[asa] Jerry Coyne sides with Dawkins and Hitchens

Jerry Coyne gave a presentation on Creationism and ID at The Rockefeller University on May 1. You can watch the video here:

http://www.rockefeller.edu/evolution/video.php?src=coyne
 

What's troubling about the presentation is the last 5 minutes or so, where Coyne focuses on religion and basically sides with Dawkins, Hitchens, and the New Atheist movement. He propagates the war between religion and science viewpoint and argues that we need to "get rid of religion." He plugs the books by Dawkins and Hitchens. He argues that we need to more publicly express the opinion that religion is the enemy of science. And then he turns to the NCSE position and says, "At least do not pretend that religion and science are alternative and compatible ways of looking at the world." He claims the National Academy of Science's recent statement is "soft-pedaling the dichotomy" and describes Gould's NOMA as "hogwash." He even contrasts religion and science by peddling the stereotype that religious people "blow each other up" while scientists behave in a civilized manner.

I find this truly disappointing, as I did not realize that someone as smart as Coyne has bought into the New Atheist rhetoric. At they very least, when it comes to religion and science, I think he is expressing what Lee Ross calls naïve realism:

"Naïve realism is the conviction that one sees the world as it is and that when people don't see it in a similar way, it is they that do not see the world for what it is. Ross characterized naïve realism as "a dangerous but unavoidable conviction about perception and reality". The danger of naïve realism is that while humans are good in recognizing that other people and their opinions have been shaped and influenced by their life experiences and particular dogmas, we are far less adept at recognizing the influence our own experiences and dogmas have on ourselves and opinions. We fail to recognize the bias in ourselves that we are so good in picking out in others."

 http://daily.swarthmore.edu/2008/04/11/lee-rosss-lecture-on-barriers-to-conflict-resolution/

-Mike Gene

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Received on Mon May 26 09:10:13 2008