Jack D Capehart's blog

More Original Truisims

Making religion palatable to "reasonists", is a possibility if we change the word "faith" to the word "hope" and change the word "believe" to the word "think". 

We should strive always for truth but never decide we have found it.

Religion seems to be a multiple choice game - Choose the Best Dogma.  The winner will be the ones with the best strategy and equipment for war.

Reasonists have no dogma.

If evil exists in the world today, it could well be in the form of an organized religion.

Science is limited by the fact that it can only use experimental evidence and hard logic to prove its beliefs.  If Science accepted dogma as proof, we could prove anything.

Some people have told me they have faith based beliefs that are actually true.  I have told them they should believe they have ten million dollars in their checking account.

The dictionary definition of atheist is; "One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods."  I think the one with the capital "G" means the God of Abraham but the one with the lower case "g" means any other god and it's plural, meaning all other gods.  Therefore if you don't believe in all gods, you must be an atheist.

 

The Last Great Pretender

During a normal lifetime most people encounter what I will call pretenders or mythical beings/creatures and we first accept them as real or actual.  As we grow older we discard them one by one when we decide they are not real or actual.

For instance, there's the tooth fairy whose reality we at first accept because our parents tell us there is one, and we find money where our tooth was last night.  Then we begin to doubt when we catch our parents in the act, or we notice that the kids with wealthy parents seem to have a much more generous tooth fairy or our older sibling lets the cat out of the bag.

Then there's the Easter bunny which we believe in because there's a basket full of goodies on Easter morning and our parents act surprised and the yard is full of eggs.  We start to doubt the reality of the Easter bunny when we become old enough to realize that a bunny would not be able to put together a goodie basket and bunnys don't lay decorated, hard-boiled eggs.

Maybe the next to go is Santa Clause whose reality is evidenced by the gifts that we asked for in the letter appearing on Christmas morning and the milk and cookies have been consumed.  But, we start to doubt when we become old enough to realize that one guy can't make a worldwide trip to everyone's house in one night and reindeer really can't fly and Santa is much too fat to ever make it down the chimney.

I believe the last great pretender is the god of the religion your parents schooled you to believe in or the god of the religion you chose for yourself when you became older.  I don't know what evidence you claim for his/her existence.  If it's because a book says so, then where's the evidence that the book is correct.  If it's because your religious leader says so, then where and how did they get that information.  If you say it's because you want to believe in him/her, then you don't really believe but instead you "hope" that he/she exists.  If you think he/she exists because so many other people profess to believe he/she exists, then this is not an acceptable answer because many people professing to believe something does not make it so.

The only reasons I can come up with for adult people to profess belief in a benign, all-powerful, personal god are as follows:
1.)  They are afraid of punishment after they die or even during their lifetime.
2.)  They have the false idea that good morals can only be obtained by this belief.
3.)  They think it's the only way to gain acceptance in society or their circle of friends.
4.)  They want someone to tell them what is right rather than decide for themselves.
5.)  They have been so brainwashed by society or their parents that they can no longer reason for themselves.
6.)  They believe they have had an epiphany or spiritual experience that revealed this to them.
7.)  They are hypocrites or have an ulterior motive and are lying about it to themselves and/or others.
8.)  They so much want the fellowship that church provides that they will say they believe something based on faith alone.

      What should I add to this list?

Healthcare and the Golden Rule

Supposedly we are a "Christian Nation" but if you listen to almost any discussion concerning health care reform, you can't help but wonder if we practice what we preach. People who can't afford to pay for health insurance whether they are citizens or not are just as human as you and I and I would hope that none of us would turn our backs on an injured or sick person just because they don't have money or citizenship. Who among you would insist on being given preferential treatment over a young child who is suffering? If you pay for more than what you get for health insurance and part of your money is being "properly" used to help others, can you not look upon this as treating others as you would like to be treated. Pray about it! As long as I can afford to pay for my health insurance and I believe the money is being properly used for not only my healthcare but also for other human beings in need, I regard that money as part of my contribution to society.

Religion and Science

Religion says; "This is how it is and you can't argue with me because it's in the Bible.", while science says; "This is how it appears to be and I want you to help me prove or disprove it.".  There's only a conflict when religion disagrees with what science has discovered.  And even then science doesn't care what religion claims is true and won't argue with religion because religion is dogmatic and will not change their dogmatic beliefs even in the face of evidence to the contrary.
A true scientist will even help others to prove his/her own theory false.  Scientists are after "evidence-based truth" and care nothing about "faith-based truth".
The only thing about this that bothers scientists is that religious people will not accept ideas that science has demonstrated to be true.
The BIG problem here is that science has advanced so far that many people don't even understand the demonstrations and I sometimes think they don't want to.  This is understandable because for many generations well-meaning parents have taught their children that all the dogma of their particular religion is absolutely true and some of them have taught their children that the Bible is literally (whatever that means) true.
The only solution I can see to the problem is that religions, religious leaders, and religious people have to make a concerted effort to learn more science and scientists have to make a concerted effort to teach them more science.  I sincerely hope the ideas for motivation don't ever turn to violence.
Science is not ignorant of religious beliefs but religious people are most certainly ignorant of science.
If a true scientist ever claims to believe dogma then I believe he/she is a hypocrite.
I know I used too many absolutes in the above, but I just had to get it all down without losing my thread of thought, so there may be exceptions to some of what I've said but I wanted to get it all out and I believe it is all basically true.

Mattergy and Spime

Using two different names for the same concept is confusing and "matter" and "energy" both refer to the same concept and "space" and "time" refer to the same concept. Matter is just concentrated energy and what space is to one observer, time is to another observer. Regarding matter and energy as two separate things and space and time as two separate things seems to cause problems. We need just one word in both cases and do away with the words "matter", "energy", "space", and "time".

I don't know whether it's possible or not but I feel it would help remove some of the strangeness of quantum mechanics and relativity. Physicists do much of their work using a system of units called quantum-gravity units (or Planck units). This is a system of units in which h-bar (h/2pi), G, and c are set to unity. Where h is Planck's constant, G is the universal gravitational constant, and c is the speed of light. However, even in this system of units, mass and energy are still treated as separate entities as are space and time. After converting to this system of units, it's only a matter (no pun intended) of inserting a factor of c or c squared here and there to convert everything to "mattergy" and "spime".

So far, Einstein seems to be almost the only one who has really accepted the equivalence of mass and energy and the equivalence of space and time. No one else can seem to get rid of the old idea of separate entities. Our universe is really just spime filled with mattergy!

Now I can't say I put a lot of time and effort into composing this small article. I'll have to say I put a lot of spime and mattergy into composing it.

A "REASONABLE" IDEA

Learn (or teach) how to reason, NOT how to remember or memorize.  If a student gets good grades by remembering (memorizing) everything, they are not learning effectively.  The way to learn/teach effectively is to remember a minimum set of general things that can be used to reason or construct or calculate many, many specific things.  Why would you memorize a table of numbers if you could memorize the formula used to calculate the table.  By using the formula the table can be extended and refined in accuracy.  Besides the formula gives meaning to what the table actually stands for.

Quote Me

Oxymoron: A Scientist Hypocrite

Quantum Mechanics describes the butterflies that cause the storms we call reality.

God’s will (AKA fate) is whatever just happened.

Catma is better than dogma!  (What is Catma - It doesn't matter)

Religion depends far too heavily on the belief that life is something special.

The difference between religion and science:

     It is possible to disprove scientific theories but impossible to disprove religious dogma.

Religious people are not required to believe scientific theories.

    Scientists strive to disprove them.

    They are our best description of reality.

Our environment is intelligent. After all, it designed life.

I’m sorry. My Karma ran over your dogma.

THEORIES AND BELIEFS

Let me start this article with a little conundrum or brain-teaser which I devised:

Theories are the beliefs of science and scientists continually strive to disprove them.
Beliefs are the theories of religion and religious leaders never try to disprove them.

How these two lines affect you will depend on your nature/nurture (your DNA or your environment during your lifetime) and most certainly on the meaning you give to the words.  Dictionaries provide us with a "common ground" of meanings for words and should be used much more frequently when composing what we want to say as opposed to only using them for interpretation.  I used the dictionary in composing the two lines above.  Here is what I read:

Belief:
              1. The mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another: My belief in you is as strong as ever.
              2. Mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something: His explanation of what happened defies belief.
              3. Something believed or accepted as true, especially a particular tenet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons.
Theory:
              1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
              2. The branch of a science or art consisting of its explanatory statements, accepted principles, and methods of analysis, as opposed to practice: a fine musician who had never studied theory.
              3. A set of theorems that constitute a systematic view of a branch of mathematics.
              4. Abstract reasoning; speculation: a decision based on experience rather than theory.
              5. A belief or principle that guides action or assists comprehension or judgment: staked out the house on the theory that criminals usually return to the scene of the crime.
              6. An assumption based on limited information or knowledge; a conjecture.
  The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

My main motivation for composing this article is to point out that most people assume the very last definition for "theory" (6.) to be the only one, but in all of the sciences the first definition is always used (1.).

HOMOSEXUALITY

Homosexuality is something you are born with and not something you can change. It is exactly like being born black or being born white.

When we are born, our sexual preference is hard-wired into our brain exactly like the color of our skin is hard-wired into our body. Advising a homosexual to become straight is no different than advising a black person to become white!

The Bible is right about many things, but it is also wrong about things that were not well understood in biblical times.

The Bible is wrong about the age of the earth, the shape of the earth, the creation of man, homosexuality, and many other things.

The Bible, when properly interpreted is a wonderful source of information concerning good morals and good ethics but it cannot be interpreted literally because it is too old.

Homosexuality must be accepted because it IS and nothing can change it. Just like the earth being a sphere must be accepted because it IS.

IMMORTALITY

USA Today recently ran this news article:

Pope: Don't pursue immortality medicine

VATICAN CITY March 10, 2008 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI says an immortality pill might not be such a good thing.
During a homily in a church near St. Peter's Square on Sunday, the pontiff was reflecting on the goals of science and wondering whether a pill against death would be a good discovery.

In the view of the pope, the world would be full of old people and there would be no more space for the young. The 80-year-old pontiff says it's better not to hope for biological life that can be made to last forever.

I commented on the article:
One of the most important goals of the human race is the advancement of knowledge. A person accumulates a vast store of information over their lifetime and when they die, much of that information is lost. Not being able to communicate all you have learned in a lifetime is truly a great tragedy. If we can overcome death, then I beleive we can easily overcome any overcrowding problems we might face. One thing we might do is reduce the birthrate and another is to expand into outer space. Another thing we might do is to allow people to die when they want to.