"All Scientists Should Be Militant Atheists"

[Mudhammam]

I think he's being silly again. Of course, in the methodology, every scientist has to act as if God does not directly interfere with what you are describing. But many more or less religious scientists manage to do that.

I mean, of course I'd love for all scientists to be militant atheists. But then, I think everyone should...

I'm much less concerned that all scientists be atheists, let alone militant atheists, than that they all endeavor to do significant work and help to educate the lay public about their findings. There have been plenty of theists who contributed mightily to our understanding of the world. I'm more grateful for their contributions than irritated that they privately held beliefs I find silly.

I think you guys are kind of missing his point - which is that people who are trained as scientists should know better than anyone that the only ideas worthy of credit are those which are repeatedly scrutinized and challenged. As this includes religious ideas, and criticizing them as Krauss does so often earns the antagonist the title of "militant atheist", it's a moniker (non-believing) scientists ought to embrace, rather than calling themselves scientists but yet acting especially timid about religion as they would for nothing else.

[ignoramus]

I think the human mind is complex enough to happily function (with cognitive dissonance) while having two or more opposing views on the world.
As long as people do their jobs, and there's no obvious conflict of interest, who cares...

[abaris]

So any scientist worth his/her weight in anything must be atheist in the lab... must be either completely atheist, or only religious in public.

No, they only have to be impartial in the lab and accept their findings.

[AFTT47]

You don't think a non atheist should be allowed to be a scientist? This seems a little unreasonable. The scientist who first presented the idea of the Big Bang was a Catholic priest.

I distinguish a scientific technician from a scientist.   A scientific technician can do great science through expert practice of the craft of science, but while he can be adept at exploiting the ability to science to achieve results, he need not embrace the implications of why science can achieve these results that nonscience can not.  A real scientist ought to embrace the reason why science can achieve what it achieves, and consequently can not but reject not necessarily the existence of God, but necessarily reject instead the acceptance of the proposition that God either exists or that God ought to exist.

No True Scotsman fallacy?

A "real" scientist is a scientist who follows the scientific method when he/she is doing science. What does what they do when they're not doing science have to do with it?

[Mudhammam]

As one put it, scientists discover and technicians apply.

[Tartarus Sauce]

I fully agree as well. If anything, it should be mandatory.

No thanks, I'd rather not see the institution of science adopt an interest in regulating the personal lives of its members. That's religion's ballgame.

[ScepticOrganism]

I fully agree as well. If anything, it should be mandatory.

No thanks, I'd rather not see the institution of science adopt an interest in regulating the personal lives of its members. That's religion's ballgame.

You get inside the lab, you leave religion behind the door.

[abaris]

You get inside the lab, you leave religion behind the door.

But that's quite another ball game. It's not militant atheism, it's being impartial and not being compromised by faith or any other outside influence. Which, as examples show, can also be money or some prestigious job offer.

[Tartarus Sauce]

No thanks, I'd rather not see the institution of science adopt an interest in regulating the personal lives of its members. That's religion's ballgame.

You get inside the lab, you leave religion behind the door.

That's not being an atheist though, that's being professional. 

You said atheism should be mandatory, not scientific skepticism which is a given for the field.

[Longhorn]

I'm a professional atheist. My salary is exactly proportional to my belief ._.