Two Former Atheist Scientists Explain How Science Changed Their Minds

Gerald R. Baron
Top-Down or Bottom-Up?
5 min readSep 26, 2021

--

Dr. Michael Guillen, well known scientist and journalist, says faith is central to atheism as it is to theism.

The Wall Street Journal on September 23 offered an opinion piece from a physicist that begins:

“Atheism’s central conceit is that it is a worldview grounded in logic and scientific evidence. That it has nothing to do with faith, which it associates with weakness. In reality, faith is central to atheism, logic and even science.”

Dr. Michael Guillen, the author of the Journal editorial, is a much recognized author and media star. A former Harvard professor, he was the science editor for ABC News for many years and has a number of media credits. The editorial is part of the effort to promote his new book Believing is Seeing: A Physicist Explains How Science Shattered His Atheism and Revealed the Necessity of Faith.

In the article he explains how his study of physics led him to understand that “believing is seeing,” not the other way around as is mostly assumed. This is the Augustine formula or “I believe so that I may know.” His core message is: atheistic physicalism and theistic transcendentalism both require faith and belief. The content of much of that faith or belief is invisible and likely unknowable. One chooses what one believes and then accumulates knowledge within that view.

--

--

Gerald R. Baron
Top-Down or Bottom-Up?

Dawdling at the intersection of faith, science, philosophy and theology.