🚀 go-pugleaf

There's an article in today's "Age" entitled "Science as religion" which 
claims science has a degree of faith : that the observed universe has laws, 
and these laws are true for every time and place, and are discoverable both 
now and in the future.
   All true enough, but, more basically empirical, the scientist records 
whatever he observes, and draws conclusions about it.  So, if we lived in an 
inconsistent universe, then that would be that.
   And any universe, unless completely static in which nothing ever changed, 
would have to function by some type of "laws" (descriptive, if not 
prescriptive).  This does not imply a lawmaker.
   As for Religion, this attitude was simply (cosmologically) a 
pre-scientific guess.
   Philosophy, of the Ancient Greeks, etc, tried to solve the Mystery of the 
Universe by purely Rational means.
   However, it was only with the inclusion of Empiricism, that Homo Sapiens 
(the mind-obsessed ape) returned to its origins - and found all animals 
learn from experience; by trial-and-error.
   Brilliant!
   So, all the Traditional Religions are obsolete, as Science provides the 
Cosmology.
   Ethics?  "Man is a social animal", and all our ethics, etiquette, 
economics, and politics, evolve from this concept.  The ethics of religion, 
insofar as it is taboo morality, is also obsolete.
   A return to Sharia Law is regressive - a return to 6th century barbarism.
   As for the Aim of Life, if not for Eternal Life (which doesn't withstand 
close scrutiny), it is based on our three overall Instincts: (1) 
Self-Preservation, (2) Reproduction, and (3) Social Interaction.
   But these are absurd!  Maybe, but Nature decrees them, and we all live by 
them, like it or not.
   If you want something more (which doesn't involve imposing it on others), 
be my guest.