A correction on NOMA
I have to ammend my “earlier post on Gould’s”:http://www.thudfactor.com/textpattern/1198/noma-and-the-religion-v-science-debate theory of NOMA(Non-Overlapping Magisteria) expressed in his book _Rocks of Ages_. My conclusion was that his proposal — that Science be left to deal with what is, while Religion is left to deal with what we do about it — was a nice idea but it would never work because major religious groups were far too entrenched in earthly political power struggles.
Further along in the book, I now realize he’s not _proposing_ this. Instead, he makes the case that the “war” between science and theology is not a logical necessity, and that religion and science have often worked together. He is saying that most quality discussion happens under the principle of NOMA, and that the “war” between science and religion we’ve been told is the natural order of things is actually the abberations caused by small minorities on either side attempting to claim _political_ authority rather than academic authority. In this light, the existence of the ID crowd doesn’t disprove Gould’s argument — it strengthens it.