Taking Advantage Of A Secular Religious Creed, Pt 2

See here for part I in this series.

In part I, we covered “kindness is everything” and “love is love.” Let’s keep going on the question train, working our way up the sign. Some of these are mild, but some quite provocative. Use your best judgment when in real conversations. “SCIENCE IS REAL” *science is a method of inquiry, a way of studying the world (or part of the world). I don’t even know what it means that “science is real.” And: science itself doesn’t come to any conclusions or find truth, but scientists do. Now: you surely can’t be saying that we should believe scientists just because they are scientists, right? Scientists are wrong, more frequently than we like to admit, and yes, they can be biased like the rest of us. That doesn’t mean we totally disregard their expertise, but we should be appropriately skeptical and weigh their conclusions as we can, especially when they make pronouncements outside their narrow area of expertise (which happens often enough). *So I take it that you believe men don’t menstruate and can’t get pregnant, and that abortion kills a human being? *Which takes precedence when it comes to knowledge: data, logic, scientific reasoning….or “lived experience”?

Here is an alternative way of wording the above questions, when helping your kids think critically about the sign: *science is a method of inquiry, a way of studying the world (or part of the world). I don’t even know what it means that “science is real.” And: science itself doesn’t come to any conclusions or find truth, but scientists do. Now: is it a good idea that we should believe scientists just because they are scientists? Can experts/scientists be wrong? Yes, more frequently than we like to admit, and yes are biased like the rest of us. Do “experts” ever try to make claims outside their area of expertise? When they do that, should we defer to their expertise? Why not? That doesn’t mean we totally disregard their expertise, but we should be skeptical and weigh their conclusions as we can, especially when they make pronouncements outside their narrow area of expertise (which happens often enough). *Some of these people who declare “science is real” believe that men can get pregnant, and that if you have a male body but say you are a woman, that makes you a woman. Are they believing that “science is real”?

“NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL”

*Are you saying that we should have an open border? What, exactly, would that entail? Are there any immigration restrictions that you would endorse? Why? If someone crosses our border by not following our entry laws, should they be given amnesty? Why?

*What kind of behavior would lax immigration policy incentivize? What would be the consequences, even if unintended? Would those consequences be good for our country?

*Sure, in some sense “no human is illegal,” but how would that work, exactly, as a coherent immigration policy? We simply have to, for safety reasons, have borders and rules about who gets to cross them. How have the open borders policies worked out in Europe? Lots of unrest there centered around immigration. We will finish up this series next time!