This is not a question of whether science can or should prove or disprove the existence or non-existence of God or gods. Some of us believe that we are living in an era of rationalism, or enlightenment. Some, like Dawkins, even hope to see rational thinking purge religious clap trappings from society.
The question is, can rational thinking ever purge society of silly ideas?
I was reading the Dale McGowan “Meming of Life” post Best Practices 4: Teach engaged coexistence [1] and he obliquely gives the answer in his introduction.
Consider:
- Coperincus (ca. 1500) decisively proved that foundation of Astrology was false.
- Avagadro (ca. 1800) proved that underlying principles of Homeopathy are bunk.
- John Philips (ca. 1840) proved that the Earth was at least 90 million years old (before Darwin published, and long before accurate isotopic dating techniques were even imagined)
- Hubble (ca. 1920) proved that not only was our solar system tiny compared to the galaxy, but that our galaxy is infinitesimal compared to the visible universe.
Surely we would no longer find anyone to believe that the stars predict our future, that water has memory, that the Earth is young, or that the Earth is the sole point of all creation.
No amount of education of thinking individuals will ever remove the comforting effects of belief in paranormal salvation for the majority of mankind.
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