This month’s (March 2015) National Geographic
cover article is titled “The War on Science.”
I saw a copy in a doctor’s waiting room and later bought a copy to
finish reading the article. You see, in
my book, "Does the Church Really Have Good News", I make the point that God and science are not
at odds and I wanted to see who is at war with science and on what grounds. I was also hoping to get some of the scientific
facts of the subjects of the supposed war: Climate Change, Evolution, The Moon
Landing, Vaccinations, and Genetically Modified Food.
As it turns out, the author, Washington Post Science
Writer, Joel Achenbach, was more interested in how people decide what to
believe than in arguing the points of disagreement. That is a fair position for him to take in
the article, just not what I had expected, especially from National Geographic.
I have been particularly interested in the evidence
for global warming and for the assertion that it is being caused by human
activity. I read a lot about the
consensus of scientists on the matter, but I never see any facts to support
their agreement. The only fact Achenbach
had in this article was that the earth’s surface temperature has risen 1.5
degrees Fahrenheit in the last 150 years.
That’s 10 degrees every thousand years.
Unless there is something else going on (and maybe there is, like
melting the ice caps) that hardly seems enough for all the hype.
Achenbach’s main point was that we tend to take our
positions based on our feelings and on what our group of friends and family
believe more so than on a logical examination of the facts, and that is true of
scientists as well as disbelievers of science.
“We still have a need to fit in,” he asserts and that need trumps
science. Even scientists are very
reluctant to take a position contrary to that of the bulk of their peers. And disbelievers don’t want to go against the
beliefs of the bulk of their peers either.
There is much more to the article and it is worth the $5.99 cover price
for the magazine.
Meanwhile, for more on
the lack of disagreement between God and science see "Does the Church Really Have Good News?"
What facts do you have about global warming?
