[Vision2020] Atheists Fight Back

[Ken]

On Saturday 09 June 2007 16:11, Paul Rumelhart wrote:
<snip>
> I think atheism suffers from the same problem that some fundamentalist
> religions do.  Atheists (like fundies) think they *know* the answers.

Without proof, some atheists make a "leap of faith" that their position is 
correct.

> The atheists should know better.

Perhaps some individuals who are mistakenly called atheists do know better 
because they more correctly should be called agnostics. The English 
Wikipedia atheism article, featured recently, notes such confusion.

> They respect science, and should be aware of it's limitations.

A greater proportion of scientists are agnostic and atheist than in the 
population at large. This does not imply, of course, that a greater 
proportion of atheists and agnostics are scientists than in the overall 
population.

> There's a massive gulf between data not leading in a given direction and  
> data proving something unmeasurable and unknowable is false.

Yes. The former is likely and the latter is impossible.

> What I can get behind is enforcing the barriers where they ought to be.
> Keep religion out of science.

A laudable goal, and a continuing challenge since ancient times.

> If you don't like what science comes up with as scientists observe nature 
> and pose hypotheses and test them, that's your prerogative.  But watering 
> down science to fudge the answers you want is not the answer.
<snip> 

Just as it is professional malfeasance for a scientist to manipulate data, 
so it is equally unacceptable to characterize scientific results beyond 
their evidentiary support. Research that produces unbelievable results 
should be replicated to observe whether the results reoccur. If they do, 
then the realities of the results, rather than wished-for fantasies, should 
be accepted.


Ken Marcy