Well, you're talking out of both sides of your mouth. You can't be both tired of religion "suppressing science" while having "no desire to suppress religion".
Of course I can. You can keep your religion just stay the fuck out of the science classroom. If your religion decides to make all of its followers stupid as fuck I do wish they wouldn't have done that, and it is a great tragedy for society, but I have no wish to prevent them from being willfully stupid.
That's like saying you're tired of killers killing people, but having no desire to jail killers.
So you are saying that one has to either be FOR religion doing dumb shit like killing people for advancing knowledge or you have to be AGAINST religion in general? Seriously?
Same unproven argument keeps getting regurgitated.
How many Muslim Nobel winners are there in all of history? Why do you suppose the number is what it is considering the percentage of the population they make up?
Are you saying religions are threatening people, while being allowed to legally operate in this country, because they dare to "think"?
No, with the exception of Islam and a few specific points I am talking more historically than anything else.
What religion issues physical threats to its adherents?
Burning at the stake for witchcraft? Jailing people, even putting to death, for pursuing knowledge that didn't jive with the church at the time? Stoning women to death for learning how to read?
You knew what I was saying. At any rate, most people really care about the material advantages science provides (like the internet, smart phones, Xbox live, shiny new cars, etc), and I know this because you can't get young people, especially, to go to the doctor unless they're forced to.
And you obviously didn't know what I was saying. I was talking about true progress, not "gadgets". When is the last time you met someone with polio? You can thank scientific advancement for that. Very generally speaking, life is a hellofa lot less shitty today than it was 100 years ago, 100 years ago it was less shitty than the prior 100 years, etc.
They really don't appreciate the medical advances unless forced to use them.
Yes they do. Life expectancy has risen by over 15 years since the 60s. Hell, medical advancement is likely the reason they made it beyond childhood.
No clue, and neither do you. How can you be sure we wouldn't be where we are anyway?
If I am driving down the highway and decide to pull over for half an hour I can be pretty damn sure that I would have been further down the road if I had not stopped. Sure it is possible some sort of traffic jam would slow me down or something but its almost certain that I would be much further down the road.
Don't know, neither do you.
Of course I don't but I can imagine, its a fun exercise using your imagination, you should try it sometime.
Should have said that then.
Umm, I did say that. I'm sorry that you couldn't understand the broader point I was making which is why I broke it down for you even further. I will try to use smaller words going forward (just a jab bud, lighten up).
Still though, the amount of people who commit suicide bombings are relatively few, so your point hold no water.
It was simply an example. The amount of people doing fucked up shit, beyond suicide bombings, in the name of religion today is not nearly as small as any of us would like.
Neither do I.[/QUOTE]