"Why Jesus Makes Me a Bad Scientist"

[LongTomH]

Well, I may as well toss another cat among the pigeons! :evilgrin:

The title of this post comes from a blogger who calls herself: "Isis the Scientist" (You do find the most interesting people in the science blogosphere!) Isis the Scientist is: 1) A working scientist - a physiologist at a major research university, 2) A practicing Catholic - two things which many people don't think can go together. To round out the picture, she's also: 3) An outspoken feminist, 4) a mother, and 5) a sexy lady!

It all started with a discussion of Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's new book: Unscientific America. Apparently "Isis" hasn't finished reading her copy yet.

But some of my Sciblings have and that began this week's hooplah. PZ is unamused and ERV has basically called Chris and Sheril traitors. ERV's comments section is a whole 'nother discussion to be had. All I'll say for now is that there is some mention there over whether Abbie or I are the bigger "drama queen" here at ScienceBlogs. I think the entire question is rooted in a fallacy. I can't be a drama "queen." I am the domestic and laboratory goddess already. Thus, by default, the win is hers.

But, my interest in the discussion is minimal at best. I have written before about being a Catholic scientist and my relationship with church and science. But even though I agree vehemently about the need to separate education and science from religion, the comments typically come back to how to scientifically test the existence of God in a way that will satisfy those who do not currently believe in a higher power.

If I knew dudes, don't you think I'd have done it?

It's largely the broad-brush painting of anyone who has faith in a higher power as a "wackaloon theocratic neofuedal douchescrote" though that largely makes me avoid these discussions to begin with. I get that there are some real nutters out there -- creationists and global warming deniers -- but that's a hard place to come back from short of retaliating with "godless goatfucking cockknuckle." And even then, what's the point? I don't really think my atheist brethren are godless goatfucking cockknuckles. I usually agree with them when it comes to issues of science education.

Wow!:wow: Such language from a young lady who, presumably, attended Catholic schools!

OK, I wouldn't really call this lady conventional on any level. I posted this to add another point of view to an extremely polarized discussion; here's a very intelligent young person who can be a person of faith and a working scientist.

By the way, the current poster - LongTomH - is a person who described himself as an agnostic for years. I fell in love with a beautiful lady who was a devout Catholic, who loved me despite my agnosticism. Jeanne was also a person with a gift for seeing all sides of a debate.

She departed this life three years ago. These days I find myself believing in - or at least hoping for - a hereafter. As for being an 'agnostic,' I'm not certain what tag to use; maybe 'deist,' or maybe I really don't want to use a tag.

Read the rest of her post, and the thread "Hot Jesus Action."

Why Jesus Makes Me a Bad Scientist

[Sal316]

1. Very good!

Thanks for posting this.

[DeSwiss]

2. Yay!!!

Isis is one of my fav sites, particularly while I'm cruising in http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/">PZ's neighborhood. I first checked her out on http://jezebel.com/5261350/internet-battle-of-the-sexes-also-known-as-civil-science-debate">Jezebel.


Figure 2: "There is a God." "No there isn't." "Yes there is." "No there isn't."



- She cracks me up!

K&R

[Silent3]

3. I read what PZ had to say about this book by Mooney and Kirshenbaum...

...and, at least from PZ's own words (I didn't dig into any reader comments), I don't see any of what Isis is talking about when she mentions "broad-brush painting of anyone who has faith in a higher power". All I see is that PZ is very unimpressed with what sounds like (not having heard another side to the story yet) an unimpressive book without much of anything useful to say, and one that apparently wants to blame atheists in part for the current sad state of science education in this country, which I consider ridiculous.

As for, "1) A working scientist - a physiologist at a major research university, 2) A practicing Catholic - two things which many people don't think can go together." who exactly are the "many people" who don't think those two things can go together?

The most I would say (and I think many atheists in R/T would agree with me) is not that these two things (you can fill in plenty of religious and spiritual beliefs besides "practicing Catholic" for item 2) can't or don't ever go together, but that they simply aren't an ideal combination, requiring a bit of artificial mental compartmentalization and/or shaky philosophical compromise for the combination to hold.

All of us, myself included, probably walk around with any number of internal contradictions, yet somehow still manage to put on our own clothes, feed ourselves, and form the occasional complete sentence now and then. Success in life, even great success, doesn't mean those contradiction don't exist, however, or that contradictions are a good thing.