Wednesday 21 January 2009

Do You Have Faith in Science?


Some apologists try to set up a situation where they claim that atheists "have faith" in science, and then they wonder why that is any better than their faith in god. Both are unfounded beliefs, they claim. Problem is that they are making a very bad argument.

To say that one "has faith" in science is to misstate things a bit. Sure, we don't know for a fact that objects that are dropped will fall towards the Earth the next time we do it, so one could conceivably claim that one has to have faith that the findings of science will continue to hold true. But, it's not really a faith position, is it, since it is a tentative conclusion based on real data and empirical results. If one could call that faith, it is certainly justifiable due to the nature of science. To call religious faith justifiable or quibble over whether it truly is faith, however, is a long shot at best. Religion can not rely on the type and breadth of evidence that science brings to the table. Religion can not rely on its results the way science can. In short, to try to equate scientific "faith" to religious faith is to seriously understate one while overstating the other. It's just bad, sloppy, and or dishonest apologetics...but we're used to that, right?

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