Some More Words to the New Atheist Blogosphere on Unscientific America

As the two of us grapple with a book tour, other book projects, cross-country moves, and much else, we’ve been pretty hamstrung in our online replies to the “New Atheists.” So this post will try to make up a bit of that slack. At the outset, let us say that we always knew Unscientific America would be controversial. Indeed, we’re glad it has touched such a nerve in some quarters—to us, this underscores that its critique was much needed. In Chapter 8 of Unscientific America—just 12 pages of a broader book--we argue that an entire movement attached to “science” today is not really much invested in effectively reaching the U.S. public, but rather, has become radicalized around the counterproductive project of blasting other Americans’ religious faith. This movement is most vociferous on the Internet and, more particularly, on science blogs like Pharyngula, where its adherents seem unswervingly certain their way is the right way, and seem to little value civil dialogue with those who might disagree. (For one seconding of this opinion, see here.) Given that one point of Unscientific America is that this entire “dialogue” is not constructive, but rather destructive—not conducive to reason, nor to advancing the place of science in our society—it should come as no surprise that we do not keep up with it as much as many others do. This partly explains why we haven't said much for a week or more, as does the fact that (as shown in our recent Boston Globe article) there is much else in our book that we want to discuss besides the unending battle over science and religion. Furthermore, we have had more mainstream media audiences, as well as public audiences at book events, to address. The response to the book in such venues is, as a rule, starkly different from the “New Atheist” response on the Internet--where the vast majority of our critics do not seem to have read the book. This, too, has made us hesitant to respond, as it seems very unlikely that what will result is an informed, dispassionate, or civil debate. * * * * * * Still, there are some things that should probably be answered, at least in brief. Unfortunately, even some New Atheists who have read the book are reacting to it in a way we can scarcely comprehend--with a case in point being Jerry Coyne. For several months, Chris tried to engage in a civil debate with Dr. Coyne about the merits of “accommodationism.” There was some progress, perhaps, but nothing like what might have been accomplished in a simple in-person debate or discussion. Still, Chris hoped Coyne would give Unscientific America a fair reading. He became concerned a few weeks back, though, after posting (along with a few supporting words) a video of Eugenie Scott talking about science-religion compatibility. Merely for posting this video, Coyne accused Chris of "dissembling" and "using authority arguments." Scott was also accused of dissembling—simply for making an argument she believes in. Then Coyne began to review our book, and strongly misstated our views. While we won't respond to him on every detail, we’ll make a few remarks to underscore the nature of the problem. Take something like this from Coyne: