Posing the Question

(4)

Lou Dobbs had an interesting interview this evening with a Paleontologist who wrote a book about one of the recent discoveries in China concerning 'feathered dinosaurs.' I was much enlightened by the interview which brought my sadly neglected state of dinosaur knowlege into a more modern position. I knew that 'evolution' considered modern birds to be descended from dinosaurs but here was the first 'paleontological proof' so far as I was concerned.

As the interview progressed Dobbs, in a most natural way, led (stomp stomp stomp) the discussion into the more generalized (and interesting!) area of philosophy: the apparent war between Science and Religion. All of modern Science contradicts the 'science' in the Very Very Old, and Very Very Odius Testament, and this fact produces a delicious discussion which interests me.

The interview eventually posed the question to viewers of whether 'the Scientific View' and 'the Religious View' on the 'question of Origins' were 'mutually exclusive.' The viewer pool eventually returned a roughly 6-4 result in favor of 'not mutually exclusive.' To me this was a good result to a question which had not been precisely formulated.

Let me formulate the question a bit more precisely: 'As a person interested in the study of History in General would you be more inclined to consult the Old Testament or Modern Science?'

I would even go so far as to suggest another question: 'As a student of Astrophysics would you be more inclined to consult the VOOT or Modern Cosmology?'