The graph makes a valid statistical point. In 1998 the National Academy of Science surveyed its members about their religious belief or lack thereof. Of the half who responded to the survey 93% said they don’t believe in a higher power. 72.2 % were overtly atheistic, 20.8 % agnostic, and only 7.0 % believed in a personal God. While that is a welcome survey result for atheists, most will admit that it doesn’t clinch their case. 7% of scientists in the Academy do believe in a higher power, so advanced scientific knowledge – and high intelligence — are compatible with religious faith.
The University of Chicago Chronicle carried this report on July 14, 2005: “The first study of physician religious beliefs has found that 76 percent of doctors believe in God and 59 percent believe in some sort of afterlife. The survey, performed by researchers at the University and published in the July issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that 90 percent of doctors in the United States attend religious services at least occasionally, compared to 81 percent of all adults.”
Francis S. Collins, who directs the National Human Genome Research Institute, is a professing Christian. Stephen Jay Gould (d. 2002), per Wikipedia, “was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.” Richard Dawkins quotes him, in The God Delusion: “To say it all for the umpteenth millionth time (from college bull sessions to learned treatises): science simply cannot (by its legitimate methods) adjudicate the issue of God’s possible superintendence of nature. We neither affirm nor deny it; we simply can’t comment on it as scientists.”
The following three paragraphs are from an essay entitled An Agnostic Argues for Faith:
“I am a Christian. And I am an agnostic. I hold as true what cannot yet be verified. An agnostic is one who says we can’t know whether there is a God or not. His existence can’t be proven, and it can’t be disproven. Thomas Aquinas gave reasons to believe in God, but they don’t compel belief; they are not (as he claimed) ‘proofs.’ Bertrand Russell, a great exponent of atheism, admitted he couldn’t be absolutely sure God doesn’t exist. Chapter 4 of Dawkins’ book is entitled ‘Why There Is Almost Certainly No God.’ Almost certainly. Dawkins isn’t sure either.
“Since none of us can know, the great human decision isn’t ‘to be or not to be,’ but to believe or not believe. I believe. Atheists choose not to believe. I can’t tell them they’re wrong, and they can’t tell me I’m wrong. We all grope in existential darkness. I use religious faith as a compass. They think it’s worthless….
“To some rational minds the theistic view is no more unlikely than the atheistic – arguably less so. Did the Big Bang ultimately produce Plato, or did a cause more like Plato produce him? Did cosmic dust evolve into a great mind, or did a Great Mind produce the cosmos?”
No Collision Between Science and Faith
The graph makes a valid statistical point. In 1998 the National Academy of Science surveyed its members about their religious belief or lack thereof. Of the half who responded to the survey 93% said they don’t believe in a higher power. 72.2 % were overtly atheistic, 20.8 % agnostic, and only 7.0 % believed in a personal God. While that is a welcome survey result for atheists, most will admit that it doesn’t clinch their case. 7% of scientists in the Academy do believe in a higher power, so advanced scientific knowledge – and high intelligence — are compatible with religious faith.
The University of Chicago Chronicle carried this report on July 14, 2005: “The first study of physician religious beliefs has found that 76 percent of doctors believe in God and 59 percent believe in some sort of afterlife. The survey, performed by researchers at the University and published in the July issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that 90 percent of doctors in the United States attend religious services at least occasionally, compared to 81 percent of all adults.”
Francis S. Collins, who directs the National Human Genome Research Institute, is a professing Christian. Stephen Jay Gould (d. 2002), per Wikipedia, “was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.” Richard Dawkins quotes him, in The God Delusion: “To say it all for the umpteenth millionth time (from college bull sessions to learned treatises): science simply cannot (by its legitimate methods) adjudicate the issue of God’s possible superintendence of nature. We neither affirm nor deny it; we simply can’t comment on it as scientists.”
The following three paragraphs are from an essay entitled An Agnostic Argues for Faith:
“I am a Christian. And I am an agnostic. I hold as true what cannot yet be verified. An agnostic is one who says we can’t know whether there is a God or not. His existence can’t be proven, and it can’t be disproven. Thomas Aquinas gave reasons to believe in God, but they don’t compel belief; they are not (as he claimed) ‘proofs.’ Bertrand Russell, a great exponent of atheism, admitted he couldn’t be absolutely sure God doesn’t exist. Chapter 4 of Dawkins’ book is entitled ‘Why There Is Almost Certainly No God.’ Almost certainly. Dawkins isn’t sure either.
“Since none of us can know, the great human decision isn’t ‘to be or not to be,’ but to believe or not believe. I believe. Atheists choose not to believe. I can’t tell them they’re wrong, and they can’t tell me I’m wrong. We all grope in existential darkness. I use religious faith as a compass. They think it’s worthless….
“To some rational minds the theistic view is no more unlikely than the atheistic – arguably less so. Did the Big Bang ultimately produce Plato, or did a cause more like Plato produce him? Did cosmic dust evolve into a great mind, or did a Great Mind produce the cosmos?”
The full essay those passages were excerpted from can be found on my blog, The Believing Agnostic: http://www.thebelievingagnostic.blogspot.com/. Hope you’ll visit.
Shane Hayes