Scientists have raised questions about religious belief since the earliest development of scientific thought. Over the centuries, as science has become ever more sophisticated and answered many of the questions previously in the domain of religion, more and more people have developed a sceptical point of view regarding religion. Today, many scientists are non-believers with a secular, science-based perspective. In this wide-ranging overview, physicist and acclaimed science writer Taner Edis examines the relationship between today's sciences and religious non-belief.Beginning with a brief history of science and philosophical doubt, Edis goes on to describe those theories in contemporary science that challenge spiritual views by favouring a naturalistic conception of the world. He provides a very readable, non-technical introduction to the leading scientific ideas that impinge upon religious belief in the areas of modern physics and cosmology, evolutionary biology, and cognitive and brain science. He also shows how science supplies naturalistic explanations for allegedly miraculous and paranormal phenomena and explains widespread belief in the supernatural. Finally, he addresses the political context of debates over science and non-belief as well as questions about morality.
Taner Edis (Kirksville, MO) is an associate professor of physics at Truman State University and the author of The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science and An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam, among other publications.
Science, Philosophy & Religious Doubt; An Accidental World; Darwinian Creativity; Mind without Souls; The Fringes of Science; Explaining Religion; Morality & Politics; Index.
The book is a clear, balanced survey of the interactions between science and religious doubt and includes a detailed discussion of issues raised by physics, biology, neuroscience, pseudoscience, and philosophy. What I find valuable, and unusual, about Edis is that although he is a non-believer his treatment of religion is even-handed. Although he makes his own position clear, he does not hesitate to point out shortcomings that frequently exist in the more aggressive statements of the "New Atheists." This restraint makes his criticisms of religion all the more effective. Because he is prepared to point out where nonbelievers are guilty of overstating the power of science, his demonstration of why science offers a real and serious challenge to religion is more compelling... Science and Nonbelief chronicles, in a balanced and accessible way, the long history of the battle between adherents of religious doctrines and the nonbelievers who adhere to the naturalism of modern science. Edis provides a nontechnical introduction to many of the key questions that concern science and religion today. Metapsychology Online Reviews, September 16, 2008, Volume 12, Issue 38
