Of course, so were all scientific theories. The question isn't whether they were made up by humans, but which best explains the observations of the world.
(The difference, in my experience, between the religious and those who are not (to avoid the 'a' word) tends to be between those who see things like morality and justice and meaning and consciousness as observable (if imperfectly) features of the world needing explained; and those who see such things as the equivalent of optical illusions, which are apparently there but not, in fact, real (and therefore an explanation for the universe does not need to explain them).
Some philosophers have devoted entire careers to explaining why consciousness, for example, is merely an illusion.
As a result the two talk past each other, with the non-religious saying, 'But my philosophy explains everything, and is simpler, where is your evidence for the existence of anything else?' and the religious replaying, 'But your philosophy doesn't explain X, Y and Z,' and the non-religious shaking their heads and saying, 'But yes it does, it explains how you think you see X, Y and Z but they are not really there,' and the religious saying, 'But you haven't proved they aren't really there, you've just come up with a mechanism by which they could appear to be there if they weren't, but they are,' and so on ad nauseum.
It is hardly surprising, I suppose, that they fail to agree on an explanation for the world, when they appear to be living in two completely different ones.
no subject
Of course, so were all scientific theories. The question isn't whether they were made up by humans, but which best explains the observations of the world.
(The difference, in my experience, between the religious and those who are not (to avoid the 'a' word) tends to be between those who see things like morality and justice and meaning and consciousness as observable (if imperfectly) features of the world needing explained; and those who see such things as the equivalent of optical illusions, which are apparently there but not, in fact, real (and therefore an explanation for the universe does not need to explain them).
Some philosophers have devoted entire careers to explaining why consciousness, for example, is merely an illusion.
As a result the two talk past each other, with the non-religious saying, 'But my philosophy explains everything, and is simpler, where is your evidence for the existence of anything else?' and the religious replaying, 'But your philosophy doesn't explain X, Y and Z,' and the non-religious shaking their heads and saying, 'But yes it does, it explains how you think you see X, Y and Z but they are not really there,' and the religious saying, 'But you haven't proved they aren't really there, you've just come up with a mechanism by which they could appear to be there if they weren't, but they are,' and so on ad nauseum.
It is hardly surprising, I suppose, that they fail to agree on an explanation for the world, when they appear to be living in two completely different ones.
S.