UNSCIENTIFIC ATHEISM

IN THE mid 2000’s, a group of authors came into prominence for their outspoken atheist views and their uncompromising criticism of religion. The position promoted by these authors became known as “New Atheism”. A key difference between this movement and previous versions of atheism was an approach to criticizing religion that relied much more forcefully on science than philosophy. And this reliance on science persists among atheists today. As recently as 2021, a study of secular worldviews[1] found that atheists strongly endorse an attitude which regards the natural sciences and the scientific method as the best or only way to make valid statements about the world and reality.

And yet, there are times when atheists fail to apply science to their own criticisms of religion. To put matters at their simplest, some atheists demonstrate a surprisingly poor grasp of scientific methodology.  This statement may seem controversial but it is in fact, a laying out of considered facts, as presented in the following articles. They are important facts because understanding them is essential to counteracting a serious misappropriation of science: one that confers undue credibility to a worldview with significant implications for what it means to live ethically and meaningfully. Perhaps these instances are mere oversights that may to some extent, be understandable for atheists who are not professional scientists, but they are hardly pardonable for those who claim to be men or women of science. 

[1] Schnell, T et al (2021). Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.