Since Paul indicated that he believes in creationism I thought I would start a thread here about the difference between scientific belief and religious belief.
Scientific belief is based on the principle that the universe obeys certain universal laws and that we can determine what those laws are. For anything to become a scientific belief it must be, at least in principle, repeatable and it must be possible to make a clear statement as to what will occur when certain other events occur. For example if you drop a rock you should be able to describe the motion of the rock, and the principles you use to describe that motion should apply to all cases in which a rock is dropped. Then you can say that that description is a scientific belief. Scientific beliefs are developed by observation and experimentation.
Scientific facts are open to change over time, as new observations and experiments reveal errors in the current beliefs. These changes are normally adopted because they provide a better description of how the universe works.
Religious belief is based on the principle that there is an all powerful God (or Gods) who determines how the universe works. This God intervenes in the operation of the universe, rather than allowing it to operate under a set of unalterable rules. The knowledge of this God is presented to humanity in the form of revelations to certain people (prophets) who then pass the information on to everybody else. The word of these prophets is the final word on any question concerning God or on how the universe works.
Religious beliefs are not subject to change over time, because they are considered to be the direct word of God.
So there is a fundamental difference between scientific belief and religious belief. This has caused a lot of problems for some people over the years. I don't have a solution to this problem.
Bill Gill
