[Vision2020] [Bulk] No Predictive Power In Belief in God?

[Paul Rumelhart]

I mean that a belief in a deity is not predictive in a scientific 
sense.  "Knowing" there is a God doesn't tell you if a given stock will 
go up, if our sun will expand into a Red Giant in the next 100 years, 
whether there was ever life on Mars, or even if Obama will win this 
election. 

One of the measures of how good a scientific theory is is how useful it 
is. 

Maybe the wording "in any way" was a bit too harsh.  I suppose it's 
possible that God would tell someone how the Universe is put together 
and what the applicable laws are.

Paul

Ted Moffett wrote:
> Paul Rumelhart wrote:
>
> http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2008-June/054696.html
>
> A deity, on the other hand, requires a whole bunch of different 
> beliefs for which there is no evidence, nor is it predictive in any way. 
> -----------------------
> Is this an overstatement of the case? 
>  
> Maybe you are speaking from a very strict only scientific viewpoint, 
> as an explanation for the Big Bang, in which case I agree, with some 
> hesitation, given that your statement might be interpreted as closing 
> the door on new empirical evidence that might support the existence of 
> a "deity," and offer scientifically predictive power.
>  
> Furthermore, the first cause and/or design arguments for the existence 
> of God, as a source or foundation of our universe, some will argue, 
> have a sort of predictive power, offering a basis for the continuity 
> of the laws of nature (Hume's analysis of causality and 
> induction negates "laws" of nature; and if his analysis is valid, 
> science has serious theoretical problems, which cannot be solved by 
> science, such as explaining why the laws of nature should remain 
> constant over time), though I do not think these arguments and 
> creationism are scientific theories.
>  
> As an agnostic, I don't think the evidence for a creator "God" is 
> compelling or conclusive, nor do I find other metaphysical views of 
> God convincing, despite the problems that belief in God can solve.  
> But there is the possibility of new evidence.  I if I truly thought 
> there was no evidence that could ever be discovered, for a God that 
> pre-dated and caused the Big Bang, and that the idea of God had no 
> predictive power "in any way" (am I making too much of this phrase in 
> your statement?), I would be an atheist.
>  
> Ted Moffett
>