More Anti-Science Propaganda By The Discovery Institute

This time with a documentary attempting to show that C.S. Lewis, who had warned how science could be twisted to attack religion and limit human freedom, was prophetic.  Not that there hasn't been plenty of evidence of people using religion in order to limit human freedom!  Nah!

The Discovery Institute tries to sell their pseudo-science of Intelligent Design, so they're frequently referred to as IDiots.  One of the first things they try is to catalogue science as a religion.  HA! HA!  Since religion can't compete in the world of rational explanation based on observations (science), they try to denigrate science by referring to it as a religion.  Worst, they compare it to magic (that's why the documentary's title starts with, "The Magician's Twin").

Certainly science gives some people's lives meaning.  That doesn't make it religion.  Music and poetry, to pick just a couple of other examples, also give some people's lives meaning.  That doesn't make them religion, either.

Next dumb point - science, like magic, encourages a lack of skepticism.  Why?  Because people will believe almost anything if it's dressed up in the name of science.  Which is exactly why the Discovery Institute looks like it's an institute of science.  That's why most pseudo-science organizations dress themselves up as legitimate science undertakings. This is so ironic -you just can't make this stuff up!

Then they beat up on Freud to show how bad science is.  Ok, to your Freud, I'll play Torquemada.  This is a silly game.  Science is an attempt to understand the Universe by human beings based on observations of the Universe and employing the most rational logic we have.  Religion isn't that.

But wait, the attack against Freud was just a lead-in to what's really on their minds...attacking biology (evolution).  Duh!

Hey, one of those IDiots gets it...we don't have the intellectually capacity to know Truths.  We only have the intellectually capacity to draw conclusions about the Universe, based on what we've observed.  Religion certainly doesn't have the capacity to know Truths...only the capacity to proclaim they do.  We don't fully trust our reason, which is why we conduct tests to test our hypotheses.  Sometimes those tests give us incredulous, but repeatable results (like the wave/particle duality of photons).  When new tests show we were previously wrong, we change our minds.

One IDiot asks how a mindless process (evolution) can produce minds.  Ok, to your biology denial, I'll play  "how can a mind exist without a material brain (that of the proposed intelligent designer)"?  You lose.

The last claimed similarity between science and magic is the quest for power.  What were the Crusades about?  When was the last war fought over botany?  People like power and they'll use whatever they can to achieve it including science and religion.  The early Western Civilization landowners were the royalty (given their throne by god) and guess who?  The clergy who said the royalty were given their throne by god.  Science has provided the tools to amass power, but there's no ideology of power within science.

Then the documentary tries to give some really stupid examples of where science went wrong (like medical experiments by Nazi's or not giving blacks penicillin in America).  The Nazi's were motivated by a Christian view of racism and the Bible was often used to support racism (it's not against the 10 Commandments).

Knowledge is power....I can see why these IDiots are worried.