tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post6338037294899885306..comments2024-03-02T00:44:55.128-08:00Comments on Pleiotropy: Ayala way up on his religious pedestalBjørn Østmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859177313382114917noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-42038355681581905352010-04-01T01:48:10.276-07:002010-04-01T01:48:10.276-07:00Ayala seems to express something that I get from m...Ayala seems to express something that I get from many of my religious friends and family members: a conflation of morality and religious doctrine. <br /><br />As you said, they feel that only those with religion are capable of having the proper morals. This is certainly untrue, but it is simpler for them to draw the equation in their mind: unreligious = immoral.Alexhttp://www.chromosomechronicles.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-27217732824082932342010-03-31T09:40:01.652-07:002010-03-31T09:40:01.652-07:00Yeah, I found that quote from Ayala completely baf...Yeah, I found that quote from Ayala completely baffling. Until he said the word "religion", I was more or less with him... Art appreciation is an area where science is not a particularly useful epistemology, and it's not even always best to approach things rationally -- so if one were making an argument against science have an epistemic monopoly, his example is reasonable.<br /><br />But whence <i>religion</i>? It doesn't make any sense...James Sweethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17212877636980569324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-45160854402220533632010-03-30T19:17:20.185-07:002010-03-30T19:17:20.185-07:00"...but it takes religion (faith) to impart t...<i>"...but it takes religion (faith) to impart the horror bestowed on the peaceful village of Guernica in Basque country."</i><br /><br />Nope; it takes empathy. I guess that, from his viewpoint, the only <i>real</i> empathy is the empathy that (theortically) comes from religion.<br /><br />In my personal, anecdotal experience, the least empathic people I've met were religiously motivated to dismiss the troubles of their non-co-religionists (unless they were trolling for converts). Nothing quite like religion for convincing people that other people are, somehow, not really <i>people</i>.<br /><br />cicelyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com