Re: Science is an all-or-nothing endeavor


John McKendry wrote:
On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 14:00:07 -0700, jimmenegay wrote:
jimmenegay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Larry Moran wrote:
First, let's think of the 90% of scientists who don't believe in a
personal god.

90%? Hmmm. This piece in the latest Nature seems to dispute your
figures. But perhaps your qualifier 'personal' explains this
discrepancy.
https://phdlife.wordpress.com/2006/07/13/a-different-spin-on-the-science-religion-debate/

I think I can help explain the discrepancy. Here's two more URLs:
http://www.beliefnet.org/story/1/story_193_1.html and
http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/news/file002.html

[snip]
It looks like the story you cited on Francis Collins is using the
number for all scientists, and Larry is using the number for "greater"
scientists.

Yep. That explains it. Thanks.

I think it's unfortunate that the survey only asked about belief in
a personal God; Larson and Witham decided to use Leuba's definition,
"a God to whom one may pray in expectation of receiving an answer".
Given that definition of God, I'm surprised the numbers of believers
are as high as they are.

Frankly, I would be surprised if a majority of Americans even
properly understand the phrase "personal God". Many, I suspect,
would interpret 'personal' as in the sense of a "personal ring-tone"
for their cell phone, rather than as a qualifier stipulating that the
God in question must be a person.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Science is an all-or-nothing endeavor
    ... personal god. ... But perhaps your qualifier 'personal' explains this ... discrepancy. ... Whoops. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Science is an all-or-nothing endeavor
    ... selected American scientists and found that 58% of them expressed ... disbelief in or doubt about the existence of a personal God. ... Leuba repeated his survey in 1933 and got 67% skepticism among all ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Religion versus Intelligence
    ... personal god and a life after death, only 40% of scientists on the B.S. ... level favor this belief in religion and merely 10 % of those who are ... not as a deeper understanding of reality. ...
    (alt.politics)
  • Re: Those of us trying to help Kelleher
    ... What it demonstrates is that belief in a personal god ... is very low amongst top-of-their-field scientists. ... If I granted your audience you would ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Religion versus Intelligence
    ... personal god and a life after death, only 40% of scientists on the ... level favor this belief in religion and merely 10 % of those who are ... not as a deeper understanding of reality. ...
    (alt.politics)