SCIENCE!

I'm trying to get some use out of my philosophy degree here.


The Academy of Sciences reports that roughly 93% of its members are atheists or agnostics.

Shocking? Maybe

Relevant? Hardly

Setting aside whether it is appropriate to lump atheists (those who deny the existence of God) together with agnostics (those who are unsure or skeptical of God's existence) in one statistic, the question of God is not a topic which science is competent to address. Science deals with realities which can be observed and measured. However, God cannot be seen or quantified in any way. Therefore, science can never determine whether God exists or not, and scientists are not qualified to opine on anything having to do with God. And anything they do say about God is irrelevant.

Consider this. What if a poll revealed that 93% of Evangelical Christians denied or were skeptical of the theory of evolution? Should that cause a scientist to reconsider her own position on Darwin's work? Of course not. Well, the opposite is also the case.

Science does a great deal of good for humanity when it operates within its realm of competency. Beyond that, it should have no bearing on issues which fall to philosophy and theology to weigh and consider.