Think of the relation between the magisteria as a one-way relationship. The supernatural can affect the natural but there is no way to move backwards into the supernatural.
As a specific example of Eliezer’s larger point, prayer is a natural attempt to influence the supernatural; so by that account, prayer must be futile.
Er, I am not defending the idea of one-way relationships between magisteria. The point was meant to highlight that magisteria is very much the wrong term.
As far as the one-way relationship, the term was not used to mean communication, causality, or anything else in particular.
The easiest example is a write-only folder on my computer. I can drop a file in that folder but do not have any direct measurement of its success or what happens to it after I drop it there. This relationship is “one-way” in the same way that my original statement was using “one-way.” Likewise, a read-only file can be opened and viewed but not modified. This is also “one-way” in the same manner that I meant “one-way” in the original statement.
Both of these examples are not one-way in the manner that magisteria would describe one-way.
And again, I am not trying to defend this view. I am merely trying to describe why magisteria is the wrong term.
Prayer would be an example of dropping a file into a write-only folder. We do something and assume that something happens to it later. We don’t have access to whatever happens because we don’t have read access.
As a specific example of Eliezer’s larger point, prayer is a natural attempt to influence the supernatural; so by that account, prayer must be futile.
This statement wouldn’t make any sense in the cosmology of a typical theist. That cosmology may be completely wrong but using this statement to tell them that prayer is futile would make you sound like a complete nut. The discussion needs to start somewhere else.
As a specific example of Eliezer’s larger point, prayer is a natural attempt to influence the supernatural; so by that account, prayer must be futile.
Er, I am not defending the idea of one-way relationships between magisteria. The point was meant to highlight that magisteria is very much the wrong term.
As far as the one-way relationship, the term was not used to mean communication, causality, or anything else in particular.
The easiest example is a write-only folder on my computer. I can drop a file in that folder but do not have any direct measurement of its success or what happens to it after I drop it there. This relationship is “one-way” in the same way that my original statement was using “one-way.” Likewise, a read-only file can be opened and viewed but not modified. This is also “one-way” in the same manner that I meant “one-way” in the original statement.
Both of these examples are not one-way in the manner that magisteria would describe one-way.
And again, I am not trying to defend this view. I am merely trying to describe why magisteria is the wrong term.
Prayer would be an example of dropping a file into a write-only folder. We do something and assume that something happens to it later. We don’t have access to whatever happens because we don’t have read access.
This statement wouldn’t make any sense in the cosmology of a typical theist. That cosmology may be completely wrong but using this statement to tell them that prayer is futile would make you sound like a complete nut. The discussion needs to start somewhere else.