Are we talking about trade schooling, or higher education?
So students and universities should take no interest in the social, political or environmental issues of the day? Attempts at change or improvement should be suppressed?
So you believe because he says so, because his words agree with a familiar narrative, or because the narrative is appealing to you?
How would this be evidence, unless the words correspond with
observable, measurable, testable facts?
I agree, and art is in the eye of the beholder; subject to...
Sounds like a self-induced religious fugue; whether a product of a serious mental disorder or not I've no idea.
However, these are neither unusual nor objective evidence of an ontological reality. The experience tends to confirm the mythology familiar to the experiencer. Christians see/hear...
I asked: "Does a country's or religion's greatness derive from its political or military prowess?" You say yes.
I disagree. A country is a mutual aid society; a self-help co-op.
Countries derive from the Social Contract. Their primary function is to promote the welfare and prosperity of their...
Gandhi wasn't into the abstruse, Vedantic philosophy of Shankara. He was more a devout, popular Hindu and political activist. He treated the world as Real.
Gandhi promoted the peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims. It was Jinnah and his Muslim league who stirred up the religious discord...
What, exactly, is this "something greater" you mention, and what compels us to believe in it?
We have voluminous evidence of how we came to be, but none of it necessitates any intentional creation by a conscious creator.
We are able to date pre-Mesozoic things, and I don't understand why you...
Consider: Arabs are Semites, too, and considering the degree of European admixture in Israel's Jewish population, Arabs are probably more genetically Semitic than the Jewish Israelis.
So where's the rub: Religion, genetics, or behavior?
If you're using it as epistemic tool, to assess reality, then you are substituting emotion for intellect. and attributing it to some nebulous stuff you're calling "spirit."
Think about it: Given a certain set of objective, measurable facts, intellect will usually yield a pretty consistent...
If faith were well founded it wouldn't be faith; it would be knowledge.
Poorly evidenced belief can, indeed, be influential, bur the ability to motivate and ontological reality don't correlate.
Feelings are as varied and unreliable as hallucinations. It's objective, demonstrable evidence that launched the explosion of knowledge and technology that created the world we now live in.
For thousands of years we had visions and revelations. They got us nowhere. Knowledge and technology...
Hallucinations aren't that uncommon, and delusions are practically the rule. How common are hallucinations?
People accepting these 'revelations' as real and important are common, as well. Sometimes individuals and social situations are such that these hallucinations and interpretations are...
How is that hard to grasp?
If there's little evidence for a thing it might or might not exist.
At one time both gorillas and unicorns were thought to be mere legends.
Some people declared that both positively didn't exist. They were the "no god exists" equivalents.
Others said they'd withhold...
But those claiming revelation make thousands of different, contradictory claims. This doesn't evidence a reliable method.
Scientific findings, on the other hand, are consistent and produce consensus.
Mutations and other selections do accumulate. Any genetic variations retained by natural selection accumulate -- that's what selection is; preferential accumulation of genetic variations, whether from mutation or reproductive variation.
What width of classification does "kind" correspond to...
Beginnings are familiar aspects of lived reality. Stories and legends almost always presuppose beginnings. Such a presumption can hardly be attributed to special revelation.
If God exist He's given no clear indication of His objectives, much less His existence.
There are a thousand different religions outlining a thousand different Gods with a thousand different objectives. If any god exist, he apparently does not care whether we're aware of hime or his objectives...
And you say God does not care to provide such evidence, so wouldn't the reasonable thing to do would be to defer belief till He does?
Great! What is it?