[SFRA-L] Science and Science Fiction

[Richard Erlich]

On 25/10/2011, at 6:35, Joan Slonczewski wrote in part:

> The bottom line: It's not a debatable "controversy" because science  
> and religion are two different things.

But it is worth teaching such controversies as a way of looking at  
what science and religion do: how they function in a culture, the  
sort of questions they address, how the sciences and theology differ  
in their ideas of evidence — etc. The school level at which that is  
done is a major issue, but it should be done.
	As J. S. Mill and Walter Lippmann saith, ideas don't really come  
alive for people until challenged and defended (ON LIBERTY, "The  
Indispensable Opposition" —  with J. Milton probably having  
precedence on both?).

BTW: Any speculation(s) why Darwinism got such huge resistance but  
the theory of spontaneous generation pretty much — totally? — got a  
pass? Spontaneous generation of life also denies Scripture.
	(I get into this with the abortion issue framed as "When life  
begins," since it doesn't in these parts, or at least not in a  
serious way [since anything approaching life will get eaten by  
something that is alive, or closer to life]. If the facts have  
changed, please correct me, but I believe life began in a Biblical  
reading some 5772 years ago and well over 3B years ago in the  
scientific reading [which is the reading I accept, as does my  
physicist rabbi as he leads services for Happy New Year 5772].)

Rich

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Richard D. Erlich, Film Script Analyst
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