post is this: science is neither proof for or against God. Science is just science; a tool that we use to discover and explain the world, and beyond that, the universe. I believe that God gave us this tool, but you are free to believe otherwise, especially here in the United States. Long have we been a country that boasted freedom of religion, but that also means that while you are free to not believe in the God of my choice, I am also free to believe in Him, and to teach my child to live in the manner that best follows the way I think He would want us to live, and if that differs from your way, chalk it up to diversity and be happy that we are allowed that freedom. So many people in this world are not.
No comments:
Post a Comment