Yes I pick on all religions.

[Mudhammam]

Please provide evidence that any of them are critical thinkers.

Please do me a favor and provide evidence that you are likewise one before I proceed to squander any more of my time qualifying why "elite scientist" and "professor" of a "prestigious school" such as Oxford demands a certain amount of capacity to think critically.

But for newbs, "Among the members of the National Academy of Sciences, 7% believed in God, 72.2% did not, and 20.8% were agnostic or had doubts." (somewhat misleading as God in this study is defined as "a God one may pray to in expectation of receiving an answer"; source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism). In terms of scientists in the U.S. in generally, 51% believe in God or a higher power compared to 41% who do not.


Source: http://people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/528.pdf

JennyA also made a recent thread breaking down the numbers in philosophy, and it's reasonable to assume that a number of them as well are not persuaded by metaphysical naturalism, not by a lack of scientific or philosophical insight, but by the ability of that point of view to address certain fundamental questions, such as ultimate causes or ultimate meaning. We could reach into history for more examples of those who certainly didn't profess atheism, such as Pascal, Hume, Kant, Faraday, Darwin, Heisenberg, Einstein, etc. but your only going to look more silly, so I'll spare you that.

At any time Chas, you can cut me off and tell us about the contributions you, as a critical thinker, are making towards science and philosophy in academia.

Sorry, no. There is precisely as much reason to believe in Poseidon or Thor or pink unicorns. Still waiting to hear about these alleged 'critical thinkers'.

Oh... right.