Monday, June 8, 2015

Conflating science, atheism, and political liberalism

There is an excellent long article in The Guardian, What scares the new atheists, by the atheist philosopher, John Gray. The main point of the article is the following.
"For 21st century atheist missionaries, being liberal and scientific in outlook are one and the same.It’s a reassuringly simple equation. In fact there are no reliable connections – whether in logic or history – between atheism, science and liberal values."
Science produces reliable knowledge. It brings credibility. We would all like our religious (or non-religious) views and political views to be "scientific". This has been the claim and dream of many since the beginnings of science. However, as Gray nicely argues using significant historical examples, science can't be used to justify atheism or any particular political system.

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