Atheism among upper level scientists; latest survey (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, February 24, 2011, 11:23 (5000 days ago) @ shanoxilt

David drew our attention to an article which referred to a survey among members of the National Academy of Sciences, a large majority of whom are atheists.-shanoxilt: Again, what does this imply? How are the religious inclinations of scientists relevant?-DAVID: They are not. It is of sociologic interest that highly educated scientists are very likely to be atheistic, while the less educated, especially in the US, are in large majority, theistic. Is it that the leading scientists feel research will explain everything? I doubt that research will explain everything. No other implication.-Dawkins alludes to a similar survey among Fellows of the Royal Society, as well as to research projects which suggest that "more highly educated people are less likely to be religious" (p. 102, The God Delusion). Education in my view is just as irrelevant as a scientific background, since there are fundamental questions which no-one can answer with any authority. An illiterate tribesman in the back of beyond may have a far greater awareness of the essence of things than us, who are so far removed from Nature that we can't even perform basic bodily functions without creating an industry and a culture to cover them up. Shanoxilt's question is spot on, though of course the neutral observer will hardly ignore scientific research, any more than he will ignore the mysteries that science has (so far) signally failed to solve.