[Buddha-l] Hindu Fundamentalism

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Sun, 2005-08-07 at 19:31 -0400, curt wrote:

> But the claim of the existence of Gods is not, on its own, subject to
> scientific proof or disproof.

Thank you for stating the obvious in such eloquent terms. And so you now
agree that there is no scientific evidence for the claim that Rama
existed.

> For example: can you describe an experiment which can be
> conducted to test for the existence of Ram and/or Krishna?

No. As the gentleman said, this is not a scientific question. It is a
dogma. And to impose a dogma on an entire nation by expecting every
citizen to agree with it or shut up is to many of us (those of us who do
not regularly watch Fox News) objectionable. And this is precisely why
many folks in India make the perfectly reasonable claim that Rama's
existence is not a scientifically established fact or a well-grounded
historical claim. It is a personal conviction that, with ALL religious
claims, belongs in the private home, not in the public sphere.

> Gods are notoriously difficult to nail down

I can think of only one putative god who got nailed down. Mel Gibson
recently made a movie about him. He showed some miraculous events. For
example, when a nail was driven into the god's hand about eighteen
gallons of pig's blood came gushing out.

> The Krishna described in the Bhagavad Gita is very different
> from the one described in the Bhagavad Purana - but neither
> text presents us with anything that would lend itself to designing
> an experiment to test for the existence of Krishna.

Right. I think you are now beginning to understand the point. There can
be no such thing as scientific evidence for any claim about Krishna.

> As far as observability goes, people "observe" Gods all the time.

Yes, they "observe" them. But do they observe them?

Public policy, I think, is better based on what all people can observe
than on what faith-saturated devotees "observe." And that, I think, was
exactly the point of those who said that there is no scientific basis to
the claim of Rama's existence.

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
*** 
"If you want the truth, rather than merely something to say,
you will have a good deal less to say." -- Thomas Nagel