Faith, Science 'Must Intersect' in Climate Talks, Say Canadian Church Leaders

[Sal316]

Two Canadian church leaders who will be attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference next month believe faith and science “must intersect” at the highly- anticipated gathering of world leaders.

"Science tells us what is and, given certain parameters, what will come to be. Spiritual values teach us what ought to be,” says Mardi Tindal, moderator of the United Church of Canada.

“Only the two, working together, can see us safely through this perilous time," she adds.

Link

[imdjh]

1. Dear church, butt out.

[enlightenment]

2. Ah - the old 'only the religious have moral values

and the damned secularists will throw the baby out with the bathwater' argument.

sigh.

[Sal316]

3. Perhaps you missed this part..

“Finding a way forward will require that we attend to the best science available, so we are firmly grounded in reality. But it also demands that we recognize the spiritual values that have guided humans for centuries so we can work toward a vision of wholeness," they write in their Nov. 24 letter.

It's about working together, taking the best from both camps.

[darkstar3]

4. No it's not.

It's about interjecting faith and moral judgments where they don't belong.

But it also demands that we recognize the spiritual values that have guided humans for centuries so we can work toward a vision of wholeness,"

Please, spiritual values have nothing to do with global warming, except that these spiritual values encourage the idea that "we are all just pilgrims here."

[enlightenment]

6. Nope. I didn't miss a thing. nt

[stopbush]

9. Yes, that's why it requires the best that Western medicine can offer

to cure cancer, but it demands that we recognize the spiritual powers of voodoo if we are to have a "vision of wholeness" in the curing of cancer.

That's why it requires the knowledge of the chemist to develop new drugs, but it demands the spiritual beliefs of the alchemist to get the whole picture.

What a crock.

Religion doesn't merit the special carve out it gets from reality.

[trotsky]

10. Damn, nice post. n/t

[Jim__]

5. I don't object to religious leaders attending.

And if they can encourage their followers to support any pact that comes out of it, that's all to the good. But I really don't know what they can contribute. I think the science tells us what we have to do to avoid a catastrophe. Unfortunately, I don't expect the politicians to go near as far as the science tells us is necessary. I don't think religious leaders can have any real effect on getting politicians to take a long-term view.

[Nihil]

11. Good luck to them.

> And if they can encourage their followers to support any pact that comes
> out of it, that's all to the good.

Let's face it, a sermon from the pulpit reaches the people who would never
open a science magazine and this is a message that *needs* to get through
to those people.

> I don't think religious leaders can have any real effect on getting
> politicians to take a long-term view.

I think they have had far more influence over time (even in the last few decades)
than scientists have so, if that's what it takes to get through to the vacuous
twats in power, go for it.

[moobu2]

7. It would help more if they told all their followers to stop breeding

[stopbush]

8. Faith is the most worthless commodity on Earth.

I see no reason to drag science into the hellhole of faith.