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Science and Religion
herdrich david j (herdrich@UXA.CSO.UIUC.EDU)
Mon, 31 Oct 1994 07:33:58 -0600
Leo,
It seems to me that falsification is not the difference between science and
religion. After all, people do lose their faith, so in some sense falsification
is in principle possible for religious people. Nonetheless, I do think there
is a difference, but I have only been able to come up with one. The difference
between science and religion is that religion *assumes* that there is a _moral
structure_ to the universe, science does not. At best, science will step aside
for moral principles, in worst cases, like Rushton et al., it will not.
In other words, some individuals will put aside their scientific pursuits due
to their moral principles which have their origins outside of science in some
form of religious system. So we won't kill people in our experiments not
because the experiment is not scientific, but because we subscribe to some
moral (religious, be it organized or not) belief system.
David J. Herdrich
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