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Very Well written!
Everyone has their "leaps of faith" or "assumptions."  Some are more 
self-evident and some are less so.  There is even the hidden assumption 
that "logic works."
So...what are the assumptions YOU think you need to start doing science? 
 Personally I think there are fewer assumptions to DO science, than there 
are to rely on science as the basis of progressive knowledge.
As for objectivity...in theory I would say pure science (even with its 
assumptions) is objective (though relying on one's senses (a source of 
subjectivity)) in evaluation of ideas...as is logic...in practice it is 
practiced by humans who bring in great deals of subjectivity based upon. 
 Thus we are reluctant to give up on scientific ideas that really should be 
discarded...that is why things such as the scanning electron microscope 
gave images that were disbelieved as they didn't match with prevailling 
theory.


-----Original Message-----
From:	Lisa Jo Rudy [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:	Friday, March 25, 2005 5:26 PM
Subject:	Re: religion AND science (as opposed to versus)

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related 
institutions.
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by the way -- so far as I am aware, nowhere in the Bible does it say that 
the
earth is 6,000 years old.  this number was derived from "begats;" you can
click on this hyperlink to see how he did it:
http://www.independencebaptist.org/6,000%20Year%20Old%20Earth/6,000_year  
_old_earth.htm The assumptions are that
(1) all the begats are listed; (2) all of the time periods described are
literally correct as translated into English.

The same is true of the concept of trinity, which is not in the Bible 
either
(at least, not in its present form).  There is mention of a holy spirit, 
but
it's never described as part and parcel of a trinitarian godhead.

Where I'm going with this is to say -- As a reader of a big chunk of the
bible, and an ex-student of religion, I find it to be absolutely impossible 
to
"literally" read the Bible.

Fact is - -the Bible is self-contradictory on many, many points.  Just
starting with Genesis, one has to confront two separate creation stories: 
the one in
which Adam and Eve are made of clay ("male and female created He them") and 

the one in which Eve is made from Adam's rib.  In order to make sense of 
this,
you have three choices: (1) note that these are two separate creation 
myths;
(2) decide that only one of these is true and the other is false; (3) come 
up
with some strained logic which allows both to be true.

I think that, most of the time, folks who quote the Bible as literal truth
are not as familiar as they might be with the actual book itself.

Back to science, though, I agree with those who say that there are a lot of 

assumptions made in order to even START doing science -- and that those
assumptions are not "truth" -- they are interpretations of experience. 
 Objectivity,
in my opinion, is simply unobtainable; so we do our level best with the
scientific method.

Lisa Jo Rudy, Writer/Consultant
625 Chelten Hills Drive
Elkins Park, PA 19027
http://www.lisarudy.com/
215-635-9735

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