Week 1and2, Beyond Belief session 2

Neil de Grasse Tyson introduced a an interesting topic aboutthe "Perimeter of Ignorance," and what different famous scientist andphilosophers believed on the topic of science and religion many yearsago. He stated that he believed that Sir Isaac Newton was and is themost brilliant person that has ever existed because he shares thesame beliefs as he does. Newton believed "that the mere mechanicalcauses can only be perceived from the counsel and dominion from anintelligent human being" which simply means that the universe, sun,moon and other surrounding orbits are the creation of scientificknowledge and not from the grace of god who created them. He alsodiscussed the issue of the Naming Right in which he gave an excellentexample of the 9/11 tragedy. I was surprised to know that there aretons of Arabic Star names in the universe, but yet Islam has neverbeen acknowledged for their intelligence. He stated that PresidentBush, in order to distinguish them from us, Bush said "Our God is theGod that named the stars." But the reality check is that Islam didhave naming rights traceable 300 years back, but were notacknowledged since their collapse in the year 1100.My favorite part of session 2, was toward the end of the film, onlybecause Steven Weinberger stated that we need to be honest toourselves and enjoy the beauty that life has to offer. He alsomentioned that even though science does not agree much with religion,it is difficult not to live without religion for many differentreasons. I think that people can not be converted to chance theirreligious beliefs from one day to another, simply because scientistswant for society to change. It's up to the individual to decide totake that step in their lives and if not so be it. The mentality ofpeople has changed drastically over time, that maybe it would be easyto convince those to change their religion preference, but in doingso I feel that there has to be enough supporting evidence to do soand to really analyze the impact that it can cause to those whodecide to take the initial step, regardless if it's a negative orpositive experience.