Keanu is that you???

Yesterday’s post was a surprising one for me. It easily generated the most response of any post I’ve ever written. I’m not sure if it was because of increased readership or because of the nature of the post. I’m guessing it was probably a bit of both. Most of you came down squarely on one side or the other of the “value of religion” debate. A particularly long conversation also occurred that moved from the idea of innate morality to the genetics of altruism and eventually to the role that the second law of thermodynamics plays in evolution (or in this case…doesn’t play in evolution). Hopefully that conversation will be made into a series of posts for everyone to read because I think its interesting and it highlights the very active debate between the mainstream scientific community and the faithful in this country and across the globe. Assuming I get the other party’s  permission, it will be posted here in the coming days. The long and short of it all is that people are very protective of their faith. This is not something I have trouble understanding at all because I am very protective of my own belief set as well. As many of you also know, I’m never afraid to defend my beliefs and also not afraid to change those beliefs should convincing evidence be presented that I cannot refute. There is of course some subtlety here that should not be lost.  The idea of “convincing evidence” is key. You telling me the bible claims the existence of god is not convincing because the argument is circular at best because we are forced to assume that the bible is also the word of god. Thus, while I cannot and will never be able to refute the existence of god…I still choose not to believe in it. Just as well, I choose not to believe in Ra, the sun god…or believe that Keanu reeves has acting ability. Since I have no evidence of either being true…I choose not to believe them. Actually, I take part of that back…I actually have evidence that Keanu reeves sucks at acting. If you don’t believe me, watch “Speed” again and if you are still not convinced pop in “Chain Reaction,” “Devils Advocate,” any of the “Bill and Ted” movies and you’ll start to see my line of reasoning. Of course, I guess I also have some evidence that our all knowing and infinitely loving god ain’t so hot either. I mean with all the earthquakes, tsunamis, plagues, etc. etc. Did he design all these things to teach us a lesson? Did he put in place evidence for evolution to test our faith? I know they say that god works in mysterious ways but so does Keanu Reeves. If god working is a mystery than the fact the Keanu is still working is an even greater mystery. Thus, for me…Keanu Reeves and god are on pretty much the same plane. They both hang around without justification for their existence and I wouldn’t notice if both disappeared tomorrow. Patrick OUT!!!