Are Most Scientists Atheists?

Question

My Religious Studies class and I were discussing this, most of us agreed that this is true. Our teacher then said that most scientists start needing proof/evidance for everything? What do you think? Opinions from Atheists will be appreciated :)

I don't think there's anything wrong with needing evidence. Everyone has their own way of thinking/opinion, right?

Sasuke: I agree with you, I've been researching on the internet and plenty websites say the second is Islam.

Okay, you guys, keeping telling me your opinions. Anyway, I have to go and get some beauty sleep LOL, thank God there's no school tomorrow HAHA. Sweet dreams :)

Answer 1

A study has shown atheism to be particularly prevalent among scientists, a tendency already quite marked at the beginning of the 20th century, developing into a dominant one during the course of the century. In 1914, James H. Leuba found that 58% of 1,000 randomly selected U.S. natural scientists expressed "disbelief or doubt in the existence of God" (defined as a personal God which interacts directly with human beings). The same study, repeated in 1996, gave a similar percentage of 60.7%; this number is 93% among the members of the National Academy of Sciences. Expressions of positive disbelief rose from 52% to 72%.

Answer 2

I'm an atheist and I don't think that's true. I mean, it's not a requisite for being a scientist.
And I know a lot of scientist that are believers of many different faiths. Including Einstein.
The problem is how you understand religion. For the people on the lowest layers of mental evolution, faith has to be engraved in stone. They can't understand it any other way.
For people on higher levels, god is out there regardless of dogma. Science is based on facts and logical reasoning from A to B. But when you go back to the basics, you'll find out that we have principles that can't be explained, they're just there. That's the border that separates you from your god.

For example, for a creationist, god created the whole universe. Evolution is a fabrication to deny god.
For the evolutionist, god created a small group of different particles, set a couple basic very simple rules for their interactions and thrown them into an empty space. Millions of years after that, here we are.
Who's the one with the most powerful god?

Answer 3

Religious people look upon reason and doubt - as to test their 'faith'. That to doubt their faith is a very bad thing to do.

For scientists they have to use reason and doubt all the time, in their job - it is what they do.
Take for instance an engineer - he has to know how strong is the thing he is building. Like a bridge - how much can it take before it breaks?

People of a religion don't like to do that. Doubt what they are being taught - in case they lose their faith in their faith...

Religious people tend to use circular logic, to justify their faith. Like - the Bible is the Word of God, therefore it's true. If it is in the Bible, then it must be true. If it's not in the Bible, then forget about it, I am not interested.
Oh, mistakes in the Bible? Of course not - the Holy Spirit was present all the time during it's writing and editing, etc etc and so the Word of God was accurately transmitted to us. Everything in the Bible is true. It is the Word of God... etc etc.

There is no reason nor logic in the above. It is all a series of claims, which remain unprovable - except that the history of the Bible reveals it is hardly a reliable document at all - that changes were made all the time down through history - the most radical changes being made before the KJV version came about.

Answer 4

Real scientists know that most (if not everything) is a theory, and keep all their options open. Atheism is certainly not keeping your options open. Either that, or I've get met the wrong Atheists. :/ Most of them seem to be just as dogmatic and nasty as the fundies. -.-;

I'd disagree with the idea of most scientists being Atheists and go with Agnostic. There might be a god, there might not be a god, eh, who knows, right? Keep your options open, use your knowledge to make the best choices you can and take everything into consideration while avoiding judgment without evidence... Sounds good to me.

Answer 5

I don't think "most" are, probably a larger %age than the normal population though. Scientists in general do like proof of things. But that statement "most scientists start needing proof/evidance for everything" is a little broad. Most scientists have normal home lives with happiness, sadness, divorce, etc.. just like anyone else. In their professions they need proof and perhaps some more in their spiritual lives, but not all.

Answer 6

Yes, most scientists are.

That's all over the world though.

In the US about 40% of scientists manage to hang on to their faith in some sense whereas in the community its much higher - for the very best scientists its less than 10%.

In just about every test thats ever been done, there is an inverse correlation found between intelligence and education on one hand and religiosity on the other - that is the smarter, better educated people were less likely to be religious, or to have 'beliefs' of any kind.

What's wrong with needing evidence?

Answer 7

I am an agnostic, but generally speaking, Scientists tend to be non-religious because they are big believers in things that are provable and testable, and God, by definition is not. Thats not to say that they are all atheists, there are many non-religious people who do not identify themselves as atheists. Many subscribe to the ideology of 'free thinkers.'

Heres a blurb about freethinkers:

"Freethought holds that individuals should neither accept nor reject ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason. Thus, freethinkers strive to build their beliefs on the basis of facts, scientific inquiry, and logical principles, independent of any factual/logical fallacies or intellectually-limiting effects of authority, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, sectarianism, tradition, urban legend, and all other dogmatic or otherwise fallacious principles. As such, when applied to religion, the philosophy of freethought holds that, given presently-known facts, established scientific theories, and logical principles, there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of supernatural phenomena."

Answer 8

97% of the national academy of sciences (which is the most prestigious science group) are atheists. As the level of education goes up, so do the number of atheists. Why? Because alot of the best arguments for atheism cannot be fully understood without a ton of education. Needless to say, most people do not realize this.

Answer 9

Figures I have seen indicate most scientists are indeed atheists. A few are motivated by emotions and allow that to overpower logic. Such people as my oldest sister like to shout it out if they hear of any scientist being religious, but they try to ignore the majority who are atheists.

Answer 10

Yes over 90% of educated scientists are Atheists.

There is a direct relationship between education and atheism.

Christians argue that educated people are being 'indocrinated' by Atheist teachers. What they don't face, is that Higher education, is not about indoctrination at all, it is about teaching people how to reason.

Every Doctorate student, must present a new thesis which shows their ability to reason intelligently about a subject, and propose solutions, that have not been provided or thought about before. Not regurgitate what they learned.

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