Imagine some triceratops denialists coming into play now, saying, ‘No, we’ve always had torosaurs, we always will have torosaurs. I know deep in my soul that torosaurs existed. I just know that they’re a seperate species. I’ve always known it. I was raised believing, and I was taught, that torosaurs and triceratops were seperate species.’²

Somehow, those arguments sounded eerily familiar. They seemed very similar to things that people said when it was declared that Pluto was no longer a planet. I don’t think we’re going to see those kinds of sentiment here, but only because everyone knows and loves Triceratops, and no one really cares about Torosaurus. If they had decided to name the species Torosaurus and gotten rid of the Triceratops, people would be up in arms.

Now I don’t believe that science is a form of faith³, but I can’t help but wonder if, for the majority of people, science is taken as a kind of faith.

I read a blog posting on Science Blogs to that effect (which I can’t for the life of me seem to locate), and I was skeptical when I read it. It seemed to me that believing in scientific consensus is still a more valid way to look at the world than blind faith, so long as you understand the process of generating a scientific consensus. But now I’m finding myself questioning whether people do understand the process of science. For most people, is science a set of facts that you memorize during school? If so, how is that different from the set of facts that they memorize during church? It’s easy to see how they could feel that science is the same kind of thing as religion.

Is science a kind of faith for most of the general public, and if so, how can that change? Would it help to teach the scientific process, rather than scientific facts? That’s something that I doubt will be coming any time soon, so I’m not really sure what to say on the subject.

1. TRICERATOPS AND TOROSAURUS: SAME DINOSAUR, http://news.discovery.com/dinosaurs/triceratops-and-torosaurus-same-dinosaur.html
2. George Hrab, Geologic Podcast, Episode #177, http://www.geologicpodcast.com/the_geologic_podcast_episode_177
3. For good summaries of why I don’t, see the articles on the subject by Phil Plait and Eliezer_Yudkowsky

I said that I didn’t really think that the “Militant Atheists” were militant, and then someone gave the example of Richard Dawkins as being a militant atheist. It was just sort of a passing subject, and everyone let it drop after that, but I thought it was worth exploring my opinions on.

Richard Dawkins is often called a “Militant Atheist”, or sometimes a “Fundamentalist Atheist”. I’m honestly not sure where this comes from. The requirements for these categories seem to be: 1) You’re an atheist, and 2) You’re kind of a dick sometimes. That’s it.

For me there seems to be a bit of a mismatch here. For example, if the term “Militant Muslim” came up, I would think only of the people that pronounce death orders for heresy, or commit female genital mutilation.

My image of “Militant Christians” is slightly better. There’s no call for people to die now, but rather the idea that Christians should be ready to kill as part of Christ’s army when the end times come.

In contrast, apparently you get to be a “Militant Atheist” by saying things like, “I do feel visceral revulsion at the burka because for me it is a symbol of the oppression of women,” but that “As a liberal I would hesitate to propose a blanket ban on any style of dress because of the implications for individual liberty and freedom of choice.¹”

It seems to me that the criteria for being a “Fundamentalist Atheist” is saying that you don’t believe in religions, saying that not all religious activities are deserving of respect, and saying it in such a way that you could be construed as being a jerk.

So honestly, if the worst things that the goto “Militant Atheists” are doing is saying things that are kind of dickish, it’s my opinion that something has gone horribly, horribly right.

1. Richard Dawkins, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7936221/Richard-Dawkins-causes-outcry-after-likening-the-burka-to-a-bin-liner.html