law-of-freedom

If you believe in evolution: WSJ article

Quotes

Karen Armstrong (former Catholic nun): "In the past, many [religious] thinkers understood "God" [as] a symbol whose existence cannot be proved.  St Augustine (354-430) insisted a biblical text contradict[ing] reputable science must be interpreted allegorically. [Reason] enabled function, but could not assuage grief or find ultimate meaning [like] stories [with] no pretensions to historical accuracy."

I like Karen's thinking, but I don't think the church ever bought into this statement by St. Augustine.  Otherwise, how would you explain the Inquisitions?

Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biologist): "A divine designer is all but ruled out [because] he must be at least as complex as the entities he was wheeled out to explain.  [Some] theologian will say, "It doesn't matter whether God exists in a scientific sense."  [If you] tell the congregation of a church or mosque that, they will brand you an atheist. They'll be right."

I agree, but  I still think a God symbol can be helpful, as Karen discusses.  Logically, the following two statements are equivalent: God is love, love is God.  As Stephen Covey discusses in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I believe in ethical principles.  Unlike Covey, however, who is a practicing Mormon, I don't believe these principles are already fully known to us.  Instead, I believe in the idea of an open society as defined by philosopher and economics professor Karl Popper, always open to improvement because human knowledge is never complete.  My biggest pet peeve is people who avoid challenge (intellectual or physical), either because they think they are already perfect, or because they think improvement is not worth the cost.  There are too many people who have given up without actually trying.