Scientific Enquiry and Religion
RELIGIOUS / PHILOSOPHICAL / METAPHYSICAL THINKING HAS CONTINUALLY DEVELOPED AND PROGRESSED.
The latest and most far reaching ideas in Science, by humanity's greatest ever scientists, are necessary to grasp the current developments and understandings in Religious / Philosophical / Metaphysical thinking...
The most brilliant scientists in history understood / understand the importance of the non-material essence that religions have attempted to describe - and that their research adds to that...
The quote in this graphic is by Niels Bohr:
'Niels Henrik David Bohr (Danish: [ˈne̝ls ˈpoɐ̯ˀ]; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.'
(Acknowledgment and thanks to Wikipedia for that.)
(I found this image online. My acknowledgment and thanks to whoever made it (identity unknown to me.))
RELIGIOUS STUDIES:
A SOURCE RECOMMENDATION:
CLOSER TO TRUTH (YouTube channel. Presented by neuroscientist Robert L. Khun)
The most (possibly the only?!) balanced and mature, intelligent YouTube source for the study of (what are referred to in education as) The Big Question: the questions regarding understanding existence itself - and all aspects of it - on social media, is this, in my opinion.
Robert L. Khun is a highly qualified and respected neuroscience; he is at core a materialist (everything is explainable in purely material terms), but admits that he would like to be persuaded that there's more to existence than that... Or, alternatively, to have his materialism confirmed... Whichever the result may be...
The mystery of consciousness is his main subject of fascination...
So he has set out to interview some of the best and most qualified thinkers from all fields of study - to give their ideas...
No matter who they are, Khun questions them amicably, fairly and rigourously - giving every idea an equal say...
In this one, Canadian philosopher, J. L. Shellenberg, an atheist, but one who promotes scepticism in a positive way: in saying that it should open minds to possibilities - not narrow or close them (the latter being what modern skepticism has largely been reduced to, in my opinion), discusses ways to consider consciousness...
The whole Closer To Truth channel is very worth watching...
RELIGIOUS STUDIES:
AQUINAS 101: ROMAN CATHOLIC SCIENTISTS / FRIARS CHALLENGE THE MATERIALIST PARADIGM...
I really like this kind of video / YouTube channel. This is intelligent, well informed, mature and civil discussion on the subject of Science and Religion, that elevates this subject matter out of the grubby, infantile sandbox that it was, for some years, reduced to by the shrill, puerile blabbering of the so-called 'New Atheists'... 😏
This description is obviously from the Roman Catholic perspective, but it's respectful of points of view, and delivers genuine scientific knowledge in a way that is relevant - and even a layman like me can follow... 😏
Max Planck (1858 - 1947) (one of the pioneers of Quantum Physics) describes his ideas on the nature of existence, from a scientific (not a religious) perspective...
THE 'BIG BANG' THEORY CONFIRMED THAT THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING... IT WAS ONLY ACCEPTED BY SCIENCE IN THE 1960s...
IT CHANGED EVERYTHING... EXCEPT THE HUBRIS OF MATERIALIST SCIENCE...
Up until the Big Bang Theory was accepted by Science in the 1960s, it had been accepted that the universe was eternal and in a steady state: all the factors and forces required to maintain its stability were constant - therefore, there was simply no need for any explanation for the existence of the universe: it had always existed...
It also meant that all the stories from religions that describe the creation of the universe, could be laughed off...
But once the Big Bang made the idea of a finite, created universe the accepted model... Materialism was on very shaky ground...
Materialism then had to explain how the factors / fundamental forces that make the universe possible and stable came to be so precisely set - and so precisely integrated and coordinated...
They cannot... So, instead, they've come up with the entirely abstract (ironically) concept of various versions of Multiverse Theory: that this universe is just one of a huge number of universes - even an infinite number of universes...
These ideas are entirely the abstract construction of Theoretical Physics; Multiverses do not exist in any physical, material form: let's be clear about that.
The only universe that is known to materially exist, is this one.
But the Materialist paradigm that currently dominates Science cannot consider anything other than Materialist answers... And the situation is so pompous and ridiculous, that when Materialists cannot find a Material answer to the the nature of the universe - they just make up an infinite number of other universes... LOL...!
(I found this meme online. It features this quote by British Philosopher, Richard Swinburne. My acknowledgment and thanks to whoever made the meme (identity unknown to me.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHEN MATERIALIST SCIENCE HAS NO ANSWER - IT JUST MAKES UP ANY OLD WHACKO STUFF...
INTERSTELLAR HITCH-HIKING OCTOPUS AND SQUID...
You'll likely want to believe that I'm making this up - but I'm not: it's a genuine, recent scientific theory / or at least, hypothesis...
Here's a link to follow to a relevant article in The Independent newspaper:
Are octopuses aliens from outer space that were brought to Earth by meteors? | The Independent | The Independent
You see, there's no identifiable evolutionary lineage for octopus.. Octopuses...? Octopi...? I dunno - let's say an octopus and all his mates...
Anyway - no linear link for them or for squid...
So....
Erm... Erm... Ah! Outer space...! That's what...! They came here from outer space...! By... By... By riding on a meteor or an asteroid ... (Hitch-hiking, effectively, I guess... LOL...! )
And there we have it: interstellar hitch-hiking octopus and squid...
But it's Science - so we must take it seriously...
Yeah. Right... LOL...!
(I found this picture online. My acknowledgment and thanks to whoever made it (identity unknown to me.))
MEDICAL SCIENCE: GREAT WHEN IT'S GREAT - DANGEROUS WHEN IT'S WRONG - DOWNRIGHT SINISTER WHEN IT'S DECLARED UNQUESTIONABLE AND BEYOND CRITICISM...
The famous author, Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963), is probably best known for his sci-fi classic 'Brave New World': a semi-satirical depiction of a dystopian future for humanity, where science makes all the decisions: it has become akin to a religion: in a way that's similar to what was predicted by author, C. S Lewis: the religion of Scientism...
Huxley was opposed to organised religion, but engaged in an open minded search for meaning and explanation of Life - being willing to look beyond material explanations - and in that way, I suggest that he could reasonably be described as 'spiritual'...
Like almost everyone - religious or not - he was by no means what 'anti-Science': which is these days a common propaganda accusation levelled by Scientific Materialists against anyone who looks beyond Materialism... But he was critical of Science, where he believed that criticism was necessary...
This is one example of that...
RELIGIOUS STUDIES / SCIENCE CROSS REFERENCE
This quote is by physicist, Werner Heisenberg.
One of the fundamental mistakes that people make (and in modern times are encouraged to make, by anti-religion propagandists), is in not realising that religion and its associated subjects of study, are better described as branches of Social Science - and that they are, and always has been, LIVING SUBJECTS: active, investigative exploratory, ever changing and developing; and useful for cross referencing with other sciences...
(I found this image online. My acknowledgment and thanks to whoever made it (identity unknown to me.))
SCIENTIFIC REFUTATIONS OF RELIGIOUS / HISTORICAL / ARCHAEOLOGICAL IDEAS AND BELIEFS:
SOME 36 MILLION YEARS AGO, MONKEYS ARRIVED IN SOUTH AMERICA BY RAFTING ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN FROM AFRICA...
You think I'm making this up - I'm sure you do...
But no - it's a genuine scientific hypothesis to explained how certain species of monkeys can be found in South America, when they should only be found in Africa...
Here are links to National Geographic and The Smithsonian Magazine
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/.../when-monkeys...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/.../monkeys-raft-across.../
As a teacher of Religion and all associated subjects (we're talking about a vast and varied range of subjects here), which requires teaching and encouraging critical analysis and interpretation of these areas of study - a big part of the job is doing just that - and ensuring that students DO NOT just take things at surface value, but will question and interpret what they find...
But in science lessons - from what I gather - that's not so much the case... If the only (current) answer to monkeys being where they shouldn't be is to suppose that they rafted about a thousand miles of turbulent Atlantic Ocean millions of years ago... Then that's what students must run with...
It MUST be OK - because SCIENCE says so...
HOW AND WHY MATERIAL SCIENCE OVER-STEPS ITS REMIT - BUT STILL TRIES TO PASS THAT OFF AS SCIENCE: SO AS TO REINFORCE MATERIALISM AS THE ONLY VALID SOURCE OF KNOWING...
'The Multiverse is like Tinkerbell [the fairy in the story 'Peter Pan']: it [only] exists if you believe in it...'
LOL..!
This Scientist, Sabine Hossenfelder, is a Materialist: but one of the very few that is worth listening to; she's great in fact...
She recognises that Materialism has its limits - and can't be used to describe anything outside of those limits. Anything outside is a 'don't know'... Fair enough...
With a gently satirical manner, she'll call out the various attempts by Cosmologists and Physicists to explain existence itself it terms that keep Scientific Materialism in its place as the dominant paradigm: in fact, what they consider to be the ONLY valid way of knowing.
In the past she said about String Theory (paraphrasing): 'I won't say that String Theory has no value - because entertainment has value: but that's all it is: entertainment...' LOL...!
Here, she has the notorious - and currently so popular that some seem to believe it's established fact - - Multiverse Theory in her, fair, logical and unbiased sights...
RELIGIOUS STUDIES / ENGLISH LITERATURE
SCIENTISM: A RELIGIOUS DICTATORSHIP BASED ON THE BELIEF THAT SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM IS THE ONLY TRUE REALITY - AND SOCIETY MUST OBEY WHATEVER MATERIALIST SCIENTISTS SAY...
PREDICTED BY C.S LEWIS IN 1945...
That Hideous Strength. C. S. Lewis (1945)
Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel, 'The Handmaid's Tale' describes a dystopian future where the USA has been taken over by a fundamentalist Christian religious dictatorship.
(The description of the how the overthrow of American democratic politics and its safeguards are overthrown is somewhat contrived and unconvincing in my personal opinion, but there we are...)
This novel, 'That Hideous Strength' is in the same vein as Orwell's '1984' or Huxley's 'Brave New World': a prediction of a dystopian future, with human society under a suffocating - but presented as beneficial - dictatorship.
This is a world (in the novel, it's just Britain - initially) that is being seduced by rhetoric and propaganda into accepting - in fact, embracing - rule by laws made only by scientists (more specifically: materialist scientists: the currently dominant paradigm in Science, which insists that that only empirically verifiable information counts as acceptable knowledge.)
There is no consideration for human emotion, or any abstract considerations within this decisions and policy making; everything is decided purely on practical, clinical, functional, material value.
Government decision making is gradually being given over to a Qango (quasi autonomous non government organisation), called the National Institute for Coordinated Experiments: NICE, for short...
It's decisions take no heed of emotional or any other abstract human considerations... Except one...
And policy are sold to the population (very successfully) by means of rhetoric and propaganda... And by fear: the one human emotion that it finds useful...
I read a LOT - I mean, a LOT... And I can tell you that C.S Lewis's novel 'That Hideous Strength' (the last part of his 'Cosmic Trilogy') is without doubt the most powerful and influential novel I have ever read.
If you want to understand political manipulation, and how the use of rhetoric and propaganda works towards achieving that - read this novel.
If you want to understand how Science may become both politicised AND stifled and narrowed down to the dogmatic paradigm of Scientific Materialism - essentially a religion / or at least a pseudo-religious dogma: referred to by Lewis as 'Scientism' - read this novel...
You know how Sci-Fi is so often prophetic...? Discuss...
I found this video by The Discovery Institute - on the subject of 'That Hideous Strength'...
STRANGE, BUT TRUE...
Geeking around on these subjects as I do, I've discovered so much about the current state of Science (and how it's been corrupted into the dogma of Materialism: that only material knowledge is relevant) that is not reported honestly by the majority of the scientific community.
They all know and accept that it's true - but present information using carefully chosen wording, like: such and such MAY have... Scientists BELIEVE that... It's POSSIBLE that... Etc...
The formation of matter is a complete mystery.
There are no examples of stars forming, for instance. There should be - there are many examples of stars dying - but no stars forming. And the physics just doesn't exist to explain how a star even COULD form...
There are fumbling hypotheses - which all fail - based on cloud features in space, which they claim must be stars forming... But nope... These are just clouds of something's or other - and they try to use them to salvage their various hypotheses...
(This image is from a Facebook posting that I made on the MLM Arts Facebook page).
AN HONEST REALITY: SCIENCE HAS NO IDEA HOW THE UNIVERSE FORMED
Eh...? But that's not what we're told...
Sabine Hossenfelder: the most honest, straight talking scientist I know of... Would that they were all like her...
"... The Big Bang is the simplest explanation to the Universe that we know - and it's probably wrong..."
And there you have it...
And no: this is not an justification for any religious point of view (which is how adherents to Scientific Materialism usually try to 'straw man' their way out of situations like this; it's entirely a assertion of the current state of scientific 'knowledge' / lack of knowledge - and how new avenues of enquiry really ought to be considered...
SIR FRED HOYLE: THE ASTRONOMER AND PHYSICIST WHO COINED THE TERM 'BIG BANG' - AS A TERM OF DERISION FOR THE THEORY THAT THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING...
I like the late Sir Fred Hoyle - he was (what seems these days to be a rarity) a scientists with impeccable intellectual integrity.
When the theory that the Universe had a beginning and was expanding from that starting point was proposed by Belgian cosmologist and Jesuit priest, Georges Lemaître, in 1931, it was a challenge to the established Materialist (Aristotelian) view that the Universe is eternally existent and in a constant steady state...
But it wasn't until the 1960s that Lemaître's theory became accepted by the mainstream scientific community.
Fred Hoyle was one of the world's leading astronomers, and when interviewed on the subject in 1949, he mocked Lemaître's idea by waving it aside as the the proposal that a 'big bang' brought the Universe into existence...
Later in his life and career, Sir Fred concluded that the state of the Universe could not be the result of random chance events - but commonsense says that it's the result of a 'super-intellect'...
This does not mean that Sir Fred Hoyle believed in God or the supernatural - nor that he'd necessarily abandoned his belief that the Universe is eternal and in a steady state; but he does concede the need for an intelligent agent in the organisation of the Universe...
EUGENICS - THE NAZI HOLOCAUST - AND THEIR ROOTS IN DARWINISM AND IN EUGENICIST POLICIES IN THE USA
Darwinism proponents aren't going to like this... But it's all well researched, documented, accepted truth.
This doesn't say anything about whether or not Darwinism is true - it only points out that it had horrific consequences when applied by in scientific / 'practical' / social experimental ways by those who presumed that it is true - and were allowed to apply it by those in authority.
'Trust the Science' isn't a new concept / indoctrination.
This really should be taught in schools... But it won't be... We MUST not only trust the Science - we are forbidden to teach anything that questions it... (M).
Posted: 01. 07. 2023