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Re:I was an astrologer by cies on Thursday November 07, 2019 @10:02AM (#21473756)
I beg to differ. Astrologers think that some planetary constructions yield some kind of personality traits. This should be easy to test! So Mars is associated with strong sports/soldier skills: then prove it! Same for Gemini and abstract thinking skills. Maybe I'm off with my understanding of astrology, but my idea is always that they cannot prove what they claim should be provable.

Now lets consider a proof for God's existence. Do most religions claim to have such proof in hard terms? I don't think so. The say it's a belief, a faith.

Not saying that the two not have many things in common, but I also see a strong contrast.

Re:I was an astrologer by Pete_D on Thursday November 07, 2019 @01:32PM (#21475894)
Interestingly, star sign can be shown to correlate with some life outcomes. For example, here's a chart that shows that players in qualifying teams for certain youth soccer tourmanents are over twice as likely to be Aquarius than they are to be Sagittarius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Month_of_birth_distributi.... They phrase it a bit differently though. (half-joking, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_age_effect).
Re:I was an astrologer by yetanotherjosh on Friday November 08, 2019 @12:31PM (#21484540)
> Do most religions claim to have such proof in hard terms?

Do most people into astrology claim to have scientific proof in hard terms?

I know a lot of people casually (and some pretty seriously) into astrology, none of them claim that. It doesn't stop them from believing it. They just aren't thinking in a scientific mindset at all. They use confirmation bias to prove it to themselves anecdotally, and many also have a deep irrational distrust of science that has really not been thought through.

So I think holding astrology people to scientific standards is just as meaningless as holding religious people to scientific standards. And plenty of religious claims are eminently testable: the earth was created in 7 days, some holy book is the literal word of god and not written or even tampered with by humans, some religion is the one true path and all others are evil, etc. These things admit themselves to clear debunking scientifically and/or rationally.

To be both religious and scientific means retreating your religious beliefs to all but the most abstract and untestable ideas, something like "god is the universe itself" or other such ultra-generalizations that leave no trace of casual claim of interference with material reality. And the vast majority of religious people on earth do not do that.

Re:I was an astrologer by RichardCA on Thursday November 07, 2019 @06:23PM (#21478431)
It was tested back in the 70's and there was no correlation between what "expert" astrologers predicted and the results of more commonly accepted psychological tests.

Carl Sagan mentions this in his writings and on the Cosmos TV show.

https://youtu.be/pDYMF1RGthQ

Re:I was an astrologer by mdavidn on Thursday November 07, 2019 @11:02AM (#21474351)
Religions make testable claims as well, mostly with respect to events in the past and in the future.
Re:I was an astrologer by cmonnow on Thursday November 07, 2019 @04:05PM (#21477235)
Yes, however people who are not willing to do the test, simply call sour grapes.

For e.g., suppose you make a claim "strawberry tastes sweet", and I have never eaten strawberry before, I'll say "can you prove it?". You'll say "Sure, here just take a bite, and you'll know for yourself". And I respond "Nah, I don't want to do that. Can you still prove it? The burden of proof is on you".

No, the burden of proof doesn't always rest on the person making the claim. Once he outlines the method to verify it, his job is done. The burden of verifying the proof now rests on the skeptic.

Re:I was an astrologer by yetanotherjosh on Friday November 08, 2019 @12:46PM (#21484743)
Are you saying that religion offers proof and skeptics just don't want to verify it? For example?
Re:I was an astrologer by cmonnow on Monday November 11, 2019 @01:05AM (#21502549)
Correct.

There is a way to remember your past lives, if you do a certain penance for 12 years - not impossible, not complex, very simple, but very hard - do not utter a lie for 12 years consecutively. There are no loopholes - if you are born dumb, or lose the ability to speak, that doesn't count. you must be able and willing to speak, but still not utter a lie.

Do it for 12 years without a single break continuously, and on year 13 day 1, you can remember your previous births. Some have done it (hence the claim), but not many in the western 'modern scientific' world care to verify it, and just pooh-pooh it. Of course, it's not a loss for those who made the claim. Whoever wants it can go after it.

Re:I was an astrologer by sixstringtheory on Thursday November 07, 2019 @05:47PM (#21478104)
I'm interested to see an example of a claim made by religion that can be experimentally reproduced.