A is for Atheism

Ben Stine Doesn't Understand Science.

    I find Ben Stine, for the most part, agreeable. I like his dry tone and subtle humor. I laughed as people won his money and as he bored the students on Wonderyears, but now Ben Stine is taking on a misrepresentation of science. He is talking about Intelligent Design, which is the idea that God was the helping hand behind the Evolutionary process. That there is a supernatural explanation for the existence of life. I will make clear to make a distinction between this and creationism. (although they are intrinsically connected.) According to the Christian Post Reporter,

“Scientists are supposed to be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it may lead, no matter what the implications are. Freedom of inquiry has been greatly compromised, and this is not only anti-American, it’s anti-science. Its anti-the whole concept of learning” said Stein in a news release.

Ben sounds like he is being very reasonable, Why can't Scientists proclaim a supernatural event? Well let's purpose another example of supernatural explanations. The earth shakes and crumbles and hot fire shoots out of the ground. Well the ghost inside the earth must be angry, I mean we know that the earth shifts and causes these events, but it is the ghost that causes the shift in the earth. No need for further explanation. That is as good of science as any secular explanation. Well the reason this is not science is the same reason that ID is not science.

    First, Science makes no comment on the supernatural. By definition science (the study of the natural world) makes no claim on the supernatural. Some like to claim that science is the pursuit  of truth. It is not that would be more Philosophy, Science is the pursuit of truth in such a way that it can be repeatable, testable, and falsifiable.  ID  does not do any of this, it doesn't even bring anything new to science. One cannot test the ghost in the earth nor the god in the man, so it remains outside of the realm of science.

“There are people out there who want to keep science in a little box where it can't possibly touch God,” said Stein in the film’s trailer. “  "Scientists are not even allowed to think thoughts that involve an intelligent creator.”

The little box is Science, and to reach outside of the box is too reach into pure speculation. Would anyone want to live in a world where scientists relied on supernatural claims. Claims that can be made without evidence. Also the ID people have a bigger problem than saying there is design in nature and it is God who put it there. The religious should stick to philosophy/theology and maybe Ben Stine should stick to being a lawyer, and author because science is outside the realm of Ben Stine.

Posted at 03:00PM Oct 09, 2007 by Dan Benjamin Smart in General  |  Comments[6]