Scientism Revival

Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and more, have taken up the cause. Banish religion and all will be fine. Religion has a lot to be ashamed of, but would we really be better off without it? Both Dawkins and Harris accuse religious parents of something tantamount to child abuse for indoctrinating them into the Christian faith.

And so on radio, TV, in symposiums and mass rallies the non-religious faithful have taken up the cause. Of course, if you listen closely what you'll discover is a straw-man. It's not your normal church or mosque goer, it's something akin to Fred Phelps or Osama Bin Laden.

This week's edition of Sightings, an on-line newsletter from the Martin Marty Center wrestles with the challenge. Philip Hefner's article is entitled: "Going Beyond Belief" It concerns a symposium held at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies in La Jolla.

A number of the most articulate anti-religious self-proclaimed atheists were among the stellar group of scientists assembled there. Physics Nobelist Steven Weinberg spoke of religion as a "crazy old aunt, who tells lies and stirs up mischief," but whom he will nevertheless miss when she is gone. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins confessed that he is "fed up" with the tendency to respect religion, especially by secularists. A number of their peers took strong exception to the anti-religion message, including biologists Joan Roughgarden and Francisco Ayala. Anthropologist Melvin Konner asked sarcastically, "Should we bash religion with a crowbar or only with a baseball bat?"

The New Scientist report spoke of the "fervour of a revivalist meeting ... [with] no hallelujahs, gospel songs or swooning, but plenty of preaching, mostly to the converted, and much spontaneous applause for exhortations to follow the path of righteousness. And right there at the forefront of everyone's thoughts was God."

Hefner doesn't reject the critque out of hand, but instead gives some helpful responses that can help the church/religious community be true to its faith principles and not send the scientific community into a tizzy. There is another possible response, and that is for the religious community to recognize the contributions of science and say no to the anti-intellectualism that pushes so many away. One way of doing this is to celebrate Evolution Sunday on February 11th.

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