RE: Ignorant Atheists?
September 25, 2008 at 6:49 am
(This post was last modified: September 25, 2008 at 6:49 am by Alan.)
Being a scientist means practicing the scientific method and knowing wtf you're talking about. Neither applies to creationists. End of discussion.
As for the OP: he should have know that the problem with such surveys is the definition of "God". MANY scientists use the metaphor of "God" to simplify: Einstein is a prime example for this (no sane person would argue he was a theist in any relevant sense -- creationists do, though). An unfair survery may easily use this fact to skew the results into the desired direction (in fact, ALL surveys are biased, precisely because they are surveys -- the questions are worded with certain intentions and the conclusion are made with certain intentions; if the surveys were completely factual, we would be talking about correlations in test groups, not about universal truths).
I would say that MANY "scientists" "believe" in "God" (sorry for the abundance of quotation marks, but I want to make it clear that we're talking about vaguely defined concepts here) in some way or another. But I would also say that using that fact to make a claim about "most scientists" being "religious" is misleading and impractical, to say the least.
Besides, scientists are human and humans tend to hold silly beliefs. As long as that doesn't show in their work, it doesn't belong in a discussion about the merits of science.
As for the OP: he should have know that the problem with such surveys is the definition of "God". MANY scientists use the metaphor of "God" to simplify: Einstein is a prime example for this (no sane person would argue he was a theist in any relevant sense -- creationists do, though). An unfair survery may easily use this fact to skew the results into the desired direction (in fact, ALL surveys are biased, precisely because they are surveys -- the questions are worded with certain intentions and the conclusion are made with certain intentions; if the surveys were completely factual, we would be talking about correlations in test groups, not about universal truths).
I would say that MANY "scientists" "believe" in "God" (sorry for the abundance of quotation marks, but I want to make it clear that we're talking about vaguely defined concepts here) in some way or another. But I would also say that using that fact to make a claim about "most scientists" being "religious" is misleading and impractical, to say the least.
Besides, scientists are human and humans tend to hold silly beliefs. As long as that doesn't show in their work, it doesn't belong in a discussion about the merits of science.
