A “Sinai and Synapses” writer tries to show that religion gives us truths that science cannot, fails miserably

There is a lot here by Jerry Coyne on JTF funding of sites that explore the compatibility of science and religion

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According to the article:

And science surely doesn’t support Judaism, for time after time science has shown that Jewish scripture is just wrong (two examples: the creation story of Genesis and the now-falsified Exodus of Jews from Egypt).

Taking the “creation story of Genesis” first, I’d like to see Jerry Coyne cite compelling evidence that science “has shown that Jewish scripture is just wrong” in terms of the first two chapters of the Bible. (Somehow I missed seeing that compelling evidence published by the science academy. Will Coyne next tell us that Aesop’s Fables are “just wrong” because they feature talking animals? Has modern science shown Shakespeare to be “just wrong” because Shylock, Falstaff, and Romeo never existed?)

Meanwhile, I hereby nominate Coyne for my new “Creative Verbiage Expended Towards Obfuscation N’ Insult Award” for this obnoxious gem:

I’m a bit disheartened to see that Templeton, which seems to be neuronally depauperate, continues to pump money into the futile endeavor of reconciling science and religion.

Who couldn’t learn to love an overbearing epithet like “neuronally depauperate”? Priceless!

Coyne may not know much about religious studies and Biblical studies but he is certainly entertaining!


POSTSCRIPT: I have visions of an exasperated creative writing instructor grading Coyne’s essay and crossing out “neuronally depauperate” with her red pen and writing in the margin, “Why not simply call the Templeton Foundation ‘a bunch of dumb-dumbs’ and cut the polysyllabic pomposity?”

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@Dan_Eastwood, I haven’t posted much today because I’ve been feeling neuronally depauperate lately.

(Yes, I plan to run that one right into the ground. Just watch me.)

(SCENE: Physician approaches concerned wife sitting in his office waiting room: “Ma’am, I have some bad news. Your husband came to my office today wearing one of those hats with two beer cans and gravity-fed drinking tubes attached. We weren’t able to remove them in time to save your family from terminal embarrassment. I’m saddened to say that your husband has a chronic case of Neuronally Depauperate Syndrome. There is no cure.”)

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My first Internet bulletin board experience was a group with a Monty Python Knights Who Say Ni theme. You would have fit right in there. :slight_smile:

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