[ableton]

This is not historically accurate. For example, Newton was both an insanely awesome scientist and devoted theologian. Similarly Galileo said "God is known by nature in his works, and by doctrine in his revealed word". There is a large movement called "apologetics" in the Christian world which sees faith and reason and science as mutually compatible. Ravi Zacharias is one of the great Christian thinkers of today who explains this well.

I think the real thing is that most people just don't really care about science, Christian or no. Many atheists take the word of scientists with as much blind faith as christians take the word of their pastor.

[Oletros]

> Many atheists take the word of scientists with as much blind faith as christians take the word of their pastor.

Any example of that?

[secstate]

I think the problem is less that atheists take the word of scientists at their word, so much as people assume that because something is common, it is either safe, or true. It's the weird intersection of knowledge and belief.

Here in coastal communities many people are still allowed to do "overboard discharge," or dumping raw sewage into the ocean. The understanding being the ocean is so big we couldn't possibly hurt the ecosystem. Here in Maine, there have actually been many deeply flawed scientific studies that justified these policies as scientifically true.

Now, of course, we know how fragile the ocean and, indeed, any ecosystem is. But common belief is that science has shown that dumping your shit in the ocean is environmentally okay and that is used to justify a convenient action. Even though the action hardly passes the (literal) smell test.

[babyrainbow]

> Many atheists take the word of scientists with as much blind faith as christians take the word of their pastor.

Can't agree more with this.

This is exactly why there should be a stage available to ask all kinds of questions without fearing shaming.