🚀 go-pugleaf

I would be very interested to hear what Dr. Burkey defines as an
"overexposure to JudeoChristianity." Especially keeping in mind
the fact that using science to disprove religion is as much a
bastardization of science as the creationist's use of the Bible as
the basis for science. Neither asks questions which are scientif-
ically testible (falsifiable).
   I fail to see why so many scientists continue to have such a
combative attitude towards religion, except perhaps as a holdover
from the days when the organized Judeo-Christian religions were
attacking the theory of evolution. Fortunately, those days are over
for all but the most conservative religious groups.
   As a graduate student, I have found that one of the most
widespread vanities among biologists (I am in an Ecology and
Evolution Section, so most of my experience is from practitioners of
those disciplines) is to assume that the whole world thinks the same
way that we do. After all, we were the ones who got scholarships and
grants and fellowships; the people pay us to do their thinking for
them, right? Well I'm sorry but very few people in this country, let
alone the world, think scientifically.
   There has been a lot of discussion of human overpopulation and
environmental degradation on this bulletin board over the last few
weeks. I don't believe we can ever get anything done unless we
start talking on a level that people without a Ph.D. (or even
without a bachelor's degree) can understand. For many people, that
includes a religious aspect to life. We will make the most headway
when we realize that we can work with religious groups instead of
against them. After all, no one else has more experience in changing
the way people think. Besides, anyone who seriously reads the Book
of Isaiah can fail to see how closely it holds the fate of the
people to the fate of the land on which they live. Stewardship, the
idea that man is responsible for safegarding the natural world as
a gift from God, is clearly an idea which seems very compatible with
much of what has been said posted here over the last month. If we
can encourage churches to emphasize stewardship over the Western
culture's Pioneer/Conquistador Mentality we will have won ourselves
a powerful ally. And if it seems that science and religion are
strange bedfellows, recall that no alliance is without its
disagreements. However, both sides of an alliance agree that the
good which can come out of their cooperation is more important than
the differences which separate them.
Looking forward to everyone's comments,
Sincerely,
Mark VanderMeulen
(t80mav1@niu.bitnet)