Originally Posted By: redewenur
the difference is, scientists know that they're uncertain.


Show me a religious person who is certain and I'll show you an unthinking fundamentalist whacko.

Every discerning religious person has crises of faith. I'm quite sure that even the Pope, when he is alone in the dark after a long day of visiting the victims of tragedy, sometimes entertains the possibility that it's all for naught. It is from this that we can grow, though. It is as critical as finding ever more accurate ways to test accepted scientific theory.

There have been times in history where various religions have been corrupted by their leaders. Today we have militaristic fundamentalist Islam, propagated by fundies carrying around bastardized translations of the Qur'an. During the Crusades we had corrupt leaders in the Catholic church, selling indulgences and abusing their position to gain political power and to kill their detractors.

People sin. Power corrupts. We are human, and subject to human weaknesses. This in no way indicates that the messages of these religions are not important. That people can co-opt them and abuse them and use them to their advantage is a measure of the baseness of man, not of the religion.

Great works have been done in the name of religion. Amazing acts of compassion. People don't remember those. They prefer to think of the times that people have abused the institutions and used them for their own purposes. I suppose that's part of the human condition, though: Recalling the bad more clearly than the good.

w