IMHO it does. You can never be sure if their fairytale beliefs clouded their judgment or not. They are now bias, in their research, so it can't be trusted.
If a Biologist/Physicist told you they believed in god.
- Thread starter StatsManD
- Start date
I mean they might think god created life, earth, gravity, etc, and ignore evidence that goes against that belief.
No, I don't think it would matter, especially not with a Physicist. What does belief in god have to do with physics? If god created gravity, that doesn't prevent one from studying gravity and uncovering its secrets. And why would a physicist be less credible than a chemist?
Brainonska511
Lifer
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You're off to a great start(well not quite start...you have had quite a few interesting threads) here on ATOT...keep up the good work!
::shiftyeyes::
::shiftyeyes::
fleshconsumed
Diamond Member
- Feb 21, 2002
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and an atheist would be different how? what if god does exist? in science you have to keep an open mind to any possibility. thats what makes a good scientist.
I'd want to know their definition of god. If they tell me they believe in the Christian god or gods (he has multiple personalities) as described in the bible, I would be incredulous and certainly dismiss such a person as intellectually weakminded and dishonest. If they told me they were conceptualising god as the rules of the universe (the laws of physics) as Einstein occasionally did, I'd scold them for their lax definition.
of course it matters. there is no reliable evidence for a god or gods as described in the christian bible. someone who "believes" in a concept for which there is no reliable evidence and which cannot be disproven is not a scientist, imho.
Fayd
Diamond Member
if they take genesis word for word as the literal truth, then maybe.
but just believing in a god, be it christian god, muslim god, hindu gods, or any number of other gods doesnt make them any less of a potentially credible scientist.
but just believing in a god, be it christian god, muslim god, hindu gods, or any number of other gods doesnt make them any less of a potentially credible scientist.
Yeah I don't think it really matters these days since its kind of incompatible to be a scientist and take the bible literally. The only problem I could maybe see is when a fundamentalist type person encounters something difficult to understand or explain they would be inclined to fall back on the supernatural and stop looking for an explanation.
Actually I watched an interesting video recently with a speaker discussing how many of the most brilliant men such as Newton fell back on God when they reached the limits of their ability to understand the universe. More specifically the speaker was pointing out that Laplace was able to go farther into explaining the solar system than Newton because he did not include the God hypothesis.
So basically Laplace was able to go farther into the mechanics of the solar system than Newton even though Newton was probably just as capable of making the same discoveries if he had not invoked God when he reached the limits of what he thought man could understand.
not in any way. in fact, the physics teacher at my school is one of the smartest people i know and he is religous.
"From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.... I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our being."
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
--Einstein
A real scientist is open to any possibility so long as there is either evidence supporting it or no evidence disproving it. Is there evidence to prove that a God (in whatever form people choose to believe) does not exist? No. Thus, there is the possibility that a God does exist. So long as the scientist does not allow a belief unsupported by evidence to interfere with objective reasoning and analysis of the available information, it is irrelevant to the credibility of the scientist.
Babbles
Diamond Member
- Jan 4, 2001
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This is kinda retarded.
I work as a scientist (research/analytical chemistry stuff) and I have only a B.S. However for the past seven plus years I have been in the industry I have worked with tons of people with degrees ranging from B.S. to a PhD and even a few former college professors. I have worked in two different states (Texas and Pennsylvania) and the vast, vast majority of the people I have encountered in the science world are religious.
If some of you folks think that simply because somebody considers themselves a scientist that they are inherently atheist, then you are greatly mistaken. Go and actually talk to a fair representative sample of "us" and you will probably be surprised about the range of religious beliefs that are held.
That being said I have ran across a few atheist - and none of them crazy hard core evangelizing atheists a la Dawkins - but I also have never ran across crazy fundamental religious folks either. I guess if I had to generalize my personal experiences I would say most of the science folks I have met are moderately religious; neither fundies or atheists.
I work as a scientist (research/analytical chemistry stuff) and I have only a B.S. However for the past seven plus years I have been in the industry I have worked with tons of people with degrees ranging from B.S. to a PhD and even a few former college professors. I have worked in two different states (Texas and Pennsylvania) and the vast, vast majority of the people I have encountered in the science world are religious.
If some of you folks think that simply because somebody considers themselves a scientist that they are inherently atheist, then you are greatly mistaken. Go and actually talk to a fair representative sample of "us" and you will probably be surprised about the range of religious beliefs that are held.
That being said I have ran across a few atheist - and none of them crazy hard core evangelizing atheists a la Dawkins - but I also have never ran across crazy fundamental religious folks either. I guess if I had to generalize my personal experiences I would say most of the science folks I have met are moderately religious; neither fundies or atheists.
Are you going to cry for other atheists to come save you from your own stupidity in this thread, too?
This is something that people just don't understand. Being an atheist is just as bad as being religious when it comes to having an open mind. A true scientist should be agnositc, assuming they haven't found some sort of repeatable proof of the existence of a god.
Schadenfroh
Elite Member
- Mar 8, 2003
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