Separation of Science and State

[Ranjr]

John was trolling the boards with some shit he'd got wrong back on page 7.

Anywho, scientific and religious experimentation have been different, but there's no requirement that they be so.  If a person makes normative statements relative to the sacred by referring to science, and by engaging in scientific experiments - they're experimenting, and doing science, and doing religion.

In fact, let's do a little thought experiment.  We'll imagine a religion - The Church of the Secular Sacred.  

This church is made up of a group of people who are morally united by their adherence to a set of beliefs and practices relative to the sacred that are entirely sourced from true scientific facts.  If you ask them why they believe some article of their religion is true - they'll point you to the most recent edition of the most credible journal where it says in big bold letters that so and so has been conclusively demonstrated.  If there's a paradigm shift, and whatever seemed conclusively demonstrated in the past turns out to be false, they change their beliefs in accordance.  None of the things that people have criticized other religions for are true in the case of this religion.

Should this religion be subject to separation?

 
You define a religion that functions as science.  As an engineer, I am less concerned with "what it is" and more interested in "what it does."  It's function takes precedence over the definition, which is something someone made up for the purpose of an argument.  Nevertheless, I like your point and would say it's the type of religion that other religions would want separate from state and declare unholy.