The God Hypothesis

[Stevil]

why is it that no notable art has come out of the religious institutions since there golden years?

I learnt on my travels in Itally, in particular my visit to the Uffizi art gallery that there are only a finite amount of paintings of Jesus on a cross or Madonna with Bambina that a human can see in a life time. I never want to see one again!

[Medusa]

It's all phooee if you ask me. We are a mix of chemicals all just a stone's throw away from crazies. 

Chemistry is numbers and equasions too. Nothing at all crazy about it.

you are correct.
Feel better?
I bet there was a logical and reasonable reason for you to get that last word in.

[Asmodean]

I bet there was a logical and reasonable reason for you to get that last word in.

At the end of the day, there is a logical and reasonable reason for pretty much everything. At least, for near-everything reasonably explained.

[Sweetdeath]

   

why is it that no notable art has come out of the religious institutions since there golden years?

I learnt on my travels in Itally, in particular my visit to the Uffizi art gallery that there are only a finite amount of paintings of Jesus on a cross or Madonna with Bambina that a human can see in a life time. I never want to see one again!

One giant reason I have no desire to visit Italy.    I think that country is built on relogion. Despite having amazing food, I woild probably feel sick there as an atheist. :/

[Tank]

Regarding the relationship between science and imagination.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Albert Einstein
Stephen Hawking
Charles Darwin
Isaac Newton
Galileo Galilei
Louis Pasteur
Etc, etc, etc

Great scientist have to have great imaginations too make the breakthroughs that they do, they have to move beyond the current view of reality and create a new perspective.

[Sweetdeath]

Not to mention, everyone you listed above was born -- in term-- "beyond their time."

Everyone thought Einstein was insane, til he proved them wrong with science.

I can't imagine what Newton went thtough with gravity.


Ps-sorry for above typos, it's 4am. X_x

[Tank]

it continues to tell us that god is not real by continuing to expose the true mechanisms of the universe that we inhabit.

I don't agree.
Science focuses on that which is provable.

Religion focuses on theology and philosophy (of sorts), they keep their understanding within the realm of conceptual, likely because they know if they cross over into the world of physical then science will apply its magic and eventually they will have to face the scrutinisation that they so desperately attempt to avoid.

Science is a search for the truth
Religion is an imaginative exploration of the idea of a god.

Allow me to expand upon my thoughts. I'll use three examples, Astronomy, Biology and Physics.

Astronomy

Theological view: Geocentric, Earth is the centre of not only the solar system but universe.
Scientific view: Heliocentric solar system.
Scientific view: Hubble space telescope, illustrated our real importance in the universe

Biology

Theistic view: All species created as is. Illness caused by spirits/possession/demons
Scientific view: Species evolve.
Scientific view: Illness caused by internal (genetic) agents or external agents (chemicals, pathogens, vitamin deficiencies etc)

Physics

Theistic view: None, sheer guesswork about matter and forces.
Scientific view: Standard model of particles and forces, still a work in progress.
Scientific view: Spacetime, relativity and quantum mechanics, experimentally demonstrable effects.

Theistic assertions about reality have continually been overturned be scientific research, that is what I mean when I say that science marginalised god. Science continually demonstrates that theistic claims about god's capabilities are incorrect and in doing so diminish the claims of theists to possession of a valid 'truth'.

Science does focus on what is provable, but when describing reality what is the value of something that cannot be proved? Religions and science both search for the truth. However religions start out by stating a truth and then attempt to make reality fit that truth, while science searchs reality for truth and will continue to do so continually refining that truth based on increased understanding.

Scientific advancenment has marginalised superstition and thus the god concept is reduced to wishfull thinking.

I hope that explains my thought processes a little better 

 

[Stevil]

One giant reason I have no desire to visit Italy.    I think that country is built on relogion. Despite having amazing food, I woild probably feel sick there as an atheist. :/

Itally was nice actually.
The Vatican was interesting to see its extravagance and granduer, it exuded wealth and corruption (IMHO).
To see a marble statue made by Michelangelo and then a small wooden box with the word "offerings" it was such unashamed greed, then you would walk past and see marble statue after marble statue of pope's gone by. Wondering how long it will take them to gather enough money to make their next statue of a pope.
But surprisingly the Vatican museum was quite interesting, alot of egyptian artifacts and mummies etc that they had pillaged from their conquests.

Rome itself and the ruins is magnificent, to be walking where people walked and to see a building that people saw 2,000 years ago. In NZ we are lucky to see a building over 150 years old.

[Tank]

Not to mention, everyone you listed above was born -- in term-- "beyond their time."

Everyone thought Einstein was insane, til he proved them wrong with science.

I can't imagine what Newton went thtough with gravity.


Ps-sorry for above typos, it's 4am. X_x

He didn't have a great deal of problems with gravity as you can always drop a brick on somebody's foot. He did have some problems with the laws of motion as these were more abstract and difficult to demonstrate.

[Sweetdeath]

I like that list, espesically biology, because it is a truly fascinating subject.



The theists that believe in posession and demons make me chortle.

[Sweetdeath]

Not to mention, everyone you listed above was born -- in term-- "beyond their time."

Everyone thought Einstein was insane, til he proved them wrong with science.

I can't imagine what Newton went thtough with gravity.


Ps-sorry for above typos, it's 4am. X_x

He didn't have a great deal of problems with gravity as you can always drop a brick on somebody's foot. He did have some problems with the laws of motion as these were more abstract and difficult to demonstrate.

Ah, I can see that.  If only Bill Nye were around to help.  He helped me understand inertia. XD

[Stevil]

I hope that explains my thought processes a little better 

I understand what you are getting at, but I don't think science is disproving god.
There isn't a god theory, maybe not even a hypothesis, just a dream, well, many dreams of many people, who like the idea of a god, and run with the idea. The theologies built upon the idea are so elaborate and so deep giving the illusion that there is a concrete foundation, but the theology creators know they must keep theology conceptual because they know science can prove physical systems.

No matter how hard you look towards science you cannot prove against a theory that doesn't even exist.

[Tank]

I hope that explains my thought processes a little better 

I understand what you are getting at, but I don't think science is disproving god.
There isn't a god theory, maybe not even a hypothesis, just a dream, well, many dreams of many people, who like the idea of a god, and run with the idea. The theologies built upon the idea are so elaborate and so deep giving the illusion that there is a concrete foundation, but the theology creators know they must keep theology conceptual because they know science can prove physical systems.

No matter how hard you look towards science you cannot prove against a theory that doesn't even exist.

I agree. I understand what you are getting at now. 

[OldGit]

I don't think science is disproving god....
No matter how hard you look towards science you cannot prove against a theory that doesn't even exist.

True, science can't deal with god directly.  What it has done, and continues to do, is to chip away at all the areas that religion used to dominate.  God is now standing on a pretty small foundation, and it's shrinking.

[Sweetdeath]

^  I think this is seriously the best way to put it.  We now know of how so much of the world functions, including biology of living things.

I really can't wait for science continues to thrive, and open up more answers.