[Arny Krueger]

"Eeyore" wrote in
message
Chris Hornbeck wrote:

Religion requires belief in some idea without regard to
whether it may be a real or practical possibility.

Not necessarily. It depends on the religion.

Furthermore, many parts of many religions are actually very pragmatic.

In short, 'belief' requires that one must dismiss facts
as inconsequential

Again, not necessarily.

Strictly speaking, belief in science is well, a belief.

and give preference instead to story telling.

Science is not really any any different on that point.

A scientific paper, at least a good one, just tells a story:

I had an idea.
I decided that if my idea were correct, this special thing would happen.
I tried to make my special thing happen.
I suceeded in making my special thing happen.
Therefore, you should believe my idea.

This is just another special case of Kurt Vonnegut's outline of all stories:

There was a man.
The man fell into a hole.
The man got out of the hole.

Hence religion must be seen as a cancer on the world.

Many instances of religion seem to work out that way. But so do certain
ideas about economics and politics and other things.

You're going to tell me that Marxism wasn't a cancer on the world? ;-)