(January 26, 2010 at 7:49 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: Precisely. Ditto for Christian Theology/ God. Yet this was science's answer to human suffering.
A poor comparison from you fr0d0. God is ascribed human characteristics, has others write about him wanting and doing. By most definitions of a person qualifying through actions ascribed to him (God), he is a person, and therefore can have the blame we ascribe to each other assigned to him.
Nature, with it's representative Science, however, has none of these qualifiers, is not considered a person in any well known society, cannot be blamed the same way as a person, so therefore is considered closer to that of a dumb functional machine.
You do not blame the chainsaw for cutting off your arm but your own stupidity (read: You or something that is part/defines yourself) if you did it to yourself. You can blame an imaginary all powerful being with human characteristics because it is a person in some manner like you.