MacRaven - Dave Haxton's Weblog

Thu, 29 Sep 2005

This is a simply superb editorial by Dahlia Lithwick on the whole "intelligent design" movement and it's real goals ... read it and grow in wisdom.

I must add that this points out a real difference betwixt the "revealed", monotheistic religions and the polytheistic, Heathen/pagan faiths (from hard core Asatrurar to the fluffiest Wiccan). The former claim to have all the answers to every question, and are consequently (and fundamentally) hostile to the very idea of science. The latter tend to see life itself as a question, and to accept that each individual must answer it for him or her self. Various varieties of heathen/pagan belief may have different (and often set) parameters for seeking the answer, but our theology implicitly recognizes the diversity of those answers. By their very nature Christianity and Islam are "one size fits all" faiths - the fact that we heathens and pagans believe in a multiplicity of gods and goddesses insures that we accept learning (and science) as vital signposts on our religious walk.

The problem with science has always been that each new discovery unleashes thousands of new questions and ambiguities. So really, the more we discover new stuff, the stupider we get. Clearly, that isn't working. ID says we shouldn't bother ourselves with resolving scientific inconsistencies or untangling puzzles. We should recognize that what God really wants is for us just to stop learning.

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/Asatru | 4 writebacks | permanent link

On 9/29/2005 13:34:18
Brenda wrote

By their very nature Christianity and Islam are "one size fits all" faiths - the fact that we heathens and pagans believe in a multiplicity of gods and goddesses insures that we accept learning (and science) as vital signposts on our religious walk.I'm afraid that's not a surety. I've seen some pagans who eschew science as being a tool of the patriarchy and embrace a goddess creation myth as fervently as any fundamentalist Christian misinterpretation of Genesis. Also, the pagans I know who insist on accepting the Native American claims they evolved on the American continents, despite the reams of proof to the contrary, land in that same range to my mind.

On 9/29/2005 13:56:24
Dave H wrote

Well ...

You're probably right - OK, OK, you *are* right, and not all pagans (nor even all Heathens) are comfortable with science mixing it up with as most are. But I'll still hold to my premise as a general rule ... and sincerely hope that I'm right! Thanks for the comment, and Be well, Dave H.

On 9/30/2005 16:13:21
Brenda wrote

All of the pagans I consider worth knowing find the idea of denying the Big Bang to be rather foolish, so, yes, there are a lot more of us than there are of them, I think.

On 10/16/2005 10:40:21
Steven Tucker wrote

Pagans and Heathens should be able to deal with science and myth seperately; at least I hope that is the case. Creation myths are great for painting a worldview and a spiritual purpose for mankind. But if we are talking science, then we need to leave our myths at the door and talk about what we can prove and what we cannot prove. The Big Bang Theorgy, is the best model we have; and even it is somewhat idiotic. The idea that everything came from nothing, that there was a T(Time)=0 and then, BANG! just seems impossible. No, I think the universe as existence for an eternity. The Big Bang was a massive and fundamental environmental shift in our part of the universe. I just can't believe that at one point in "time" there was no time, no energy. That seems to defeat the laws of physics. Energy cannot be created or destroyed; thus energy is eternal.

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