Thanks for the headlines, but I got bored. I say what I have to and move on; usually hoping to catch a good photo on the random pictures thread before Z-man gets to it.
Having been both an Engineering scholar and a Jesuit student, I've been 'round this carousel with highly self-regarded engineers who disdain anyone with faith. Their failure is usually one of imagination and a refusal, having been conditioned exclusively to cause-effect and mathematical proof to understand and receive the adulation of their peers, to acknowledge that there can be something beyond those cold, comfortable certainties.
As I said a few times in that thread, a person (including myself) can do/believe more-or-less what they want, and I'm OK with it. It's the person (including, potentially, myself) who tries to proselytize, to convince others so vehemently of his own absolute rectitude that's the boor, the annoyance, the "just STFU already" person with whom I take exception. I've said my piece and don't want to become that guy.
My faith is mine, and no amount (or, more accurately, volume) of "reasoning" from Purry (whose acumen I've questioned in the past) is going to dispossess me of what I've forged through relationships with a spectrum of good friends and mentors, from genius scientists and engineers, to devout Jesuits.
If he can't understand (or, more to my point, accept) what appears to him to be a paradox between faith and reason ... a "paradox" with which I and many people much smarter than myself, throughout history have had no indigestion ... that's his failure, and it's not my onus to cure him of that schizophrenia. More to the point, never try to teach a Purry to sing... it wastes your time and annoys the Purry.
Sure, I think there's a God, but most of the fascination I had with the study of religion was the sociology and psychology behind the actions of individuals and groups of people trying to comprehend and relate with things at the edge of their comprehension.
The funny part, to me, is being regarded as a "religious" person (and a "joiner"? wow, if that's not off-base. Anyone hereon who knows me, feel free to testify to how good a "joiner" I am).
Then again, I have my limits and I have my blind spots. I don't see the wit evident to you in Purry's response, for example. I see the m/o that bores me -- excerpting one or two non-essential things from the continuum of an argument and contriving what could loosely be called a response to this strawman he creates. Which makes impossible a focused discussion of particular issues, over the course of a series of posts/responses.
Whereas Supe (for example) and I have been able to sustain debate over days' worth of posts, Purry's approach (to be as polite as possible) and mine are immiscible.
But, again, thanks for the props. It's nice to be appreciated, even if simultaneously misunderstood. Hmmm... this must be how God feels.
Best,
JP