Atheism among upper level scientists; latest survey (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 21:37 (5009 days ago) @ David Turell

David has drawn our attention to an atheistic article that criticizes a theistic criticism of scientists. One is tempted to join Mercutio and cry, "A plague o' both your houses!" but there are sensible, rational, tolerant theists and atheists ... we are privileged to have met some on this forum ... so I would have moved on were it not for this paragraph:-"Our chosen group of "greater" scientists were members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Our survey found near universal rejection of the transcendent by NAS natural scientists. Disbelief in God and immortality among NAS biological scientists was 65.2% and 69.0%, respectively, and among NAS physical scientists it was 79.0% and 76.3%. Most of the rest were agnostics on both issues, with few believers. We found the highest percentage of belief among NAS mathematicians (14.3% in God, 15.0% in immortality). Biological scientists had the lowest rate of belief (5.5% in God, 7.1% in immortality), with physicists and astronomers slightly higher (7.5% in God, 7.5% in immortality)."-Dawkins also likes to quote such statistics, as if somehow this gave greater weight to the atheist argument. It doesn't. Scientists take up a career in science because, presumably, they are fascinated by the material world. You have to have a particular mental inclination for that, and a genuine belief that the material world can be understood. Matt says science is not about truth but about providing models. But to make progress, you have to have models that work, that make sense, that can be tested, that can make predictions. You have to believe that problems can be solved. Always, though, it is the material world that provides the problems and the solutions. That is science's field. I don't find it in the least surprising that the majority of such people believe that the material world holds all the answers, but the tiny proportion of "greater" mathematicians, biologists, physicists and astronomers who do believe in God clearly have no difficulty reconciling their material preoccupations with their non-material beliefs. Why don't the pollsters ask the "greater" scientists for the FACTS about how the universe began, how life began, what is the nature of consciousness, memory, imagination, emotion? They should then get a 100% unanimous answer: There are no facts. As for those who have faith that one day science will come up with the answers, they are no more and no less entitled to their faith than anyone else. That is not a swipe at science or at scientists. It is a swipe at those who attempt to misuse science for their non-scientific agendas.