The Bible: A History, Creation, channel4 (also on youtube)... on the distortion of science:
"a longing for absolute truth hides in the human heart, absolute atheism, absolute creationism, dance to the same tune each driving each other to further and further extremes of absolute conviction, for me neither position leaves room for what the poet John Keats called "negative capability" - mystery, uncertainty, doubt and since these are what makes for creativity they are precisely what we must bring the creation story"
at one point he also argues- "what do you want mere fact for"(?!)
Proof is belief not belief with proof. The requirements of belief of all monotheistic religions have been critised in the same way as the subjects of the book When Prophecy Fails and there is a common line I have heard myself in many church surmons and lay speeches, that persecution is almost proof of rightousness because the persecution was either a test of belief or a punitive measure, a benchmark set down as a model of potential comitment to apparent selflessness required. (Common themes such as sacrifice, homicidal certitude, terminal altruism all appear in the old testament and the book Marquez penned - from which the blog title is punned). The belief that punishment (for the sins of previous generations, for loss or lack of faith/belief) and the delay of (the "one")"his" (lord/god/son/aliens/apocolyptic agent/emancipation) return is a continual test of faith. The process and the results of this is objectively documented in the cult setting of this book. The cynical tone of the general publics response allowed this scrutiny to be permitted a luxury hard to gain if the same study was conducted on a church, especially in American Midwest. A review from amazon did make me think again about the conditions of study . The similarities between this cult and the monotheistic religions opens up a debate around the possibility of manipulation by the founders of the big three (Judaism, Catholicism and Islam).
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