Heretic-Monkey

An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.

– John Buchan

The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.

– H. L. Mencken

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

– David Brin

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

– Thomas Jefferson

The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.

– H. L. Mencken

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

– Doug Larson

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

– Isaac Asimov, Salvor Hardin in “Foundation”

No one has ever had an idea in a dress suit.

– Sir Frederick G. Banting

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

– Aristotle

A cult is a religion with no political power.

– Tom Wolfe

The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.

– Robert R. Coveyou, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.

– George Bernard Shaw

• Council for Secular Humanism
  (tags: atheism philosophy religion skepticism humanism organization secularism)
• Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc.
  (tags: religion atheism politics activism secularism philosophy government freedom constitution)

The fundamental cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

— Bertrand Russell

So previously, I railed about the fundamentalism of science and religion. After reading this quote [onegoodmove.org] from Richard Dawkins’ recent release The God Delusion and the responses on that site, I have to agree with some of the comments.

Namely, the idea that science as the One True Method for uncovering the Truth is sacrosanct. I think that the insights of religion can shed light on scientific inquiry, much as the reverse has happened over recent times. For instance, I believe it was a great idea to have the Dalai Lama speak at the proceedings of the Society for Neuroscience. Now, I also happen to believe that Buddhism is arguably the religion whose tenets are most closely aligned with those of science. Buddhism’s “contemplaive tradition”, the idea that one must be open to new ideas at all times, correlates to the empirical method of forming allowing evidence to show the way rather than predetermined theories.

Likewise, there are times when faith in your fellow human being, not based on any evidence, can be helpful. Obviously most social and commercial interactions would be impossible if it weren’t for a certain amount of faith that the person serving you food at the restaurant didn’t lace it with poison.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

– Blaise Pascal

Certainly much evil, and much good has been done in the name of both science and religion. Then again, one wonders how a scientific notion of “evil” and “good” might be formulated. I think that might be where the recent swing towards evangelical religions and religiosity in general came from—the absence of moral or ethical awareness in the scientific community.

Anyway, I’m running out of water for my stream of consciousness, and I need to sleep, so perhaps I’ll revisit this topic later.

Acceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of Western
religion, rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of
Western science.

– Gary Zukav, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters”

Excellent observation by Zukav. I think this is the biggest problem I have with both religion and science. The dogmatic rigidity of thought, where one cannot break out of a pattern of thought established by the tenets of the prevailing dogma. All systems of belief take some idea, whether it be the reality of a messianic figure or the method of scientific inquiry, and hold it as a sheild to ward off all other ideas. More on this later as I gather my thoughts…