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Peiter: Science has at least one serious competitor. Math. The two are so superior to all competition that they are frequently conflated, but they really are very different.

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Peiter: The above post shows a lack of historical awareness. Most philosophically, theologically, and in so far as they existed "scientifically" inclined people have believed that scripture is properly interpreted as metaphorical since at least the Middle Ages. Essentially every theologian or philosopher you have heard of will have had this interpretation.

Biblical literalism is, for the most part, a post-printing development.

Of course, "what is metaphor" and "what is meaning" remain active philosophical questions. Many philosophers have held that religious doctrines are "literally true" but don't mean the common interpretation. For some religious doctrines, such as trans-substantiation, the position that the miracle is occurring can only possibly be "literally true" according to highly dubious theological definitions of meaning. The assertion that Biblical creation is "literally true" (both versions!) in the same sense that the wine literally becomes blood is an odd assertion, but one that has little resemblence to the position of modern creationists.

Psychologically, I am tempted to suspect Voltaire of naivity here. He said "those who can make us believe absurdities can make us commit atrocities" as a revelation, but I suspect that the function of the assertion of absurdities is to some extent understood by those who partake in them, and is in fact to convey evidence of one's willingness to commit atrocities.

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