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CCC comments on Self-Congratulatory Rationalism - Less Wrong
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...I'm not sure this metaphor can take this sort of strain. (Of course, it makes a difference if you can see into the front compartment; I'd assumed an opaque front compartment that couldn't be seen into from the rest of the bus).
Personally, I don't have any problem with people trying to, in effect, get into the front compartment. As long as it's done in an ethical way, of course (so, for example, if it involves killing people, then no; but even then, what I'd object to is the killing, not the getting-into-the-front). I do think it makes a lot of sense to try to explore the rest of the bus; the more we find out about the universe, the more effect we can have on it; and the more effect we can have on the universe, the more good we can do. (Also, the more evil we can do; but I'm optimistic enough to believe that humanity is more good than evil, on balance. Despite the actions of a few particularly nasty examples).
As I like to phrase it: God gave us brains. Presumably He expected us to use them.
I assumed the front compartment was completely opaque in the past, and parts of it are gradually made transparent by science. Some people, less and less credibly, argue that the chauffeur has a weird body shape and still may be hidden behing the remaining opaque parts. But the smarter ones can already predict where this goes, so they already hypothesise an invisible chauffeur (separate magisteria, etc.). Most people probably believe some mix, like the chauffeur is partially transparent and partially visible, and the transparent and visible parts of the chauffeur's body happen to correspond to the parts they can and cannot see from their seats.
Okay, I like your attitude. You probably wouldn't ban teaching evolutionary biology at schools.
I think this is the point at which the metaphor has become more of an impediment to communication than anything else. I recognise what I think you're referring to; it's the idea of the God of the gaps (in short, the idea that God is responsible for everything that science has yet to explain; which starts leading to questions as soon as science explains something new).
As an argument for theism, the idea that God is only responsible for things that haven't yet been otherwise explained is pretty thoroughly flawed to start with. (I can go into quite a bit more detail if you like).
No, I most certainly would not. Personally, I think that the entire evolution debate has been hyped up to an incredible degree by a few loud voices, for absolutely no good reason; there's nothing in the theory of evolution that runs contrary to the idea that the universe is created. Evolution just gives us a glimpse at the mechanisms of that creation.