David wrote:celeste wrote:
His PhD from Claremont does matter. It is why he enforces his wrong view. Remember, Claremont was founded by a theologian and minister...
Finally, remember, that it was a Jesuit (Georges Lemaitre) that gave us the "Big Bang". A very important part of the mainstream view that Shermer is defending...
If you are going to smear Michael Shermer for his religious beliefs (Caution! He’s a fire breathing religious fanatic!), put a little effort into getting the facts straight: Shermer is an atheist.
Wkipedia wrote:
Shermer was once a fundamentalist Christian, but ceased to believe in the existence of God during his graduate studies. He accepts the labels agnostic, nontheist, atheist and others. He has expressed reservations about such labels for his lack of belief in a God, however, as he sees them being used in the service of "pigeonholing", and prefers to simply be called a skeptic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer
I am well aware that Shermer is an athiest. So are many of the modern mainstream scientists who push the Judeo-Christian mainstream view. The point is, it was the educational system under the control of this particular system that brought us our current scientific world view. So, while guys like Michael Shermer may have broken away from the religious traditions that brought us these ideas, they did NOT, in fact, go back and question the scientific basis of the ideas themselves.
An example I often use:
We once had a world view that the universe was eternal, or at the very least, was around long enough to undergo cycles on the order of millions of years or more. Or so thought the Mayans, the pagans in Europe, those who brought us the Vedic texts, etc. Then we have a period where a certain religious tradition spreads (by force) , and it says our universe was created in the recent past. Created out of nothing, by a power who sat "outside" this universe. Here is where it is important to realize the religious background of the Jesuit scientist who brought us the "Big Bang" . I absolutely do give him credit for trying to patch that religious view of creation out of nothingness, with the perceived expansion of the universe.
Along come those, like Halton Arp, who show that perhaps the universe is not expanding at all. So here is where you might think that those "atheist" scientists, may have stopped to rethink first principles. They don't. So ingrained is the education they have received in these predominately Judeo-Christian run schools, that they CAN'T even question the scientific assumptions they are making. So we get this crazy world, where "atheist" scientists defend to the death a world view that was brought to us by the very religious traditions that they claim to
The point is, Michael Shermer did study the history of science, at a school founded by a minister and theologian. He learned the Big Bang as proposed by that Jesuit. He can claim all he want's that he is an athiest. For the rest of us who are interested in going back to first principles, it becomes very clear to which religious world view Michael Shermer ascribes