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This essay is a response to a New York Times op-ed by Sam Harris, published on July 26th, 2009. Harris's original op-ed can be read at either:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/opinion/27harris.html or http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/science-is-in-the-details Once again, the hysterical rally chant of the militant atheist has been initialized, this time by Sam Harris, in regard to President Obama's nomination of Francis Collins for director of the National Institute of Health. In the New York Times' July 26th, 2009 op-ed, Harris pleads his case with a block of logical Swiss cheese; allow me to point out the holes for all the readers out there who may be too busy cheering to notice. There is an epidemic of scientific ignorance in the United States. While Harris has this fact correct, and he reminds us that much of science is counterintuitive to one's common sense, he also brandishes hyperbole by making the tired statement that "few things make thinking like a scientist more difficult than religion." Where exactly is the scientific data regarding this assertion? It is purely anecdotal and a much overused attack against religion, one that bears no factual basis. The knee-jerk atheistic idea that science, and a belief in the existence of a god, are forever at odds is one of the unfortunate myths that Francis Collins has spent a great deal of time trying to debunk. Perhaps Harris would benefit from a more open mind? Certainly a philosophical almost-scientist such as Sam can't be truly as effective if he only views his work through the tunnel of currently acceptable conjecture, an innovative history of Ecstasy abuse notwithstanding. Two statistically supported reasons for scientific ignorance in the United States are: public schools training students for government-mandated standardized tests instead of simply teaching more science, and a general disinterest in science among older children. It never has been cool to be knowledgeable regarding science. That is the fault of our culture, not of individuals who believe in a higher power. Harris mentions how Collins has indicated that science, instead of proving God impossible, actually makes a belief in God "intensely plausible." Then Harris goes on to say that when Collins can't explain supposedly controversial evidence regarding God, Collins simply retreats to the chestnut that God stands outside of nature, thus supposedly relieving Collins of a true scientific explanation. For atheists, this appears to be evidence of delusion or rationalization. For individuals with an open mind, this is merely one more theory. The scientific community is certainly not lacking for wild and improbable theories regarding phenomena not currently understood in full. Just don't commit the faux pas of referencing a higher power. Harris complains when Collins correctly states that science cannot address the question of God's existence; but where are the complaints for all the other important questions that science also can't answer? There is certainly no shortage of those, yet only the question of the existence or non-existence of God seems to draw so much public attention. Next Harris carps about the apparent contradiction between our moral intuitions and the carnage of natural catastrophe, as though the existence of a morally superior being would automatically eliminate what we view as unfairness in the world. It's a shame that many people who are chronologically adults still find confusion in such an immature objection to a higher power. It's as though Harris thinks because we have a sense of moral fairness, it automatically follows that the god who originated it must chase us around like toddlers, hour after hour, wiping our noses and changing our diapers. Would it truly be more merciful to live in an antiseptic world where nothing bad ever happened? Only a child who hasn't learned the necessity of adversity in the building of character would whine in such a way. The next controversy Harris raises is Collins's idea that possibly at some moment in the history of our species, God "inserted" an immortal soul, free will, the moral law, spiritual hunger, genuine altruism, etc. Harris is "troubled" by Collins's line of thinking. He believes that such thinking would "seriously undercut" fields of neuroscience. Harris's reasoning? It's that most neuroscientists agree that minds are made from the physical structure of the brain only, so therefore any other explanation of mind, consciousness, and moral sense is unacceptable on the face of it. A strange dogma indeed, especially for the field of cognitive science. Never have so many people disagreed about a proper theory for something, as they have regarding human consciousness. For those readers not familiar with the current state of affairs in cognitive science: not only is there no conclusive explanation for our minds, there is admittedly no currently known way to test the myriad theories flying around the scientific community. Are we to believe that such an impressively accomplished scientist like Francis Collins would try to prevent particular tangents of neuroscientific research, simply because his personal beliefs might not be immediately reconciled with the possible results? This from a man (Collins) who readily admits that human understanding regarding the workings of God is by its very nature limited? Why would a scientist who supposedly explains away contradiction have any problem with research that reveals more about the physical workings of the brain? The contradiction here seems to be with Harris, who fears future research being censored by Collins, who has clearly been knowledge-driven, not ignorance-driven, thus far. Harris is worried about Collins's agenda, but in fact Harris has his own agenda. It is the opposite of Collins's agenda: that all physical and non-physical workings in the universe can only be explained without the possibility of a higher power anywhere in the mix. While those steeped in atheism may applaud the 'honesty' of this currently popular approach, the very parameters of such an agenda themselves limit the eventual results of thusly-inspired research. This of course would have the same exact result of what Harris fears from Collins's approach: a possibility of missing something important, due to tunnel vision. Harris also brings two Collins statements into question: that "science offers no answers to the most pressing questions of human existence" and that "the claims of atheistic materialism must be steadfastly resisted." The first statement is undoubtedly true, as any philosophy major can attest. The second statement is Collins's personal opinion, and should not be confused with a Dr. Zaius-like suppression of truth. Harris's cherry-picked sentence fragment seems to paint Dr. Collins as someone who is out to rip evolution out of our schools or bring the world of atheism to its knees in a nationwide coup. Surely none of the readers are gullible enough to think that a man with Collins's list of accomplishments would suddenly do an about-face and begin deliberately undermining future research? If one stops to think about it, one must admit how hysterical this fear sounds. Harris takes a toss at the wishing well, and supposes the reverse engineering of the physical aspects of the brain might yield answers to heady philosophical questions. Well, perhaps it might. I'd bet the farm that Dr. Collins would be right there handing out the awards to the scientist(s) who manage to make such a connection. After all, science is ultimately a search for truth, right? Where in Collins's stated "agenda" does any indication of silencing truth appear? It doesn't; dig for yourselves. Collins isn't trying to undermine anything; he's merely trying to reconcile what he knows with what he believes. That in itself wouldn't have any negative effects on scientific research. In Collins's case, it hasn't so far, according to Collins's impressive accomplishments listed by Harris himself in the original op-ed. Harris ends his frightened call-to-arms with a nice twisting of Collins's statements. Suddenly, Collins's quotes regarding the unexplainable being attributable to current human lack of understanding have morphed into a blanket statement that all of science can never understand human nature. This is a deliberately negative extrapolation, intended to make Collins seem like a religious dictator who will purposely squelch any research that doesn't fit his spiritual beliefs. Really? We're supposed to believe that none other than the former head of the Human Genome Project has now decided to prevent human beings from learning anything more about humanity? Harris, give us all a break and go have tea with Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, in that exclusive little café where everyone sips the same bland blend. |