Atheism among upper level scientists; latest survey (Introduction)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Thursday, February 17, 2011, 11:30 (5028 days ago) @ David Turell

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/ecklunds-still-at-it/
&#... > 
> > David, that article doesn't say exactly what you think it does. The blogpost is a polemic against I've never heard of, and the most recent survey posted rings in at the recent year of 1998.
> > (Before he delivers statistics.)
> 
> I'm aware of previous statistics and there appears to be an increased number of atheist scientists over the years. That's all I meant to point out.-I'm torn about the actual meaning of that. -For example, I don't think it's terribly uncommon for someone who grew up ultra-religious to be exposed to the evidence behind evolution in college and this would begin a process of rebellion for them. I've watched it happen to two guys. -Alternatively, one reason I originally wanted to do biochem was due to an English prof early in my college career who stated that experiments completed by Pasteur proved evolution was false. (The guy also believed that he had visited Noah's Ark in Turkey, and that an odd case of large human bones found in Israel was evidence for the Nephilim.) I ended up spending the entire class trying in vain to defend evolution--at the time I knew a bit from sites like talkorigins, but this guy had other wackjob arguments that I'd never even heard of before. That summer I read several books and educated myself on the underpinnings of epistemology and how science works to defeat skepticism. (Popper and Kuhn were staples that summer.) -Another thing to remember is that though tolerated on paper, it's difficult to be an Atheist in the U.S. I know you probably think that sounds silly, but even in my case, I haven't dared to tell my own family that I'm agnostic. Dawkins & Science provides a haven for atheists.-Jumping a bit to dhw's observation, I also agree that in some cases people who are materialistic are drawn to science, but I also stress that most who go to college are kids. Exactly how much do you (or dhw) really think that 18yr old kids walk into college full materialists--I posit that most don't even know what that word means.

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\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"