Science: It’s Tricky

It’s not something to idolize. It’s as flawed as we are

I received a letter (yes, some people still send paper letters!) that contained a lovely quote from Max Planck.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die.

Perhaps Planck was being metaphorical about “dying,” but regardless, Planck makes the salient point that scientists are as resistant to new ideas as everyone else, clinging dogmatically to their beliefs and their metaphorical turf.

How often have you run across someone who says, “science is my religion?” A few of my students have such sentiments. It’s one of those beliefs that sounds good to people with a certain worldview. But does it make any sense for science to be a religion?

The problem is that God did not create science. We did, we humans. As such, science manifests not divine perfection but human imperfection. Science deserves our attention and sometimes even our respect, but it never warrants our devotion.

Science Is Not an Oracle

It is an article of faith to believe that the universe conforms to science or that science explains the universe. Yes, faith. And more than that, idolatry — worship, explicit and implicit, of the priests of science and their…