AronRa and Matt Dillahunty play exceptionally well off one another, especially where both are extraordinarily well-spoken about their beliefs. This is a brilliant clip.
I can’t say I 100% agree that there is “not necessarily” conflict between science and religion, for the simple reason that this very conflict amounts to a game of chicken, and the theists are incapable of blinking so long as their faith in their texts tells them they’re right. While the science-boosters are correct in saying “oh, science isn’t setting out to disprove your beliefs, they can coexist, you can believe whatever you want”, there’s that unspoken clause that says “as long as the evidence doesn’t contradict it”. And it does, all too often.
The mere fact that science is the study of evidence, and theism is the wholehearted belief in some very old postulates with no evidence supporting it outside the texts themselves, will lead to conflict. Since the faiths that intentionally set out to conflict with science do not merely postulate a deity outside the scope of human experience, but also postulate a lot of back story and allegory that, if taken literally, cannot possibly be true, those faiths are going to conflict with science, which as I’ve said before is the objective study of reality. And it’s the theist’s side’s fault that they conflict. Why should science back down to the challenge when the evidence is on our side?
Reality is what it is, folks. No matter how badly you want reality to be something else, reality doesn’t give a shit. It will go on being what it is. If that means there’s a deity outside the scope of the universe that set things in motion, sure, fine. But don’t tell me that this deity is Yahweh, because it can’t be, because Yahweh can’t be. Nor Thor, nor Zeus, nor Mithras, nor any other deity that has any human-based mythology. Period. End of line. And besides, until any actual evidence for such a creature surfaces — you know, outside of there being a lot of misguided human beings believing in such a creature — I’m happy to go on living my life without any sort of god.
