Jerry A. Coyne Quote
As for the claim that science is a kind of faith because it rests on untestable assumptions, depends on authority, and so on, this involves either a deliberate or an unconscious conflation of what faith means in religion versus what it means in everyday life. Here are two examples of each usage: I have faith that because I accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior, I will join my late wife in heaven. I have faith that when I martyr myself for Allah, I’ll receive seventy-two virgins in paradise. I have faith that the day will break tomorrow. I have faith that taking this penicillin will cure my urinary tract infection. Notice the difference. The first two statements exemplify the religious form of faith, the one Walter Kaufmann defined as intense, usually confident, belief that is not based on evidence sufficient to command assent from every reasonable person. There is no evidence beyond revelation, authority, and sacred books to support the first two statements. They show confidence that isn’t supported by evidence, and most of the world’s believers would reject them.
As for the claim that science is a kind of faith because it rests on untestable assumptions, depends on authority, and so on, this involves either a deliberate or an unconscious conflation of what faith means in religion versus what it means in everyday life. Here are two examples of each usage: I have faith that because I accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior, I will join my late wife in heaven. I have faith that when I martyr myself for Allah, I’ll receive seventy-two virgins in paradise. I have faith that the day will break tomorrow. I have faith that taking this penicillin will cure my urinary tract infection. Notice the difference. The first two statements exemplify the religious form of faith, the one Walter Kaufmann defined as intense, usually confident, belief that is not based on evidence sufficient to command assent from every reasonable person. There is no evidence beyond revelation, authority, and sacred books to support the first two statements. They show confidence that isn’t supported by evidence, and most of the world’s believers would reject them.