Doublethink
I got into - well, all right, engineered - a conversation over Christmas with Andy, one of my parents' friends, about the existence of god. He's a Christian of the evangelical sort, and a kind of creationist to boot. I'd had a bit to drink, and... well, maybe the Devil took me over for a bit.

This would be a ho-hum story but for one thing. I asked him about the evidence for his beliefs. "It's not about evidence," he said. "It's about faith."

Now, Andy is a doctor. A fairly senior doctor. I'd like to think that evidence is fairly central to his life and what he does. Faith, quite properly, ought to play no part in treatment decisions - and were a student or colleague to venture a diagnosis based on faith, I'd expect him to reject it and tell them they were wrong. (I'd expect students to tell him he was wrong, too, if he did the same. It cuts both ways.)

Andy looked uncomfortable. He wiffled something about it being different. OK, then - I don't accept that, but let's let it pass for the moment. What about the origin of the universe and the origin of life? That's an example where there's plenty of evidence for the big bang, evolution, and all that stuff. Didn't that obviate the need for a creator god? Indeed, wasn't it a much better explanation than would be the invocation of a creator god? Aren't these examples where science clearly has the edge over anything religion can offer?

His response? To trot out the laboured claims about evolution being only a threory, the hackneyed nonsense about the second law of thermodynamics, the supposed difference between macro and microevolution, the antiquity of the biblical account - in short, every straw that could be clutched was clutched.

I'd remind you that this was a senior doctor. Ostensibly, a scientist. Someone who relies on evidence to do his job. And here he was, denying either the evidence, or its importance, and placing blind faith and deference to authority in its place.

And that, my friends, is terrifying.


THIS IS THE FUNNIEST STORY YOU'LL READ ALL WEEK.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:27, 14 replies)

Enzyme has spoken.

In the beginning was the word, and the word came from Enzyme.
( flirting with badgers What? It sounded good at the time., Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:31, closed)

:)
I do rather like all the adulation that's coming my way at the moment!
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:33, closed)

That's because you're an
Egotistical nut-sack :p
( Cawl, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:36, closed)

...
Apparently it's warranted, though...
:)
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:38, closed)

When I'm in charge of the country...
...I'm going to appoint Enzyme to the post of Archbishop of Canterbury.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:42, closed)

Haha!
You cocky sod!
( Cawl, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:43, closed)

Normal self-loathing will be resumed shortly, I assure you.
:)
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:46, closed)

You're not wrong...
They've put the integrity of their entire career ethics on hold to justify their faith.

I wouldn't want him treating me.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:34, closed)

One of my biggest bugbears
is people who use the 'evolution is only a theory' line.

They show a basic misunderstanding of the definition of the word theory in scientific terms; i.e. different from normal usage.

Ben Goldacre had a good rant explaining this but I can't find it, so have some Wikipedia action
(username1, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:34, closed)

PZ Meyers makes a similar point similarly well.
And I can't find that. Snap.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:38, closed)

I heart PZ Myers. One of my 'must read' blogs!
(username1, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:39, closed)

I has it open
all day long, and sit punching F5 for as long as my strength lasts.
One of the joys of having a time difference is that when I get in in the morning all the posts from last night have to be read with a cup of tea :)
(tweebianmonkey Should be known as Widget, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 11:54, closed)

Mrs Legless
Is religious, and a Christian and a doctor.

That said she's a committed Darwinist and rejects Creationism. The creation story in the Bible is a parable and nothing more.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 12:25, closed)

...
And the second sentence of that is the clincher.

I don't have much problem with Christianity as a sort of rope by which you live your life - I disagree with it, but yahh boo. The belief in god is false, but, again, for the most part, yahh boo.

It's the dogmatic rejection of evidence and the arbitrary division into the world into things for which we need evidence, and things where faith is enough, that gets me angry.

A creationist scientist strike me as pathological, or a liar, or a pathological liar.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 12:37, closed)