Quote:
Originally posted by jbrockz@21 September 2003 - 01:59
i believe those who have seen from both the view-points, church and state, have at least attempted to see the whole picture....there are many things [read laws, provisions, etc] where the church and state clash. example, when galileo said that the sun and not the earth is the center and that the earth is not flat, he was arrested by the church officials who declared him a heretic. however, i don't think there is a single individual today that would say the earth is flat and all those who say otherwise are heretics. if the science was thwarted right there, maybe we would still be believing that the earth is flat. the issue was spared by many from being seen from only a religious standpoint and we have that to thank for today's world of science and its rapid progress.
i believe that gay marraiges, from the state standpoint, should be made legal and carry all the perks of hetero wedlock. As for religion, well, to quote from the book, ''a brief history of time'' by stephen w. hawking
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He
described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast
collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and
said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant
tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on.” “You’re very
clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
That is the nature of belief, once it has become a part of you, you don't change it. So, the decision to accept or reject from a religious standpoint is best left with the individual.
I love that quote, I use it all the time.