Christians And Science Don't Get Along

Hi, Herebedragons.Once again, the "Mormons" data point sticks out to me. I grew up Mormon, and I thought I had a good understanding of the social dynamics in that community. Just running on my intuition, I always thought Mormons were more open to mainstream science than other Christian denominations, and tended to be more "intellectual" and well-educated, but I keep seeing this type of data that show Mormons as some of the least science-minded and least educated people in the USA.Clearly, I must have been projecting my own views on my greater community. I suspect that Faith is doing the same thing. We all make the mistake of substituting our personal experiences for hard data, even if we know that personal experiences are always charged with personal biases and misinterpretations. We are simply not built to recognize the disparity between reality and our personal viewpoints.

Hi, Faith. I agree with you completely here, Faith. Reason isn't about certainty: it's about Uncertainty. Uncertainty is far more instructive than Certainty. An honest person recognizes that there is always Uncertainty, and Certainty can only come by eliminating all sources of Uncertainty. That's why science and statistics usually focus more on characterizing and quantifying Uncertainties than on finding Certainty.During my short career as a scientist, I have realized exactly how much effort it takes to draw a confident answer to questions as minor as "What do spiders and crickets eat?" In light of this experience, the notion of relying on faith as a meaningful way to find a bigger and grander Truth about everything feels like little more than the seduction of wishful thinking.Thanks to my transition from faith to reason, I am no longer Certain that I can distinguish faith from gullibility.

Hi, Faith. Of course it's crackpot theology: what other kind of theology is there?But, I can't help but notice that you wanted to know what Mormons believe, and you somehow came to the conclusion that the best way to accomplish this goal was to watch a movie written by a guy who hates the LDS Church with a passion.In your defense, at least you watched it multiple times before drawing your conclusions. <--See that? That's sarcasm.Did it occur to you that you could google "Mormonism"? Maybe look on Wikipedia? Or, you know, maybe read the frickin' Book of Mormon? Because, you know, how many times have you chastised people for commentating on Christianity without reading the Bible?