Why Are So Many Scientists Atheists?

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Radius

Senior Member
Feb 11, 2013
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#1
The scientific community as a whole are by and large non-believers and depend on their own thinking of how and why the universe exists. Why is this so?
 
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richie_2uk

Guest
#2
were is there truth? there are always critics, the more scientists pushes God out of the picture, the more scientists are digging the bigger hole for themselves. They are falling into there own believes and try make it look good and evidential and interesting to the world, to blind them from the truth. Sad but true Don't get me wrong there are some scientists are out there for the good. But majority, they are trying to disprove something to big for them to disprove. and they are falling into there own trap.
 
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DannyC

Guest
#3
Steven Weinberg is a theoretical physicist, atheist and a nobel prize winner for his work is physics. He puts it quite well. Scientists are so busy with their work that they don't have time to figure out whether they believe in God or not. It does not matter to many of them. He also states that in biology most biologists are atheists due to fighting against religious fundamentalists who challenge evolution. Rarely will a creationist challenge a physicist due to the fact creationists don't know much if anything about the big bang or cosmology.
 

Nautilus

Senior Member
Jun 29, 2012
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#4
So where is the proof that most all scientists are atheists? Like 40% of scientists during a survey also said the pray to a god during a survey..atheists don't do that. Besides its not like scientists are the one picketing churches. In fact most people even religious people are just fine and coexist just fine with science. I guess there wil always be that fringe minority gorup though that tries to shout the loudest...
 

PennEd

Senior Member
Apr 22, 2013
12,978
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#5
So where is the proof that most all scientists are atheists? Like 40% of scientists during a survey also said the pray to a god during a survey..atheists don't do that. Besides its not like scientists are the one picketing churches. In fact most people even religious people are just fine and coexist just fine with science. I guess there wil always be that fringe minority gorup though that tries to shout the loudest...

Wow. For a guy who talks science often your'e math skills aren't so hot! "Where is the proof that MOST scientists are atheists? Like FORTY PERCENT "
You do realize that BY DEFINITION 60% is MORE (MOST) than 40%!!
 
Jul 24, 2013
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#6
By atheist, do you mean doesn't believe in any God or doesn't belong to any organized religion?
I think many scientists believe in God, but not the God from the Bible or Koran or any other major religion.
 
Jul 26, 2013
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#7
Everyone "believes". But for scientists, there are so many to choose from.
 
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DannyC

Guest
#8
I also know for a fact that a study conducted by two philosophers which documented the beliefs held by 3,000 philosophers came up with a 72.8% of them were atheists. Quite large, and I think that is due to many of them finding the arguments for theism failing to be accurate or convincing. Most contemporary philosophers also work heavily in theoretical science.
 
Jul 24, 2013
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#9
It kind of like children believe in Santa and adults don't.
 

respekt

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2013
269
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#10
By atheist, do you mean doesn't believe in any God or doesn't belong to any organized religion?
I think many scientists believe in God, but not the God from the Bible or Koran or any other major religion.
According to what you assumed that many scientists atheists, mostly they know God is "exist". They adore His creations but not getting to know who the Creator is. They do know God but they "don't" believe in God. That's a big difference.
 

starfield

Senior Member
Jun 13, 2009
3,393
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#11
Science is mostly based on observation and testability, whereas Christianity is based on faith - the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Nonetheless, there were and are still Christian scientists, but because some sciences are in conflict with theism they have to do some accommodating.
 
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RachelBibleStudent

Guest
#12
most of modern science operates under the assumptions of materialistic naturalism...that is the belief that the physical world is all there is and everything that happens is a result of the laws of physics...

and if you have been trained in that worldview...it is only natural that you will probably be an atheist...or at most a deist...
 
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Ariel82

Guest
#13
the question shows bias. it assumes the premise that THEY "depend on their own thinking of how and why the universe exists."

Scientist normally keep religion out of the discussion as a whole and comment on observable facts about the world.

the question of WHY the universe exists is normally not raised in a scientific dialog. Or Why question might be ask. such as WHy do birds fly south in the winter?

however, most scientist start with the premise that the universes DOES exist and work to understand how it functions and why certain events happen.

Personally I see science as a tool to learn more about God's laws for the natural world and gain insight on how mankind effects our environment.

In the beginning, in the book of Genesis God created mankind to be gardeners or caretakers of the Garden of Eden. In the same way I believe we are to be caretakers of the Earth and should learn as much as God gave us the ability to about the world around us.

I have a question: why do so many Christians act like science is the enemy?
 
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Donkeyfish07

Guest
#14
More scientists believe in God than you would think. Most of them keep silent about it (Especially in the field of biology because of the evolution thing)......They lose credibility and get ridiculed in a lot of fields for talking about it and/or challenging whatever the current establishment says is true. Some teachers have even lost tenure for daring to question or say anything that would contradict evolution.
 
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DannyC

Guest
#15
More scientists believe in God than you would think. Most of them keep silent about it (Especially in the field of biology because of the evolution thing)......They lose credibility and get ridiculed in a lot of fields for talking about it and/or challenging whatever the current establishment says is true. Some teachers have even lost tenure for daring to question or say anything that would contradict evolution.
Give me a few named examples, if any of them are from 'Expelled' I would be happy to show you that Ben Stein lied about almost all the examples he gave.

Not to mention you havn't even put a coherent statement across, first you state they can't say they believe in God or they will be ridiculed then you jump to they can't question evolution. Which is it? Is it both? Because you have completely muddled your point. Why not look at an interview with Nobel prize winner Steven Weinberg who states that he deals with physicists who believe in God all the time, and that they are not 'rediculed'. You're just spouting nonsense to get people to feel sorry for you. Or look at Francis Collins who was in charge of the human genome project and a devout christian, who was friends with very outspoken atheists. Where is the supposed ridicule you are talking about?

Since your statement about scientists 'being rediculed for believing in God' is false, l will wait till you post some examples of people losing their tenure. I also have a strong feeling you will list all the one Ben Stein did, and you did no work to see if they were accurate.
 
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RachelBibleStudent

Guest
#16
Or look at Francis Collins who was in charge of the human genome project and a devout christian, who was friends with very outspoken atheists.
collins is hardly a 'devout christian'...among his many heresies he has claimed that jesus was fallible...
 
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DannyC

Guest
#17
collins is hardly a 'devout christian'...among his many heresies he has claimed that jesus was fallible...
He claims he is and takes his faith quite seriously, he is also an extremely good scientist, if you want to nit pick his beliefs be my guest, but among the scientific community and even the atheist community he is widely recongised as a christian, and my point still stands. He isn't ridiculed and afraid to admit he is a christian or a believer in God. Not to mention he was head of one of the most important projects in Biology. My point was regarding 'believers get rediculed and are afraid to believe in God' among the scientific community. That is not true. Nor is it true that people lose tentures because they question evolution.
 

ForthAngel

Senior Member
Aug 31, 2012
2,171
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#18
Haven't read all of the comments and I dunno the number of Christian or non-Christian scientists, but there are a few of them on the Veritas Forum, including philosophers, professors, mathematicians, and other fields. One I really enjoy listening to in particular is John Lennox, an Oxford professor, mathematician, and has a triple doctorate. He has some good debates in the forum with other atheist scientists such as Richard Dawkins.
 
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RachelBibleStudent

Guest
#19
He claims he is and takes his faith quite seriously, he is also an extremely good scientist, if you want to nit pick his beliefs be my guest, but among the scientific community and even the atheist community he is widely recongised as a christian, and my point still stands. He isn't ridiculed and afraid to admit he is a christian or a believer in God. Not to mention he was head of one of the most important projects in Biology. My point was regarding 'believers get rediculed and are afraid to believe in God' among the scientific community. That is not true. Nor is it true that people lose tentures because they question evolution.
well in order to gain their respect collins has had to be a christian in name only...

and it is ridiculous to claim that there are no repercussions in academia for people who question evolution...there are so many examples...