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A collection of essays
is always difficult to review. Do I examine them each, or try to say
something about all of them collectively. This book contains a total
of 37 pieces, plus "An Overview of the Issues" and
"Afterthoughts" by the first editor. The majority of the
essays come from just three venues. Twenty-four were written for or
reprinted in the Skeptical Inquirer; six appeared in Free
Inquiry; and another four were delivered at the conference on Science
and Religion: Are They Compatible sponsored by the Center for
Inquiry and held in November 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia. Only three of
the pieces have been extracted from other sources. Even the editors
"Afterthoughts" have already been printed in the Skeptical
Inquirer. So if you subscribe to these magazines and attended
the conference, you would already be familiar with the vast majority
of thought presented in this volume.
The book is organized into seven themes on
the roles of science and religion: cosmology, intelligent design
creationism, conflicts between science and religion, science and
ethics, paranatural claims, scientific explanations of religion, and
the possibility of accommodation. In most sections the essays
explain the position of science and the unbeliever against religion.
But there is a possibility of bringing out conflicts between
supporters of religion and their skeptics. William Dembski is given
an opportunity to explicate his ideas on "Intelligent
Design" but instead expounds on the politics which will make it
difficult for skeptics to "unseat" this form of
creationism in the public square.
Stephen J. Gould’s argument about two
intellectual realms: science for the material, religion for morality
leads the section on science and ethics. Dawkins, in contrast,
argues Gould’s contention is nonsense. In practical reality nobody
draws on scripture for ethics, especially not on the Old Testament.
On the contrary, science impacts ethical ideas. Think only of the
issues raised by cloning and embryonic cell experiments.
"Evidently, we have some alternative source of ultimate moral
conviction which overrides scripture when it suits us." (p.
208)
The fact is that science and religion are
quite far apart, and probably not merely incompatible, but
incommensurable. To scientists, at least to some biological and
social scientists, religion is merely another phenomenon of the
material world. The section "Scientific Explanations of
Religious Belief" presents some interpretations. Why indeed do
people believe in a god or gods or other weird improbabilities? What
is there in biology and culture, or in human evolution that gives us
the strong conviction there is a human soul, even an immortal soul,
or a soul that survives the body, and a place or places where that
soul migrates after death. The very fact that such fantasies are
well-nigh universal among contemporary humans and throughout
understood history has often been used as a proof that there must be
some truth to the god myth. Science in contrast sees no soul, only a
mind that is part of the body. The universe is impersonal and
uncaring. When you are dead, you are dead, finish, gone. Physicist
Matt Young comments: (p. 351)
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Some people find this argument very
threatening. It might imply that mind is an epiphenomenon,
that is the result of physiological processes in our brains
and bodies, and nothing more. That there is no purpose to our
existence. That one day there will be no more humans, no
Earth, no universe as we know it. To me, however, these are
plain physical facts with no moral or ethical content. The
fact that we do not have immortal souls does not justify
unethical behavior. We might like the world to be otherwise,
but it is not. |
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The world perceived by
science and unbelief is not a pleasant place. Nor is it a place
where good and justice and well being are ultimate victors. Perhaps
that is why we need the fantasy of god and heaven. If you are
strongly interested in these subjects, it is good to have all this
material in one place on one shelf, instead of scattered in boxes of
old magazines.
— Wolf Roder |
