One of the most telling passages of biblical scripture that indicates its completely human origin (i.e., not supernatural) is Judges 1:19, which describes the outcome of a series of expansionist battles: So the Lord was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron. Its a rare written admission that science, and the novel technologies that it spurs (at the beginning of the Iron Age, in this case), always trumps faith in the power of supernatural beings. And although faith or a strong belief in the supernatural can certainly motivate people very effectively to accomplish tasks that they would not have accomplished without belief (selection for belief systems in our species was certainly based on a real fitness advantage conferred by acting on belief), it is the effects of belief on the mind that facilitate success, not the supernatural object of the belief itself. Unfortunately, the two are often conflated.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 22:55:13 +0000
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