Citation needed. Atheists often claim that religious people don’t want the true answers known, and religious people often claim that atheists don’t want the true answers known.
I’m reminded of the guys who went out to search for the remains of Noah’s ark. At least some of the people going out and looking for the Ark really expected to find something and change the world—these are the sort of people who would help empirically test religion. Some of the others were frauds—they would be against a test of religion if they weren’t the testers. But what of the people who not only didn’t search for the Ark, but predicted that it wouldn’t turn anything up, and yet still believe in its literal truth? These are the sort of people who don’t want to look too hard at their beliefs. They just want to comfortably believe what they like, and would not support uncomfortable prodding.
Well, looking at the number of heavily funded, widely publicized studies that settled issues like this for good, I’d be forced to conclude either… (a) these studies don’t exist because no one is funding them or (b) the studies exist and everyone is ignoring them. That I haven’t heard of any such study seems like fairly strong Bayesian evidence that, yeah, Manfred is right.
And yet, they are not. Crazy thing, reality.
Citation needed. Atheists often claim that religious people don’t want the true answers known, and religious people often claim that atheists don’t want the true answers known.
I’m reminded of the guys who went out to search for the remains of Noah’s ark. At least some of the people going out and looking for the Ark really expected to find something and change the world—these are the sort of people who would help empirically test religion. Some of the others were frauds—they would be against a test of religion if they weren’t the testers. But what of the people who not only didn’t search for the Ark, but predicted that it wouldn’t turn anything up, and yet still believe in its literal truth? These are the sort of people who don’t want to look too hard at their beliefs. They just want to comfortably believe what they like, and would not support uncomfortable prodding.
Well, looking at the number of heavily funded, widely publicized studies that settled issues like this for good, I’d be forced to conclude either… (a) these studies don’t exist because no one is funding them or (b) the studies exist and everyone is ignoring them. That I haven’t heard of any such study seems like fairly strong Bayesian evidence that, yeah, Manfred is right.