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Friday, October 13, 2006

Faith in Congress

I have no beef with people of genuine faith. I have no complaint with people who believe in the Biblical miracles. I have no problem if someone believes that God flooded the entire world, killing all of creation except for Noah, his family, and his menagerie.

But faith is not science. Quite literally, it's the opposite. Faith means believing without evidence. Science is refusing to believe absent evidence. So when Michele Bachmann starts spouting nonsense about Intelligent Design, it shakes my faith. Not in God, or Oprah's angels, or spoon-bending with the power of my mind -- it shakes my fragile faith in democracy, generally, and Minnesota's democracy, specifically.

Please, my fellow Minnesotans, don't elect this ignoramus to Congress.

7 Comments:

Translation: I don't have a problem with people of faith - unless that faith translates into something I disagree with - then it is just stupid.

By Anonymous, at 8:58 PM

Trying to manufacture science from faith is stupid. Trying to make facts conform to belief is stupid.

By Hammer, at 9:21 AM

Fine. But this is what people of faith do, Mr., uh, Hammer, they see the world through a paticular lens. As you would see the US economy, the war on terror, the Bush administration through a liberal lens so they see evolution and homosexualtiy through a Christian lens. Here is an example - I assume you would say the difference between Rush Limbaugh and Micheal Moore is that Micheal Moore deals in "facts" and Rush does not. All this is is your desire to see the world and the "facts" from one particular angle. There is nothing wrong with this, of course, except when you call others stupid for doing the same thing.

By Anonymous, at 5:28 PM

Or the other easier option - take out the caveat and say what you really want to say, "Christians are stupid."

By Anonymous, at 5:40 PM

Christians aren't stupid -- but some stupid people are Christians. Atheists aren't stupid -- but some stupid people are atheists.

There are lots of tests for stupid -- but if accept someone's facts simply because they conform to your beliefs, I don't need any more evidence.

Evolution is scientific theory -- the same way gravity is a scientific theory. You can choose not to believe either because they don't conform to your faith. But if you jump off a building because your belief tells you gravity is just a theory, then you stupid, indeed.

By Hammer, at 11:17 PM

Not if you're Superman.

Why do you believe evolution is true? Have you done the research yourself? Studied the facts rigorously using the scientific method. I'm guessing no. I'm guessing you rely on the information of others, you trust in someone else - whether a book or a real person - and you trust in their methodology to give you facts. Forgive me, but this is still a belief system. You are taking the word of people you trust to make sense of the world. People of faith do the same thing - they just pick different people to trust.

By Anonymous, at 9:56 AM

Superman is not real. Please do not jump!

By Hammer, at 3:37 PM