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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (45952)	4/2/2002 2:59:25 AM
From: Solon	Respond to of 82486

Do you feel this sample is a reliable representation of what scientists in America believe? In the world? Are you confident that this sample speaks for the scientific world? No. The study is not concerned with what scientists in America or the world think. The study (as you said) was based on the the answers of approximately 260 distinguished NAS scientists. Out of the responding members of the NAS, the following statistics are developed by Witham and Larson: "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)." This does not indicate what lesser scientists around the world believe. There have been many other studies, however, and what is interesting here is a reliance on spiritual "explanations" in an inverse and proportinate relationship to the level of scientific expertise enjoyed by the respondents across various studies. Scientists of the ordinary variety (high school teachers and the like)show a significantly higher degree of belief in a personal god, than do those from the more discreet sampling of scientists noted for a distinguished mastery within their respective fields. So, the answer to your question is, "no. the sample of scientists from the National Academy of Scientists does not speak for the scientific world overall". The whole point of the continued interest in the results is that it is NOT representative of the scientific world in general, but is instead representative of a certain inverse relationship between scientific accomplishment and religious belief, and, as well--in conjuction with the surveys of 1915 and 1933...it shows a marked decrease in religious belief among "greater" scientists over the last century, a decrease which coincides with enormous accomplishments and advancements in reason, and in an improved understanding of our world...and of our selves.