• Welcome to all New Sikh Philosophy Network Forums!
    Explore Sikh Sikhi Sikhism...
    Sign up Log in

SciTech Why We Should Believe In Science

Tejwant Singh

Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jun 30, 2004
5,028
7,188
Henderson, NV.
"Many of the world's biggest problems require asking questions of scientists — but why should we believe what they say? Historian of science Naomi Oreskes thinks deeply about our relationship to belief and draws out three problems with common attitudes toward scientific inquiry — and gives her own reasoning for why we ought to trust science."

http://www.ted.com/talks/naomi_ores...tm_medium=email&utm_content=image__2014-06-25
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Inderjeet Kaur

Writer
SPNer
Oct 13, 2011
869
1,765
Seattle, Washington, USA
I watched and enjoyed the video. I like these TED talks.

One of the best things about Sikhi, IMNSHO, is that it has no quarrel with science. As a Sikh, I am allowed to use whatever intelligence I have been given and whatever education I have received to live my life as best I can. Science is one very important way of understanding and making sense of how the physical universe behaves (Natural Law).

Unlike some other religions, I am not called upon to believe things I know are not true. I am not taught that "science is of the devil." In fact, I am not taught about a devil at all. Am I touting Sikhi? You bet I am! After all, this is a Sikh site and what better place to do it?
 

Inderjeet Kaur

Writer
SPNer
Oct 13, 2011
869
1,765
Seattle, Washington, USA
With enough ingenuity, faith can always trump science.

I had a caregiver who was a fundamentalist Christian. In a way, her faith was impressive. She believed that God(Jesus) was in total control of everything that happened to her, so she need do nothing. She and her daughters didn't need to learn to protect themselves because Jesus wouldn't let anything bad happen to them.

Getting to the science part...conservation is of the devil because, in the first place, any shortage of any kind is a lie made up by scientists and it shows a lack of faith because Jesus is coming back and he'll make everything hunky-dory.

She conceded that there is ample evidence that the earth is much, much older than the Bible teaches, but the Bible is still correct because God planted that evidence to test whether people would believe his word (the Bible) or those evil scientists. That's actually rather clever, that the earth was created billions of years old. She used the same argument to disprove the theory of evolution. God planted false evidence to test the faithful.

Here's the punchline. She was trying to use these lines to convert me, a Sikh trained as a scientist. And she votes.
 

❤️ CLICK HERE TO JOIN SPN MOBILE PLATFORM

Top