Jerry

“Faith may be a gift in religion, but in science it’s poison, for faith is no way to find truth.”

To a scientist, the clearest sign of disharmony is the existence of such programs and statements—for their goal is to try to convince the public that although science and religion might appear to be in conflict, they’re really not. Why do scientists try to do this? One reason is simply what I call the “nice guy syndrome”: a lot more people will like you if you say good things about religion than if you are critical of it. Asserting that your science doesn’t step on religion’s toes is one way to stay in the good graces of the American public, and everyone else’s.

If Muslims knew that Muhammad, like Joseph Smith, was making up the words that became dogma; if Christians knew that Jesus was neither divine nor resurrected, but merely one of many apocalyptic preachers of that era; if theists knew that there were no documented interventions of God into the universe—then believers would melt away like spring snow.

I’ll also argue that the claim that religion and science are complementary “ways of knowing” gives unwarranted credibility to faith, a credibility that, at its extremes, is responsible for many human deaths and might ultimately contribute to the demise of our own species and much other life on Earth.