And many of those who are say their unbelief has nothing to do with science
 |
| Robin Schumacher |
Oftentimes atheists claim that the overwhelming majority of scientists are unbelievers and they attempt to support their position by pointing to a number of polls. By offering such data, atheists try to argue that immersion in science dispels the supposed superstitious and fictitious beliefs of those who believe in God.
Is this really the case?
In the recently released movie, The Unbelievers, atheists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss state how science is “beautiful” while religion is “not beautiful.” Do the vast majority of Dawkins’ and Krauss’ scientific colleagues share their opinion?
Members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science were polled by the Pew Research Center a number of years ago, with the results showing that 51% of those scientists believed in God or something beyond the natural. While the majority of scientists polled did express a belief in something outside the material universe, the number of unbelievers among scientists was indeed much larger than the population as a whole (41% vs. 4%).
The survey highlighted another very interesting fact. While atheists often argue that advances in science throughout the last century are eroding religious faith, the data in the Pew Research survey showed that that the percentages of believers/unbelievers among scientists was actually unchanged from about 100 years ago.
Of course, this is just one survey; others done with different groups of scientists have shown higher percentage of unbelievers, while others are on par with what the Pew Research group found. [However,] the more interesting question is why are some of these scientists atheists?
No, the interesting question is why is any scientist not an atheist? This a far more interesting question, and it would yield some deep truths about human nature. Materialism does not satisfy what is deepest in human nature.
ReplyDelete