In Unscientific America, Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum (hencefore M&K) assert that America is awash in a tsunami of scientific illiteracy. They see this as a severe threat to Americans’ ability to make reasoned judgments about matters like vaccines and global warming, and to America’s preeminence in science. Where does the problem come from? In […]
I am so tired of people making the same old arguments about why science and faith are compatible, not bothering to listen to the other side. Over at The Intersection, Chris Mooney is using authority arguments to support his case for compatibility, posting a video of Eugenie Scott (director of the National Center for Science […]
At the request of Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, several of us were sent pre-publication copies of their new book, Unscientific America, a discussion of America’s scientific illiteracy and a prescription for fixing it. One of the recipients was P. Z. Myers of Pharyngula fame, who is strongly criticized in the book for his atheism […]
The data say they aren’t, but Chris Mooney tweaks them a bit to claim the opposite. See here, here, here, here, here, and here (in order). (NOTE: By “tweaking” here I meant “interpret”; I am not of course saying that Mooney fiddles with the data. Apologies to anyone who construed it that way.) Here are […]
From Peter M. J. Hess, Catholic theologian and director of the “Faith Project” of the National Center for Science Education, comes this trenchant analysis of the faith/science dichotomy. Quote of the week in bold: Evolution can certainly be compatible with religious faith. Because the evidence for evolution is so overwhelming, we must consider it to […]
The recent debates about accommodating scientific with religious views have been scattered across several websites. The whole megillah began with a post on Chris Mooney’s site, arguing that the atheist attack on accommodationism was inimical to our joint interest in promoting the understanding of evolution. Mooney also characterized anti-accommodationists as “uncivil.” Since then, the arguments […]
The Big Debate continues about whether faith and science are compatible and whether scientists should criticize those religious people who agree with them about matters like evolution. Several people, however, have complained that discussion is spread out among so many places — and people — that it’s confusing to follow, especially now that Jason Rosenhouse, […]
Over at EvolutionBlog, Jason Rosenhouse has again taken on Chris Mooney’s critique of accommodationism. Jason has done such a good job that I have little to add. However, lest Mooney accuse me of hiding behind Rosenhouse, or of avoiding debate, let me briefly respond. Mooney’s latest beef is that I have somehow confused methodological naturalism […]
Over at EvolutionBlog, Jason Rosenhouse has responded to Mooney’s “part two” critique of my views on accommodationism. It’s a superb analysis, and, as before, I couldn’t have written it better myself. If you’ve been following these debates, this is required reading. As I said yesterday, I’ll wait until Mooney finishes his posts before I reply […]
Well, Chris Mooney has decided to continue the discussion about the compatibility of science and faith that he and Barbara Forrest began on his Discover blog. If you’ve followed all this, they criticized me for my “divisiveness” in going after the idea that science and faith are compatible. I responded to this, saying that since […]
