Atheists and the National Academy of Sciences

National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a non-profit organization created by and sanctioned by the United States federal government. The purpose of the agency is to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art" whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government. The NAS is comprised of approximately 2,000 members.

Religious beliefs of National Academy of Sciences scientists

Survey of the religious beliefs of NAS scientists

Atheist apologists often point out that a 1088 survey published in the science journal Nature by Edward J. Larson and Larry Witham found that 93 percent of the members of the National Academy of Sciences do not believe in a personal God (The term personal God refers to a God who answers prayers and who communicates actively and effectively with people).

However, they fail to point out:

Poor survey design

Randal Rauser, an associate professor of historical theology at Taylor Seminary, indicates:

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The study never asked about belief in God in general, but about belief in a very personal God who answers prayers and communicates actively and effectively with people. In other words, respondents didn’t comment on God in general, just this specific formulation of a very personal God. The questions would likely put many deists, as well as theists who tend to doubt people’s reports of God communicating directly with them, in the category of unbeliever... The questions were worded poorly.6 So much so, that Eugenie C. Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, examined the study and concluded that the questions were so poorly worded that that the survey was “not well designed for investigating the religious views of scientists (or anyone else).

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Scott also declared: "The title of the recent Larson and Witham article in Nature, 'Leading scientists still reject God' is premature without reliable data upon which to base it."

The majority of philosophers of religion, or those who have extensively studied the existence of God, are theists (72 percent).

Alvin Plantinga is widely known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics and Christian apologetics. Time magazine called him "America's leading orthodox Protestant philosopher of God".

Experimental evidence that the prayers of Bible believers are effective

Furthermore, there is experimental evidence supporting the proposition that the God of the Bible does answer prayers. The Christian apologist Gary Habermas wrote: "Double-blind prayer experiments: where people pray for others with terminal illness. Habermas admitted that most such experiments have not worked, but the three that he knows of that have indeed worked were cases of orthodox-Christians praying for the sick."

Existence of God: A philosophical question. Not a scientific question

Strictly speaking, the existence of God is a philosophical question and not a scientific question since God is supernatural and thus outside of nature.

The majority of philosophers of religion are theists

The majority of philosophers of religion, or those who have extensively studied the issue of the existence of God, are theists (72 percent).

Atheists, parents, the desire for eliteness and personal autonomy

The NAS website declares: "Election to NAS membership in the NAS is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive."

Biet-Hallahmi, author of Atheism, A Psychological Profile, in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, wrote, “…what these individuals [the most elite] had, in addition to their creativity and high intelligence, was a strong wish to create distance between themselves and their parents.”

The ex-atheist Paul Vitz

The Cambridge Companion to Atheism which was edited by the atheist philosopher Michael Martin declared:

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Continuity and discontinuity in any identity may be a function of interpersonal networks, especially involving intimate relations. Apostasy and conversion can both be seen as a rejection of parental identity and parental beliefs. It “might well be symptomatic of familial strain and dissociation... apostasy is to be viewed as a form of rebellion against parents” (Caplovitz and Sherrow, 1977:50).

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A troubled/non-existent relationship with a father can influence a person to become an atheist. Dr. Paul Vitz wrote a book entitled Faith of the Fatherless in which he points out that after studying the lives of more than a dozen leading atheists he found that a large majority of them had a father who was present but weak, present but abusive, or absent.

The book Atheist Persona: Causes and Consequences by John J. Pasquini, Th.D. indicates that many of the prominent atheists (and prominent practical atheists) who had dysfunctional/absent fathers that he lists in his book also had dysfunctional/absent mothers. See also: Atheism and poor relationships with parents and Irreligion and domestic violence and Atheist marriages

NAS, elitism and atheist arrogance

Atheists are well-known for their arrogance (see: Atheism and arrogance). Joining an elitist organization is naturally more appealing to arrogant individuals.

NAS and politics

Most atheists lean to the left politically (see: Atheism and politics). The secular left is far more preoccupied with the government sector and big government than conservatives who are more private sector and free enterprise oriented (see: Atheism and politics). Therefore, an organization like the NAS, which advises the federal government, would naturally be more appealing to secular leftists/liberals.

Membership into NAS is a political process

Becoming a member of the NAS is a political process through election. And as noted earlier, the NAS is more likely to attract individuals who skew to the left on the political spectrum. Political processes can be influenced by corruption/discrimination.

Since World War II a majority of the most prominent and vocal defenders of the evolutionary position which employs methodological naturalism have been atheists and agnostics. Creationists have faced underhanded discrimination by evolutionists (see: Suppression of alternatives to evolution). In 2013, an study found that academia was less likely to hire religious conservatives due to discriminatory attitudes.

As far as corruption within the current scientific community, there is a very significant problem with scientific fraud and other lack of integrity issues.

Atheists, scientism, nature worship and neo-paganism

William Lane Craig

There is a significant segment of atheists who engage in the erroneous ideologies/worldviews of scientism, nature worship and neo-paganism. So a certain degree of preoccupation/obsession with pseudoscience, naturalistic philosophy and scientific endeavors is not surprising within some members of the atheist community.

Scientism is self-refuting. William Lane Craig wrote: "Scientism tells us that we should not believe any proposition that cannot be scientifically proven. But what about that very proposition itself? It cannot itself be scientifically proven."

Scientific revolution and Christianity

The scientific revolution was birthed in a Christianized Europe (see: Christianity and science). And devout Christians played a significant role in the scientific revolution.

Logical fallacies committed: Category mistake and appeal to authority

During his debate with Dr. Gordon Stein, Greg Bahnsen pointed out that the atheist worldview cannot account for the laws of logic, but the Christian worldview can.

See also: Atheism and logical fallacies and Atheism and logic

According to the Oxford Dictionaries website, a category mistake is "The error of assigning to something a quality or action that can properly be assigned to things only of another category, for example, treating abstract concepts as though they had a physical location."

As noted above, strictly speaking, the existence of God is a philosophical question and not a scientific question since God is supernatural and thus outside of nature. Furthermore, as noted above, in terms of expert opinion, the majority of philosophers of religion, or those who have extensively studied the issue of the existence of God, are theists (72 percent).

In addition, as noted above, there is experimental evidence supporting the proposition that the God of the Bible does answer prayers.

Even if atheists were not committing a category mistake in relation to citing the religious beliefs of NAS scientists, it is an appeal to authority which is also logical fallacy.

See also

• Rebuttals to atheist arguments

• Atheism and logical fallacies

• Atheism and naturalistic intelligence

• Atheism and intelligence

• Causes of atheism