Quote:
Originally Posted by stuck_in_chuk
I disagree - I think gods and religion were invented by primitive people to explain what was not understood at the time. For instance, volcanic eruptions were caused by vengeful volcano gods, and could be prevented by the sacrifice of virgins. We now know this is ridiculous, because of scientific discovery on how volcanoes work.
Every religion tries to explain "why", but the religious texts are also full of the "how". Unfortunately, religion tends to answer the "how" questions incorrectly. The earth is more than 6000-odd years old, the earth does resolve around the sun, and pi does not equal 3, all in contradiction to the Bible. The Koran and other religious texts are similarly filled with errors. Believers in biblical inerrancy gloss over these contradictions, and assume that science is incorrect. I don't know about you, but I would not want to drive over a bridge designed by a Christian engineer who decides that pi=3 based on 1 Kings 7:23.
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The thing about religion is it, like science, is progressive. We do not have any "volcano Gods" in modern religion.
Speaking for Catholicism, religion does not try and explain the "how". In a literal sense it does, but 90% of the bible is metaphorical, but people don't seem to understand that. I remember my religion teacher becoming very flustered when students kept interpreting the Adam and Eve story as literal, and most of them also perceived practicing Catholics as taking it literally, too.