re: #12 silverdolphin

The word “believe” should be excised from any scientific discussion. Scientists do not believe in science. They support the best model that explains the existing data. And can deal with new data. And is falsifiable.

Come up with a newer model that does a better job explaining the data and scientists will support you. And all models have to be able to deal with new data. Or they will be changed.

And any scientific model must be falsifiable. Stating Last Thursdayism as a scientific model (ie everything was created in place by God last Thursday) is not valid as it cannot be shown to be wrong by ANY data.

If you’ve ever queried a religious person about their beliefs and faith, particularly any variation of how various tenets of their religion can be “true” without verifiable proof, and been told that they don’t require proof to believe it’s true and thus their faith is based upon belief in absence of evidence…you know why they use the word “believe” when describing scientific theory/fact.

In shorter terms, it is the argument that “science believes X, religion believes Y, and since neither can be ‘proven,’ my religious beliefs are equally valid to your scientific beliefs.”