Science and belief in God

I have been avoiding and will in future be avoiding discussions of science and religion on this blog. I find the posturing and intolerance of fundamentalists on both sides objectionable.

Here, however, is a fresh breeze on the subject. Michael Shermer of the Skeptic Magazine and the Templeton Foundation co-operated in producing a balanced booklet in which prominent commenters on both sides of the debate made reasoned contributions.

The question at issue was:

Does science make belief in God obsolete?

Schermer commented as follows on the process in eSkeptic:

"Since I am aware of the reputation that the Templeton Foundation has within the skeptical, atheist, and humanist communities for harboring a right-wing Christian agenda, I would like to note that, in fact, they invited me to select the commentators and edit their essays, and insisted that I include skeptics, atheists, and humanists, which you will see that I did. There was never any hint to me that I should edit the commentaries to come out a certain way to match the alleged agenda ..."

Contributors on the "Yes" side were:

Victor Stenger: Yes. Worse. Science renders belief in God incoherent.

Steven Pinker: Yes, if by science we include secular reason and knowledge.

Pervez Hoodbhoy: Not necessarily. You must find a science-compatible God.

Stuart Kauffman: No, if we redefine God as creativity in the universe.

Chrisopher Hitchens: No, but it should.

Michael Shermer: It depends: belief no, God yes.

Contributors on the "No" side:

Mary Midgley: Of course not, belief in God is not a scientific question.

Kenneth Miller: Of course not. Science expands our appreciation of the Divine.

William D. Phillips: Absolutely not! Belief in God is not a scientific matter.

Robert Sapolsky: No. Belief offers something that science doesn’t.

Jerome Groopman: No. Not at all.

Keith Ward: No.

Christoph Cardinal Schönborn: No.

The booklet is available online from the Templeton Foundation here.