Reply
Fri 6 Jun, 2014 02:14 am
Context:
The very idea is a joke. You can bet your boots that the scientific
evidence, if any were to turn up, would be seized upon and
trumpeted to the skies. NOMA is popular only because there is no
evidence to favour the God Hypothesis. The moment there was the
smallest suggestion of any evidence in favour of religious belief,
religious apologists would lose no time in throwing NOMA out of
the window. Sophisticated theologians aside (and even they are
happy to tell miracle stories to the unsophisticated in order to
swell congregations), I suspect that alleged miracles provide the
strongest reason many believers have for their faith; and miracles,
by definition, violate the principles of science.
The Roman Catholic Church on the one hand seems sometimes
to aspire to NOMA, but on the other hand lays down the
performance of miracles as an essential qualification for elevation
to sainthood. The late King of the Belgians is a candidate for