Science and religion have both been around for millenia.

You might say that religion, being based on events and writings that have been handed down century by century, has an extremely low signal-to-noise ratio. Whatever happened around 2,000 years ago must surely be distorted beyond recognition by now, like a photocopy of a photocopy (repeated a hundred times or so). On the other hand, science is quite the opposite, having been repeatedly and constantly challenged and changed to more accurately reflect what we learn to be true. After all, Pluto is no longer a planet. So, like religion, science has a way of imposing a framework on things, too.

I believe in science, not religion. I've often stated that I do not believe there is a Truth with a capital T. That truth is a personal thing in most cases and "Truth" is almost always based on beliefs. So how would this apply to science?

Because science is a discipline, it changes its story to accomodate new experience, experiments and natural laws when identified. Like the little kid in the old movie, "Yeah, sure that's it, Johnny took that pencil!" Because of these changes and adjustments, how can we be sure of anything complex?

I do believe that the inhabitants of a planet have an effect on the weather and climate of that planet.

I am not in doubt about global warming (which most agree now should be called global climate change), but I am in doubt about the arguments on both sides. Regardless of the issues, we humans are in the habit of using denial systematically. Ghosts don't and can't exist, the soul isn't real, you only live once. My opinion is much simpler: I don't know and we can't know until we do know. And then, reality might change and we'll be wrong. The real question is: what is reality? What if there is no reality other than the one in your own mind? In that case, we need to do a better job as creative artists, making our lives into more quality time, becoming our own leaders, rather than following others like a bunch of pilot fish.

Here's an afterthought: What is the difference between faith and ignorance? In both cases, you "just know". That's your Truth.

Disappointed. Saddened.
I just received an email from the stepfather of a dear friend. I've been
in contact with this guy casually, never met him, but we've exchanged a
few mails from time to time, including a few stupid jokes as newbies are
wont to send out. (Why? Because it's there?) Today I got a nasty Obama
family smear attempt forwarded to a long visible CC list of people. This
is so wrong on so many levels I have to talk about it.
 
First, what to do?

Tell him? Tell my friend? No, I'll tell you and it
may save someone else from having this saddening experience. I can't see
confronting him as good nor do I want to put my friend in the middle.
 
On CC'ed forwarded emails with all addresses visible

One word: DON'T. Please do not send my email
to a bunch of people I don't know, especially political or religious
stuff that may be the opposite of my own opinions. THINK about why this
is a bad idea. Would you send me a negative review of a wine you know I
love just to piss me off? No one would do that. Why would someone think
it's reasonable to do it for religious or political reasons? In fact,
why would you send a negative anything to anyone?
 
Be positive! Make the world better, not bitter.
 
On the US president. RESPECT the fact that we had an election with
results that are certainly more clear than the last two. RESPECT the
fact that whatever you may think about the current administration, I may
have voted for them as is my right. Rights are not for the eye of the
beholder you know, we all have them, at the time of this writing.
 
Wine people would never think of applying these tactics to their
friends, or for that matter even their enemies. If you want to drink
White Zin, I wouldn't waste my time sending you silly things about it.
It's your decision.
 
Disgruntled voters, please get over yourselves.

There are elections  every four years. Get ready for the next one, do what you can to win,
that's what the system is there for. Please don't insult my intelligence
by sending blatant mud-slinging messages to me about the current
administration. I would never, ever, under any circumstances send you
such messages or poke you in any way about this. I am always ready to
talk, in person, about any of these things. Emails are like bombs you
throw over a wall, they don't encourage discussions. Uncool, uncouth, rude.

Proselytism  (wikipedia definition)

One word, STOP. When people come up to me on the street
about their religious beliefs, my first response is a smile, a gentle
shaking of the head (no) and a "no thanks". LEAVE IT THAT. Why are you
poking at this, saying "but it will only take a minute, I just have a
question"? This is dishonest, like an MLM party where you're invited to
share some thought about "good eating" and get there to find it's a sell
me to sell you party.
 
I had a violent reaction to someone a few years ago regarding social
networking , which I saw at the time as a bunch of people giving
conferences about social media and selling each other lessons on how to
sell people social media. I was wrong then, but look what's happened.
 
"Social media" has become inundated with MLM like schemes, people
Tweeting about getting 22,000 followers in just two days for $199.
 
Wow I feel better and covered several life experiences at the same time.
I'll just forward subsequent emails from this person to
http://spamcop.net and be done with it.

Just as a little background, I begin in earnest on the Internet in about
1993 in the walled garden known as Compuserve. I think there were three
choices and CS was the one available in France at the time, at a
whopping 2400 baud, moving up to 9600 a little later. Then to 56k, and
now we can say that the ubiquitous 8 Mbps DSL available here is almost
200 times as fast as 56k. And on to our friends who have the fiber in
Paris at 100 Mbps bidirectional. I can now download a 45-minute
TV episode from iTunes in about 13 minutes. On Compuserve in 2005, a 30
second trailer, postage stamp sized with shaky sound and stuttering
picture took a half an hour to download. You get the picture. Technology
changes in the time an infant grows up to be 16, amazing changes have
taken place with a rate of change exponentially faster than when I was a
Baby Boomer child.
 
Now almost everyone on the planet is able to publish not only little
texts but HD video and their posts have a potential to reach an audience
of hundreds of millions to boot. This seems to create an odd side
effect, which I've been observing for a few years. It seems to create
jealousy where there is no good reason for it. For all of the chest
beating and pissing contests in the world of forums and blogs, there
really is only one Truth: mine. Yes, I have the Unique Truth, I'm gifted
with Great Wisdom. But I will never tell you about it in a contentious
way though I may give a gentle nudge or hint. If you begin to disagree
though, I think a new and interesting force comes into play. I think to
myself, then say aloud, "what if you are right? You may be right!"
 
I realize that my Truth isn't necessarily your Truth. Your perception is
seen by you inside your universe. Assuming your are not in total control
of my life, why should I worry about whether you think it's important to
have more people following you on Twitter whereas I think it's more
important to be happy using it however you wish. My truth is that
Twitter numbers are highly skewed for example, and I have concrete
evidence of this. Still, if you want to argue about it, I'd say, "you
may be right!"
 
I'm inspired to write this not because of the religious that get on my
nerves by challenging my beliefs (whereas I never challenge theirs
outside my own mind). I'm writing it because some of the few people who
may read this might just think about how in the last few years the
Internet has been getting more contentious with people putting their
egos out there electronically in a way that can only mean "Here's my
style, because I got no content." Being clever doesn't mean shit unless
you're feeding the hungry, cleansing the earth, making someone's life
better, even if it's only your own life.
 
While someone was posting attack dog-like statements on a professional
wine association forum, I was out walking in the mild Bordeaux evening
near the river and hundreds of people of all ages were grooving, playing
music, laughing and - I find this especially telling - drinking wine.
Yes, in this country you can have an open bottle in public parks, you
are welcome to do so as long as you're not out to bust anyone else's
good time.
 
A bunch of bright people wrote a white paper that they graciously gave
away. The content is as good as any book you're likely to read about
social media on the web. There are many areas one might want to differ
with the authors, but to snidely bitch about this free effort is just
not cool, it so reeks of jealousy and lack of intellectual finesse.
 
Shana you ignorant bitch!
 
CHILL!

My wife's deceased cousin was a Catholic priest and a scholar. I didn't share his unflagging taste for choucroute any more than his Catholicism, but I really dug the fact that he respected others' beliefs to the point of never imposing his own on them. He had studied theology and would discuss things in an intelligent and respectful manner. He was happy to not discuss them too, as he was well-rounded enough to have a lot more to say than just a belief set or an agenda to sell one. I loved that about him, among other things.

 
René had a full white beard, wore a bérêt (and looked right in it) and had thick Mr. Magoo glasses on his nose at all times. He really was nearly legally blind, but that didn't stop him from driving his faithful 2CV.
 

 
He lived in the Voges, a region that, like my native Minnesota, has snow and cold in the winter and uncomfortable heat in the summer, leaving only fall and spring as tolerable visiting seasons. I recall René driving us around in that 2CV with his 10% vision and on those narrow, snow covered mountain roads, I literally thought "I hope his faith can cover us too in this situation."
 
And it did seem to do so. Still, I beg of those who are convinced they know the one Truth to keep it to themselves. Continually shoving your belief set in people's faces really shows a lack of respect in that it means you don't think their own set is valid. What you believe is what you believe.
 
You know the great thing about Twitter, the absolute killer part of it? You can silence anyone you don't want to hear from. I love that about IRC, to just /ignore someone who repeatedly gets on your nerves. In real life, this is awfully hard to do. I've calmly said that I'd prefer not to discuss faith, quoting my mother who said "religion is in the heart".
 
Having a fixed set of answers, especially those you learned from an indoctrination process rather than personal experience, may be nice for some people. I don't know if there is an all-powerful being and my ideas aren't totally fixed in that realm. I just don't want to be force fed the party line, whether it's religion, wine, software or politics.