Quote:
Originally Posted by mike_bike_kite
If you release those aspects of religion that don't stand up to scientific method then what exactly is left?
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For many, the feeling that life is more than the sum of its parts is sufficient. I would say that the awe felt by astronomers when they survey the skies or the beauty mathematicians find in an elegant formula could be considered a type of religious sentiment.
Even the mere suspicion that there is an overarching intelligence at work, past or present, is at heart a religious sentiment. It certainly isn't subject to falsification, it certainly isn't necessary to explain the inner workings of evolution, but it isn't inconceivable.
Personally, I am agnostic in such matters; but it seems remarkable to me that we live in a universe capable in any degree of comprehending itself. Why this should be, I have no clue. I am under no delusion that human beings are the central reason for the existence of the cosmos, nor do I think it evident that humans are its unique concern. If this present reality in any sense has a creator, it seems more likely that this creator is an experimental scientist rather than an omniscient shepherd.