I do think this raises a troublesome question for those of us who
recognize the importance of religious toleration, and yet have to evaluate
people's qualities for various purposes. Say someone sincerely tells us that
he thinks the world literally rests on the back of four elephants, which rest
on the back of a turtle. When told that this is inconsistent with various
facts about the world, elephants, and turtles, he says that this is an artifact
of some special treatment by divine forces, which allows evasion of the normal
rules of the universe. I take it that our first reaction would be to take a
pretty negative view of the person.
And that the person believes this for religious reasons wouldn't displace our
doubts, I think. Even if we have reason to think that he's been a perfectly
good geneticist, we might wonder whether he's the best person to promote to a
rather different job that involves a broad range of choices about health
science funding. Maybe we have some sort of ethical or constitutional
obligation to set aside our worries, and draw a sharp line between beliefs that
a person says are "outside the natural order" and those that he says relate to
the natural order. But it seems to me that setting them aside at least runs
against our first common-sense reactions, and might in fact not be sound.
From there we can shift the hypothetical. What if the person
believes the world is 6000 years old, and that people used to live nearly 1000
years, and that all the contrary evidence is miracles produced by God to test
our faith? What if he doesn't take such a view, but believes that there have
been several departures from the standard rules of nature in the past several
thousand years, such as a virgin birth, a resurrection, and the like?
My sense is that we would indeed draw lines between these examples.
It is certainly significant to me that very many smart, thoughtful, and
suitably scientific skeptical people are believing Christians, and that (I
suspect) many fewer such smart, thoughtful, and skeptical people are
Young-Earthers or people who literally accept certain Hindu creation myths.
But it's not easy for me to figure out how to translate that sort of sensible
distinction into a legal or constitutional rule, or even a broadly acceptable
principle of political ethics.
Eugene
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Anthony Decinque
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 2:26 PM
To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: Re: Francis Collins and Acceptable Criticisms
To be clear, I did not make that characterization. I was repeating Mr.
Harris's argument. (My view would be different.)
Again, I don't want to get into a religious argument (I don't think it's the
point of this list) but Mr. Harris's argument was different: Even if the
virgin birth is outside the natural order, the question Mr. Harris pushes on is
"how does Mr. Collins know that X event happened?" In other words, since Mr.
Collins is claiming that the natural order was suspended on a certain date at a
certain place, he is the one who should have to provide evidence for that
assertion. I think that this the "failure of skepticism" Mr. Harris is
referring to.... I refer you to his piece for his arguments instead of my
clumsy paraphrasing.
All that aside, I wanted to assume that "his views [are] antithetical to the
values underlying science," not just characterize them that way. Assuming that
they are, what result? Is it discrimination to say that someone's religious
views undercut values that are needed in a job?
I think the faith-healer hypothetical was more on target, but doesn't have the
full flavor of the argument. A faith-healer, I suppose, never accepts
conventional medicine. (Mr. Harris is arguing that) Mr. Collins is like a
part-time faith healer.
The doctor-who-prays response is helpful. What about a doctor who was
excellent on the job, but sometimes denounced accepted fields of medicine off
the job?
A
On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 5:03 PM, Douglas Laycock
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
It is you who are begging the question. The question is whether religious
faith and scientific commitment are inherently inconsistent. You assumed the
answer to that question when you characterized his views as antithetical to the
values underlying science.
The virgin birth, if it happened, was outside the natural order. Has any said
or done anything unscientific in or about the course of his scientific work,
when he is talking about things within the natural order? Has he said or done
anything allegedly anithetical to science other than state and promote his
religious beliefs?
A faith healer who refuses medical treatment could not be Surgeon General. An
excellent physician who does everything medically indicated, and also prays for
cures and believes that God sometimes answers those prayers, could be Surgeon
General.
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