Steve Shaw
I did not take exception.
Previously -
Well it don't wash with me.

That sounds to me like taking exception.

In a discussion about the reasons for and consequences of some of Newton's more off the wall scientific ideas, you leapt in with you claim that thinkers "out of the box" of any age should and would espouse the modern liberal values which, I presume, you hold yourself. Apart from being irrelevant to the immediate discussion, I think the suggestion is wildly optimistic.

Newton had a go at calculating the date of creation from the chronology of the Bible. He came up with a different result from Ussher but not enormously so. He also said -
"Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done." Both perfectly reasonable things to do by the standards of the time but enough to discredit him as a scientist in this day and age. What do you think.

Apart from that, I don't think I can better DMcG's post of 09 Feb 14 - 05:36 PM .