14AR19-11

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Apologia Report 19:11 (1,194)

April 16, 2014

Subject: Are scientists "pushed toward atheism"?

In this issue:

ATHEISM - scientists, far fewer are non-believers than supposed

CHURCH HISTORY - an excellent introduction to the early Church Fathers

JUDAISM - how Messianic Jews have made use of developing rabbinic materials through the centuries

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ATHEISM

"Do the Polls Show That Science Leads to Atheism?" by Eugene A. Curry -- observes that "one of the more common presentations of this argument relies on a 1998 survey of the National Academy of Sciences <www.ow.ly/vPJSD> which indicated that conventional religious beliefs were quite rare among the members of that body." This approach has been employed by Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins.

Curry points out flaws in the survey, and suggests: "If we wanted to find more recent, more in-depth, and less problematic survey information on this topic, we could turn to the work of Elaine Ecklund, a sociologist at Rice University. In her book Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think [1], she presents the results of a massive study involving both surveys and follow-up interviews with hundreds of professors of the various sciences at America's elite universities. Her findings take up many pages, but the bottom line is this: 34% of America's top scientists are genuine atheists, 30% are agnostics, 8% believe in some sort of vague 'higher power,' and 28% believe in God with varying degrees of confidence. ...

"According to the [NAS] survey, disbelief in a God in communication with humanity grew from about 53% in 1914 to about 72% in 1998." Further, "it seems that the only post-1914 scientific discoveries to have had any meaningful bearing on the question of God were the discovery of the anthropic fine-tuning of physics and the triumph of Big Bang cosmology. ...

"As Robert Jastrow of NASA and then Dartmouth College declared concerning fine-tuning, it is 'the most theistic result ever to come out of science.' And when it comes to the Big Bang, it has become a veritable hall mark of theistic apologetics, breathing new life into Al-Ghazali's Kalam argument and leading Paul Draper, an agnostic professor of philosophy at Purdue University, to grant that 'on the whole ... twentieth century cosmology supports theism over naturalism.'"

Ecklund writes: "For the majority of scientists I interviewed, it is not the engagement with science itself that leads them away from religion. Rather, their reasons for unbelief mirror the circumstances in which other Americans find themselves: they were not raised in a religious home; they have had bad experiences with religion; they disapprove of God or see God as too changeable."

Curry summarizes: "So atheistic scientists have not been pushed toward atheism by science; they have been pushed toward it because as children they were busy playing soccer on Sundays rather than attending church services, or because they had a nasty run-in with an off-putting minister.

"Add to that the possibility that a number of selection effects are at play and the 34% atheism rate becomes even more unremarkable. ...

"Denis Alexander has speculated that perhaps the high rates of atheism among *very* accomplished scientists (like the prestigious group who teach in America's top universities, or the even more prestigious members of the NAS) has more to do with their being very accomplished than with their being scientists. [T]hose scientists who do not divide their time between their work and religiously informed priorities (as many theists do and most atheists do not) are more likely to reach those highest echelons and to therefore find themselves included in the polls we are discussing.

"The upshot of all this is that disproportionately many people who embrace atheism for nonscientific reasons (generally in their youth) subsequently enter scientific fields of study and therefore atheism comes to be statistically overrepresented in the sciences." Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, 65:2 - 2013, pp75-78. <www.ow.ly/vPK1L>

CHURCH HISTORY

Rediscovering the Church Fathers, by Michael A. G. Haykin (Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) [2] -- reviewer Shawn Wilhite reports that "Haykin whets the appetite of Christian readers and demonstrates the courage, the intellectual abilities, and the faithful suffering of selected fathers with winsome prose and an ability to navigate the boundless waters of stimulating and complex ancient ideas.

"Haykin sets out with five reasons for taking interest in Patristic literature" - namely for: 1) freedom and wisdom; 2) understanding the New Testament; 3) identifying false statements regarding the fathers; 4) practicing apologetics; and 5) spiritual nurture. Haykin "provides a snapshot of various kinds of fathers within the Patristic tradition. He focuses on Ignatius, who is rich for understanding Christianity after the apostles; the Letter to Diognetus, which contains an early form of apologetics; Origen, who still shapes hermeneutical discussions today; Cyprian and Ambrose, who give us insight into the Latin Fathers; Basil of Caesarea, who has more extant material than any other father during early Christendom besides Augustine and who has shaped pneumatological discussions; and finally, Patrick, who was a British Christian captured by Irishmen and served as a great missionary to Ireland. Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 17:2 - 2013, pp93-94.

JUDAISM

"The Messianic Use of Rabbinic Literature" by Avner Boskey -- the introduction sets an apologetic tone "in the defense of the Messianic gospel." Boskey's objective: "Unless we maintain high standards in our use of rabbinic materials, we leave ourselves wide open to the valid charges of pseudo-contextualization and poor scholarship. ...

"It is with the intent of clearing the air, refocusing priorities, and laying down some methodological guidelines that this article is presented. Critical comments brought to bear against Christian use of rabbinics will be examined; historical and present examples of such abuse will be analyzed; and finally, guidelines will be suggested which may be of help in encouraging an honest, humble, and diligent approach to rabbinic literature worthy of the epithet 'Messianic.'" Objections considered include ignorance, denigration, distortion, *tendenz* (bias), misuses of context, lack of scholarship, and the lack of content mastery.

Boskey , who leads Final Frontier Ministries <www.ow.ly/vPKiY> in Israel with his wife, Rachel, demonstrates that "Messianic Jews were aware of, and made use of, developing rabbinic materials" from the second to twelfth centuries. He also examines rabbinic liturgical elements which have been embraced to varying degrees by different Messianic congregations in the U.S. Within the context of this discussion Boskey cautions: "Messianic believers, if they are to make use of kabbalistic liturgical traditions, must carefully discern and understand the gnostic theological origins of such traditions.... One would have to ask whether the whole endeavor, as far as kabbalism is concerned, is worth the candle."

In his conclusion, Boskey writes: "brief comment may now be offered as to the value of Talmudic studies for Messianic believers, and one or two caveats may also be noted. ...

"Enough has been written to caution those who would blindly assume that rabbinic Judaism was the womb out of which our Messiah emerged. ...

"Talmudic studies can contribute to Messianic believers' understanding of how rabbinic Judaism and the Messianic movement of Yeshua developed side by side, of how their own theologies were shaped and hammered out through wary interaction and heated debate. The study of rabbinic literature could further aid the Messianic [movement] in understanding modern forms of Judaism, and how aspects of Jewish religious thought have been shaped by events which occurred ove the past millennia." Mishkan, 71 -2013, pp4-40.

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think, by Elaine Howard Ecklund (Oxford Univ Prs, 2012, paperback, 240 pages) <www.ow.ly/vITvS>

2 - Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church, by Michael A. G. Haykin (Crossway, 2011, paperback, 176 pages) <www.ow.ly/vIW0Q>

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