Jerry Coyne is still peddling his crackpot views about religion and science. He floats a stale, old New Atheist talking point:
The first way is this: âAre there any scientists who believe in God?â And the answer to that is, âYes, of course.â A Pew survey in 2009 showed that 33% of scientists attested to a belief in God, another 18% believed in a âuniversal spirit or higher power,â and 41% were atheists or agnostics. But thatâs far less belief than held by the American public as a whole, where the figures are 83%, 12%, and 4% respectively.
Whatâs interesting is that more accomplished scientists show less belief in God: 93% of members of the elite National Academies of Sciences, for example, are atheists. This could mean either that the more accomplished scientists tended to be nonbelievers at the start of their careers, or that doing good science makes one less of a believer.
The problem for Coyne is that these accomplished scientists don’t have any accomplished or powerful arguments for atheism. I explained this in some detail 10 years ago. So let’s do it again.
From 2013:
One of the favorite arguments in the atheist movement is to point to leading scientists and note that a majority of them are atheists. The argument is, of course, pathetic and not much different from trying to score some point for male superiority because the same elite scientists are mostly white males. What matters are the arguments and evidence these elite scientists can come up with. If their atheism is linked to their expertise as scientists and scholars, surely this group of people must possess the most powerful and compelling arguments against the existence of God. So I have always said we need to hear these arguments.
Luckily for us, Dr. Jonathan Pararejasingham has been compiling video of elite scientists and scholars to make the connection between atheism and science. Unfortunately for Pararejasingham, once you get past the self-identification of these scholars as non-believers, there is simply very little there to justify the belief in atheism. See for yourself. Here is the
What I found was 50 elite scientists expressing their personal opinions, but none had some powerful argument or evidence to justify their opinions. In fact, most did not even cite a reason for thinking atheism was true. Several claimed to have been non-religious their entire life and several more lost their faith as children or young students. Clearly, the expertise of these scholars had no role in formulating their atheism. The few that did try to justify their atheism commonly appealed to God of the Gaps arguments (there is no need for God, therefore God does not exist) and the Argument from Evil (our bad world could not have come from an All Loving, All Powerful God). In other words, it is just as I thought it would be. Yes, most elite scientists and scholars are atheists. But their reasons for being atheists and agnostics are varied and often personal. And their typical arguments are rather common and shallow â god of the gaps and the existence of evil. It would seem clear that their expertise and elite status is simply not a causal factor for them being atheists. Finally, it is also clear the militant atheism of Dawkins and Coyne are distinct minority views among these scholars.
My summary of each scholarâs point is below the fold.
I can’t confirm this tweet, but if it is valid, can anyone else spot the most delcious irony?
Climate alarmism on display. Of course, this clown show has made him very rich.
As society increasingly abandons Christianity, it increasingly embraces the Crazy.
Here are some LGBQT activists that we’re not supposed to notice:
A progressive fashion designer praises authoritarianism:
A best-selling author defends kiddie porn?
Another gender affirming, sexual abuse story:
Continue readingYes, it’s just one person. But I don’t think any LGBQT organization has condemned such talk. If you know of any, provide the link below in the comments section.
Harris is an idiot. Yes, there is a huge fracture in society around the issues of vaccines. And you wanna know why it exists? It’s because people like Harris insisted on a vaccine mandate. People were forced to choose between losing their jobs or getting the vaccine. And this forced decision was being demanded by germophobes and control freaks.
Y’see, I got the vaccine early on to protect myself. That’s how it works. I didn’t get the vaccine to protect Sam Harris or anyone else. That’s not how vaccines work.
If you got the vaccine, it doesn’t matter if I got it. If you didn’t want to get the vaccine, it’s your right because it’s your life.
Teachers do seem to have pedophilia problem. This is why people should be skeptical when teachers want to teach sexual topics to children.
I don’t mind electric vehicles. My problem is with the woke element that is often attached EVs. If woke progressives had their way, they would ban internal combustion engine cars to “save the planet.” Of course, the problem is that EVs can never fully replace ICE cars. Peter Zeihan does a nice job explaining some of the problems:
When trying to better understand what white privilege is supposed to be, I discovered a series of articles that help by providing concrete examples, such as What Is White Privilege? Here Are 9 Everyday Examples by Suzannah Weiss.   As I was reading through these, it occurred to me that the social justice movement has been suspiciously silent about a another form of privilege that may be just as extensive  â secular privilege.
Let me use the first seven examples of white privilege from the Weiss article to show they could just as well represent examples of secular privilege (it would help to read that article before this one). Iâll start by again quoting Weiss, with a few word changes, and quote her examples with the appropriate word changes. I will then add three more examples of my own.
Letâs begin.
If youâre a secular person who has trouble understanding your privilege, here are some examples proving that it definitely exists. Itâs not your fault that you benefit from these privileges, but you can still work to help others benefit from them too.
1.Your Wages Arenât Lower Because You are Religious
While I was unable to find any solid studies that compare the income of religious vs. secular people, this Pew Research survey found that atheists and agnostics have a higher household income than members of most religions. For example, while almost 60% of atheists have an income of more than $50,000 per year, only about 30% of Baptists do.
While the Pew data donât measure religiosity itself, it is worth noting that the religious group with the highest household incomes also happens to be the least religious. In this survey, 58% of people who made less than $30,000 a year self-reported that religion was very important in their lives, while 58% of the people who made more than $100,000 reported that religion was at most âsomewhat important.â
2.People Donât Make Assumptions About Your Intelligence Because Of Your Religion
A common stereotype about religious people is that they are stupid.
The stereotype is even proudly perpetuated by the social sciences â Religious People Are Less Intelligent Than Atheists, Concludes New Study.
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Shadow To Light 