The Compatibility Of Religion & Science

[Kyuuketsuki]

For some time now I have believed that Gould's idea of non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA) is inherently flawed and is traditionally offered as a way of placating the religious so as not to hurt their feelings ... it's wrong, what matters about science is not that it is limited by the risk of offence to peoples feelings but that it tells as, as near as possible, the truth and the fact that it steps on a few (billion) people's theistic toes should be of no relevance at all.

PZ Myers at Pharyngula seems to agree:

The criticisms must have stung, because Matt Nisbet has put up short replies on Russell Blackford's and Jerry Coyne's blogs. Unfortunately, in response to the substantial criticisms of the idea of compatibility between faith and science, Nisbet only offers a feeble and wrong correction to a minor point.

A correction is in order on Blackford's post. Contrary to his framing, market research was not used to decide the position of the NAS, nor the 20 professional scientific organizations in the editorial at FASEB that endorsed the themes in the booklet. These organizations have had a long standing position on science and religion that has emphasized compatibility. The audience research indicated that emphasizing this long standing position was an effective way to communicate about evolution.

I suggest taking a look at what NAS staffers wrote in an article at Life Sciences Education about how they used public opinion data and evidence-actually listening to their audience-before trying to communicate with them about a complex and sometimes controversial area of science.

The most severe insult offered in this comment is the part where he accuses Blackford of framing. Is that actionable, I wonder? Did Russell weep hot wet salty tears of shame when he was lanced with that horrific rhetorical thrust?

The serious issue he's addressing is the National Academy of Sciences useful little booklet, Science, Evolution, and Creationism. When it came out, I said good things about it — it's a handy short introduction to evolution for the layman. However, it also contained a rather objectionable section that perfectly represents the problem that Larry Moran and I have been complaining about for years, and that Jerry Coyne has recently torn into: it also pukes up a thick wad of partially digested, slimy religious pablum claiming that "Science and Religion Offer Different Ways of Understanding the World".

You know how much I detest that phrase.

It's not true, and it's also unrepresentative — there is a significant (and growing) strain of scientific thought that finds the claim objectionable. That argument is completely omitted from the NAS booklet. As I wrote in my original comment,

Do science and religion offer different ways of understanding the world? Sure. One is verifiable, testable, and has a demonstrated track record of success; the other is a concoction of myths that actually leads to invalid conclusions. Perhaps it ought to be rephrased: science provides one way to understand the world, while religion provides millions of ways to misunderstand it.

[Read The Rest Of The Article Here]

Kyu