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Agnosticism is the natural attitude of the evolutionist. How can a brute mind comprehend spiritual things?

William Jennings Bryan

AbimbolaAina 3 Dec 2
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You can lead a theist to reason, but you can't make him/her think.

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Using the word "evolutionist" implies that evolution is a belief system comparable to other belief systems (i.e., religions). It is not such a system. It is science. It does not refute or exclude spiritual things; it just takes care to keep them out of scientific inquiry. And evolution does not require a "brute mind," whatever that is.

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How do you determine a brute mind and why would you worry over someone not understanding spiritual things? Being "spiritual" means whatever you decide it to mean.

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Agnosticism is the natural attitude of the scientist, but then anyone can train themselves to think scientifically. All spiritual things should be treated agnostically until concrete evidence is obtained.

@powder " If we knew about belief, it would be known " Trouble is maybe only you or a few of your friends or a few people like you but not known to you, may know about it, so each needs faith that others (the rest of the world's population) will get to know through you or other transmitters.

@powder Surely a person who believes something, wants others to share it AND act upon it . To that extent it is known by those people and unknown to everyone else. Once you have acted upon a belief you have in fact believed it and proved that by your actions . the words you uttered are not proof.

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There is nothing natural about labels for chickenshit behavior.

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William Jennings Bryan was a progressive. Her even ran for president. Unfortunately he changed as he got older and became a fundamentalist.

The root of Bryan's progressivism was his disdain for the theories of social Darwinism and "survival of the fittest" that were being promoted by robber barons of the nineteenth century as an excuse for their unparalleled (until the current age) greed. Unfortunately, Bryan later got social Darwinism confused with actual Darwinian science, which led him down the path of anti-science.

@editor20 I don't think Bryan was railing against Social Darwinism although I'm sure he would've opposed it. He fought the theory of evolution. He believed in the Bible. He practiced Social Gospel. There are good people in the religious community. I won't judge Bryan by the times he lived. Today those who oppose abortion so vigorously, they align themselves with fascists. A lot of people on the right figured that out and have polarized this country.

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Clarence Darrow and Bryan respectively argued for and against evolution in the 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial” in Dayton, Tennessee. Bryan died a few days later.

I knew he died the same year, I didn't know it was 5 days later. He was a Southern Democrat and less progressive than people think. Jacksonian and a Jim Crow guy.

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