Originally Posted by
Andy Big Bear
Actually, I'm quite familiar with the scientific method, my bona fides on that aren't in question, and I wasn't attacking your beliefs. I was just offering another perspective, neither for nor against your opinion. In fact, I don't think my comments even constituted an "argument" for or against anything. The fact that scientists are motivated by the same fallibilities as everyone else is not in dispute, unless your argument is that they aren't part of the human species.
The question isn't what motivates scientists, but proselytizing is rude. If you're familiar with the scientific method then you know that, irrespective of a scientist's motivations, all that counts is methodology and whether results are verifiable and repeatable.
I find proselytizing particularly obnoxious for the reasons that I stated, and I don't think it's inherent in the human character to do so. I think that the adherents of those religions most inclined to engage in proselytizing do so, not out of any true sense of altruism, but because they believe they have a divine mandate, and that kind of religious imperialism is not only offensive, it's actually dangerous, as history as proven repeatedly.