Open Theism Discussion Board

I don't think that is what is being said, D.!
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Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in physics: “The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief ... Anything that we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done and may in the end be our greatest contribution to civilization.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and an adviser to the Bush administration on space exploration, hushed the audience with heartbreaking photographs of newborns misshapen by birth defects — testimony, he suggested, that blind nature, not an intelligent overseer, is in control

Carolyn Porco, a senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., called, perhaps in fun, for the establishment of an alternative church: “We should let the success of the religious formula guide us. Let’s teach our children from a very young age about the story of the universe and its incredible richness and beauty. It is already so much more glorious and awesome — and even comforting — than anything offered by any scripture or God concept I know.”

Sam Harris, a doctoral student in neuroscience and the author of “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason” and “Letter to a Christian Nation”: “The core of science is not a mathematical model; it is intellectual honesty. Every religion is making claims about the way the world is. These are claims about the divine origin of certain books, about the virgin birth of certain people, about the *_survival_of_the_human_personality_after_death. These claims purport to be about reality.”

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As reported in the Times, the aforesaid Weinburg was about to fly back home to Austin. He described religion a bit fondly as "a crazy old aunt."

“She tells lies, and she stirs up all sorts of mischief and she’s getting on, and she may not have that much life left in her, but she was beautiful once,” he lamented. “When she’s gone, we may miss her.”

Dr. Dawkins wasn’t buying it. “I won't miss her at all,” he said. “Not a scrap. Not a smidgen.”