How it all began?
Do we really need to know "how it all began"? So much so that we will believe in any fantasy that claims to know the "truth." The Earth is 4 billion years old, the universe is older. Barring any major asteroid strikes, the Earth will still be around for another 2 billion years. We cannot know "where it all began."
Should we confront absolutist arguments?
I describe myself as a humanist and atheist. My moral code comes from my upbringing within a society that values relationship over confrontation.
Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design - Some Random Thoughts
Creationism and Intelligent Design are prescriptive terms for a "God-centered" definition of where we come from and where we are going. These are very specific dogmas that were introduced as a smoke screen into educational curriculum by those who were opposed to evolution as a suitable topic for teaching in school biology courses.
Excerpt from "History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science" By John William Draper
Will modern civilization consent to abandon the career of advancement which has given it so much power and happiness? Will it consent to retrace its steps to the semi-barbarian ignorance and superstition of the middle ages? Will it submit to the dictation of a power, which, claiming divine authority, can present no adequate credentials of its office; a power which kept us in a stagnant condition for many centuries, ferociously suppressing by the stake and the sword every attempt at progress; a power that is founded in a cloud of mysteries; that sets itself above reason and common-sense; that loudly proclaims the hatred it entertains against liberty of thought and freedom in civil institutions; that professes its intention of repressing the one and destroying the other whenever it can find the opportunity; that denounces as most pernicious and insane the opinion that liberty of conscience is the right of every man; that protests against that right being proclaimed and asserted by law in every well-governed state; that contemptuously repudiates the principle that the will of the people, manifested by public opinion (as it is called) or by other means, shall constitute law; that refuses to every man any title to opinion in matters of religion, but holds that it is simply his duty to believe what he is told by the religious institution, and to obey her commands; that will not permit any temporal government to define the rights and prescribe limits to the authority of the religious institution; that declares it not only may but will resort to force to discipline disobedient individuals; that invades the sanctity of private life, by making, at the confessional, the wife and daughters and servants of one suspected, spies and informers against him; that tries him without an accuser, and by torture makes him bear witness against himself; that denies the right of parents to educate their children outside of its own Church, and insists that to it alone belongs the supervision of domestic life and the control of marriages and divorces; that denounces "the impudence" of those who presume to subordinate the authority of the Church to the civil authority, or who advocate the separation of the Church from the state; that absolutely repudiates all toleration, and affirms that the Catholic religion is entitled to be held as the only religion in every country, to the exclusion of all other modes of worship; that requires all laws standing in the way of its interests to be repealed, and, if that be refused, orders all its followers to disobey them? This power, conscious that it can work no miracle to serve itself, does not hesitate to disturb society by its intrigues against governments, and seeks to accomplish its ends by alliances with despotism. Claims such as these mean a revolt against modern civilization, an intention of destroying it, no matter at what social cost. To submit to them without resistance, men must be slaves indeed!
Time in a Bottle - Scientists Watch Evolution Unfold
"Time in a Bottle: Scientists Watch Evolution Unfold" is an article that appeared in "Science News" on October 19, 2009. My attention was drawn to it because the researcher, Professor Richard Lenski, Michigan State University, was interviewed in a column in the Toronto newspaper, The Globe & Mail. The interview appeared on Saturday, November 21.
Einstein on Science and Religion
The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. (Albert Einstein)