Science and Nonbelief

A well written, readable treatise on why religion and science are not compatible. ( )

In this review, I will look at the paperback issue of Edis's book Science and Nonbelief. In it he wants to provide an account of the complicated relationship between science and religion by analyzing the ways in which science supports religious nonbelief. The overarching theme is the struggle between a natural view and a supernatural view which introduces entities in addition to those we find in nature. To do so Edis considers several modern scientific theories that are relentlessly naturalistic and that attempt to show us how the world works. First of all, for Edis, there is no Scientific Method and no Scientific or Religious Truth -- there are methods and there are truths. As a teacher, Edis has learned to be sensitive to the sensibilities of his religious students in order to teach them science. Instead of insulting his students he tries to teach them science and let them sort out the metaphysics for themselves. That style of the sensitive sceptic comes through in his books, and that makes them quite readable without being condescending. A reviewer in Catholic Library World praises the book as intelligent and well-balanced, writing, "The author refuses to take the easy way out of saying that science and religion are dealing with different realms: one being limited to facts, the other focusing on meaning....Overall, this is an excellent book for the layman and professional alike. Anyone interested in the subject would find this to be one of the few contemporary books that approach these controversial issues with more light than heat."

The book provides a history and an analysis of "science-minded nonbelief" from the early Greeks to the present. Mark Twain warned us long ago that, "When even the brightest mind in our world has been trained up from childhood in a superstition of any kind, it will never be possible for that mind, in its maturity, to examine sincerely, dispassionately, and conscientiously any evidence or any circumstance which shall seem to cast a doubt upon the validity of that superstition. I doubt if I could do it myself." Edis's book will certainly help anyone who is seriously interested in examining evidence for a naturalistic worldview.

http://tinyurl.com/6lxpyo ( )