"today there are still 40% of scientists who believe in God
The new survey showed that only one out of 15 scientists with membership in the National Academy of Scientists believe in a PERSONAL God! In 1913 the figure was 27.7%. By 1933 it had declined to 15%. And as we said, by 1998 it had declined to only 7%.
"Disbelief in God and immortality among NAS biological scientists was 65.2% and 69.0% respectively, and among NAS physical scientists it was 79.0% and 76.3%. Most of the rest were agnostics on both issues, with few believers. We found the highest percentage of belief among NAS mathematicians (14.3% in God, 15.0% in immortality). Biological scientists had the lowest rate of belief (5.5% in God, 7.1% in immortality), with physicists and astronomers slightly higher (7.5% in God, 7.5% in immortality)."
One can can make up a reason for this astounding statistic as it compares to the general population, or one can accept the rational explanation: that rational thought and religious faith are incompatible; and the more experienced and knowledgeble the scientist becomes...the more she relies on sense and logic rather than mysticism and imagination to explain the world in which she lives.
Suggesting that atheists are "rewarded" for their atheism by virtue of some (unspecified) body conferring upon them a greater experience and distinction for some secretive (unspecified) purpose...well, this is the last gasp of the frightened and the faithless. They are not distinguished scientists because they are atheists. Rather, they are atheists because they are distinguisghed scientists. Incredible and ridiculous innuendos to the contrary would require some proof--of which absolutely none have been proffered.
Science and religion are mutually exclusive. The scientific method deals with the manipulation of discreet data in order to understand the make-up of things, and the forces which govern the actions and interactions of energy and matter. Religion imagines a supernatural structure for existence, and creates a dogma focussed on rewards and punishments--both here and in the hereafter.
"Indeed, disbelief seems more pronounced among what Leuba defined as the "greater" scientists, reaching the 90% mark in the new study. "NAS biologists are the most skeptical," notes Larson and Witham, "with 95% of our respondents (NAS) evincing atheism and agnosticism." Similarly, as intellectual historian Paul K. Conkin observes, "Today the higher the educational attainment, or the higher the scores earned on intelligence or achievement tests, the less likely are individuals to be Christians.""
Although higher learning incontrovertibly corresponds to a steady and progressive decline in faith, it does not entirely overcome it for all scientists. Nevertheless, the Scientific American authors you are quoting here do reveal "a poignant fact of intellectual life in the midst of the divisive and heated culture wars. They observe that ""some politically savvy scientists recognize the value in downplaying the negative implications for the supernatural that arise from their study of the natural.""
The religions of the world are like the hundreds of booths of t-shirts lined up at some Mexican market. Buy this one; buy that one. The agnostic just wants to get the Hell out of there... |
