Science Heals, Religion Steals

Excerpt from

Supernatural Hypocrisy: 

The Cognitive Dissonance of a God Cosmology

Volume 5: The Cosmology of Science

“Science has done more for the development of the Western civilization 

in one hundred years than Christianity did in eighteen hundred.”
~John Burroughs

WE ENJOY THE SPOILS OF MODERN SCIENCE and technology which allows us to soar into the clouds and reach any destination in this manner, both quickly and comfortably. Individuals from antiquity must have lamented -- and had much time to lament -- the laborious tedium of traveling from point to point by foot or by beast. It is no wonder that mythology hosts an inherent wish to fly by its creation of the Phoenix, Pegusus, Sirens, Harpies, Griffins, Cherubim, Angels, vampires (as bats) and even Superman. We seem to maintain an uncommon fondness for the miraculous and the mythical, even to our own detriment and to the annihilation of others in our species, as well as the lesser species in our food chain. But just as we have assimilated into this technological society with our actions, so must our hearts and minds move from the imaginings of despairingly tedious superstitious history toward the truth which resides in realism.

Science has proven itself valuable time and again. It has been the messenger of understanding to the human race for some time now. Even myths that are still stubbornly clung to, have been proven false through the process of scientific method and empirical testing and double-blind examination.

For instance, the hoopla about the Shroud of Turin was eventually shown to be just that. Carbon dating showed that the fabric was not old enough to have been the burial cloth of Jesus, even if we accept the postulate that Jesus lived at all. Archeologists have also recently found another shroud that carbon dates to the alleged time of Jesus, (between 1 and 50 CE) but its material (not available in that region at the time) and its weave (too complex for the time) supports the finding that the Turin shroud was created in the Middle Ages, between 1260-1390 CE.

The Jerusalem tomb in which the new shroud was found, had been sealed shut with plaster for the last 2,000 years, and scientists suspect it was not opened for the second burial (it was customary to rebury the dead after a year) because they were trying to prevent the spread of tuberculosis and leprosy, which was found in the DNA of the bones in the recently discovered shroud.

This information should act as precursor to our ability to scrutinize mysterious discoveries, before we attach a magical explanation to it. It should extend to other seemingly miraculous things.

For instance, we know now that God did not carve out the Grand Canyon with his giant cosmic spoon. We know it began to form almost 17 million years ago,[1] by the process of water and wind erosion, continental drift, volcanism and the behavior of the Colorado River.

We have been schooled in the realities of stage magicianship, and allowed ourselves to be amazed while also knowing that this performer has no mystical gift bestowed by an endowment from dark arts, or an omniscient being, but is merely fooling us with his skills at sleight-of-hand and optical illusion. And many will depart from that auditorium and next day, to be found in church, worshiping that invisible being with complete and utter devotion. Until those stalwart believers admit there that is no difference in the two, we will remain a nation with believers in the majority, and will suffer for its various consequences.

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[1] Wilford, John (2008-02-06). Study Says Grand Canyon Older Than Thought. New York Times.

Science Heals, Religion Steals

PROOF: Shroud of Turin Face is NOT Jesus

This is one example of why I love science so much!

The image on the shroud has the same proportions as Da Vinci's face, a study found

By
Martin Evan
Wednesday July 1, 2009

AN image that has intrigued the Christian world for hundreds of years is a fake, it has been revealed.

A study claims to have unearthed evidence proving that the image on the Turin Shroud is not that of Jesus but is in fact Leonardo da Vinci – the Renaissance painter and scientist long suspected of ­faking the hallowed relic.

Experts believe the image was transferred to the cloth using early photographic techniques, the details of which have come to light thanks to computer technology.

The discovery was made by Lillian Schwartz, a graphic consultant at the School of Visual Arts in New York, famous for her theory that the Mona Lisa was also based on a self- portrait of Da Vinci.

Ms Schwartz used sophisticated computer scans to reveal that the faces of the Mona Lisa and the Turin Shroud bear exactly the same dimensions as Da Vinci’s head.
Experts have described the breakthrough as the most exciting discovery in the shroud’s mysterious history. Da Vinci has long been suspected of faking what is believed to be Christ’s burial cloth and historians believe he would have had the necessary skills to pull it off.

According to the research, which will be revealed in a ­documentary on channel Five tonight, Da Vinci created the image using a primitive photographic technique known as camera obscura. He hung the fabric over a wooden frame in a blacked-out room before coating it in a light-sensitive substance.

Then he used a sculpture of his own head and face to project an image onto the linen.

The permanent print was scorched on the cloth when the sun’s ultra-violet rays passed through a crystal lens set in one of the walls.

Ms Schwartz came to prominence in the 1980s with her experiments to measure the Mona Lisa and compare it with a self portrait of Da Vinci.To her amazement, the faces lined up perfectly, leading to the conclusion that the famous painting must have been based on his own image. When she was asked earlier this year to compare another Da Vinci self-portrait to the face on the Turin Shroud, she was stunned to discover the proportions of the key facial features were again identical.

She said: “It matched. There is no doubt in my mind that the proportions that Leonardo wrote about were used in creating this shroud’s face.” The program claims Da Vinci was not only a heretic with no qualms about faking Christ’s burial cloth but was the only person in that era with the knowledge to produce it.

He was also a pioneer in the field of primitive optical technology, with his notebooks containing one of the earliest drawings and descriptions of a camera obscura.

The theory is that Da Vinci’s forgery was commissioned to replace an earlier version that was exposed as a poor fake, which had been bought by the powerful Savoy family in 1453 only to disappear for 50 years.
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from http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/111039/Leonardo-da-Vinci-is-face-on-Turin-Shroud-

PROOF: Shroud of Turin Face is NOT Jesus