The political masquerade of Scientism is killing science.
By Thomas P. Seager, PhD | 20 October 2020
MEDIUM — One of the greatest inventions of the Enlightenment was ignorance — i.e., the idea that there were some important things worth knowing that could not be found in the canonical texts of the dominant Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) — at least as might be interpreted by the Priests who were the only people capable of reading them.
Without the concept of ignorance, there is no Scientific Revolution. There is no Scientific Method. There is no Science (Firestein 2012).
Although religion and science are both systems of belief, the fundamental distinction between them is the basis for that belief. Science is evidence-based, and thus subject to constant revision and falsification. In contrast, religion is faith-based. That is, religion demands belief in the absence of evidence.
Because there are questions that science cannot and does not attempt to answer, religion and science are complementary systems of belief, although they are often positioned as competitive. In secular societies, such as the United States, the separation of religious beliefs from the institutions of governance necessitates the elevation of science as an alternative system of belief, because in the absence of a system of belief, governance is impossible.
Thus, in times of crisis, when ignorance and uncertainty are at an apex and the citizenry is clamoring for an alleviation of their anxieties, we often hear “We should listen to the scientists!”
Who could object to such a reasonable suggestion?
Except that in such times, there is typically no shortage of scientists willing to abandon the principles of doubt, skepticism, and ignorance on which their profession is founded, and adopt instead the confidence of an idealogue. […]
It may have been Solzhenitsyn who said something to the effect of: Without God, all things are permissible. This explains most of today’s ’insane clown posse’ world.
“That is, religion demands belief in the absence of evidence.”
Actually, there’s lots of evidence for God, ranging from revelation, logic, personal experiences, etc.; it’s just that big parts of this evidence aren’t verifiable using the scientific method – but so what.
“Without the concept of ignorance, there is no Scientific Revolution. There is no Scientific Method. There is no Science”
Actually, it’s because God exists, that man has absolute standards, order and logic, and lives in a world that is real and can be known. Without this, man could not believe in any meaning or truth, and science just couldn’t have developed under these conditions.
It’s therefore more accurate to say that true religion deals with spiritual knowledge, while science deals with material knowledge, using what is given to it from God to help it along. And yet, if scientists won’t be bound by the limitations set by this religion, neither will they by bound by the limits of science – hence the absolute junk science that’s increasingly foisted upon us, in direct proportion to the growth of atheism and fake spirituality.