Atheism is not scientific
Some people claim they don’t believe in God because it’s not science. They believe in science, in what is provable, and what they see. They can’t see God, and science rejects God, so they too reject the notion that God exists. Are such people thinking rationally or are they simply being misled? Does science really claim there is no God? Actually, that’s not at all what science claims.
What exactly is science? Science is the process of understanding the world based on “facts learned through experiments and observation” (Miriam-Webster). Science makes claims based on evidence, and for something to be considered “evidence,” it must stand up to outside scrutiny. This is why science employs a process called the scientific method. This methodology safeguards against unsound reasoning, unethical claims, and outright lies. The method itself is rigid, but easy enough for any elementary science teacher to explain.
The scientific method has several key processes. First, the scientist asks a question. After some background research, the scientist develops a hypothesis; call it a guess at what the answer to his/her question might be. Next comes developing and implementing an experiment that will fairly determine if the hypothesis is correct. Next comes analyzing the experiment’s results, and then communicating the results to others. If other scientists perform the same experiment, and get similar results, then the experiment is called “repeatable” and this bodes well for the co
mmunity of science because at some point between the success of the original experiment, and the subsequent repeatability by other scientists, a claim can be made—X is the reason for what we observe in Y.
Claims are serious business in the world of science. When a scientist makes a claim he/she cannot substantiate through the scientific method, it’s completely out of bounds. Usually scientists don’t make unsubstantiated claims. When they do, it’s a serious offense to the scientific community, more like lying, or reckless storytelling—it’s certainly not science, and it can quickly ruin a scientist’s career.
When a scientist officially claims atheism, he/she is making a bold claim indeed. Atheism is the belief that there is no God. Only recently, the definition of atheism has been restated. Where it once possessed the claim, “there is no God,” it now possesses the greater claim that the atheist “rejects the existence of deities.” Either way, it’s one thing for a layperson to say, unscientifically, that they don’t believe in God, but quite another for a scientist to claim there is no God. The latter claim requires proof. Scientists cannot genuinely make that claim. They cannot test for it, or otherwise employ the scientific method to support such a claim. In short, when a scientist makes the claim that God does not exist, they have stepped out of the realm of science, squarely into the realm of unsubstantiated claims, and have perpetrated a serious offense against science and the scientific community.
For those who say they don’t believe in God because it’s not science, you would do well to remember that science does not actually claim there is no God. Any scientist that claims there is no God is simply not a credible scientist. In fact, they have gone beyond science, into the realm of speculation, offending both believers in God and believers in science.