Light - the vehicle of divinity

Doug Dobney posted this on his blog, and the comment form there doesn't work for me, so I'll post a reply here. His post goes like this:

"If light can diffuse and endure undiminished for half-a-billion years, it can surely do so for ever. This means that all light, from a candle or from a super-sun, sooner or later fills the entire universe. Light is undiminishable, eternal and omnipresent. In every religion that existed these qualities have been recognized as divine. So that we are forced to the conclusion that light - actual sensible light - is indeed the direct vehicle of divinity: it is the consciousness of God." - p. 72-73 The Theory of Celestial Influence (Rodney Collin)

My comment:

Sorry, but this post is inane.

Light is diminishable, not eternal, and not at all omnipresent. Physicists really know a lot now about the nature of light, and I recommend referencing that instead of this hokus pokus. For example, light is absorbed and destroyed when it hits your retina. Also, "super-sun"?!

Besides from that, the syllogism above is clearly invalid:

• Light is A.
• Every religion says light is A.
• Therefore, light is the consciousness of God.

• Men are idiots.
• Women say men are idiots.
• Therefore, idiocy is the direct vehicle of women.

Please.

On top of that, which of all the religions do you choose your 'God' from? Are you going to say that they are all monotheistic, and all really worship the same god?

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This idea of using science to validate belief in the supernatural has got to stop. It clearly does not work: many, many scientific findings go directly against any and all religious doctrines. The moment you use science in this way, you have to go all the way. You can't pick and choose. You can do science, and you're free to scientifically test any hypothesis you put forth, however credulous it may appear to everyone else. But you cannot look for scientific facts that you construe to confirm your belief in the divine, and then ignore the rest. This is a very, very common fallacy these days. However, rarely have I seen it done as pathetically as the argument above. It's just wrong on so many levels (but at least wrong).