Trivia Richard Dawkins vs. Francis Bacon (Something to think about)

[GildartsTale]

SCIENCE PROCEEDS FROM FAITH

Atheist Richard Dawkins has famously said,
"Huxley declared that the God question could not be settled on the basis of the scientific method....Contrary to Huxley, I shall suggest that the existence of God is a scientific hypothesis like any other... God's existence or non existence is a scientific fact about the universe, discoverable in principle if not in practice." (The God Delusion, p. 50, 54)

Dawkins then proceeds to conclude "There almost certainly is no God," based on what he claims is his belief in, and use of, the scientific method (The God Delusion, Ch. 4).

Ironic as it may be, the man who is actually credited with INVENTING the first true formulation of the scientific method concludes otherwise (Scientific Method, SEP),
"But any one who properly considers the subject will find natural philosophy [science] to be, after the Word of God, the surest remedy against superstition, and the most approved support of faith. She is, therefore, rightly bestowed upon religion as a most faithful attendant...

In the meanwhile, it is not wonderful that the progress of natural philosophy [science] has been restrained, since religion, which has so much influence on men’s minds, has been led and hurried to oppose her through the ignorance of some and the imprudent zeal of others." (Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, p. 49)

Francis Bacon, widely regarded as the father of the first true formulation of the scientific method, not only concluded that science points to God, but that God gives man the methods of science in order that they can come to a more complete understanding of the world they live in, and the world that God created (Romans 1:20). Bacon has famously been quoted saying,
"A little philosophy inclines man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy brings men's minds about to religion."

Bacon called science "natural philosophy," since science must be founded upon the logical, rational, and the reasonable, observed by the mind and processed through the mind.
Bacon invented the scientific method precisely because he believed in God, and precisely because he believed God had given the world to mankind to discover and uncover.
But Bacon was also a philosopher, highly skilled in logic and reason.

Dawkins, on the other hand, is not a good philosopher, often making elementary logical mistakes that lead him into the depths of unreasonable logic. This is why atheist philosopher Michael Ruse has concluded Dawkins would fail an elementary philosophy course,

"Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion would fail any introductory philosophy or religion course. Proudly he criticizes that whereof he knows nothing... If we criticized gene theory with as little knowledge as Dawkins has of religion and philosophy, he would be rightly indignant... Conversely, I am indignant at the poor quality of the argumentation in Dawkins..." (Michael Ruse, Why I Think the New Atheists Are a Bloody Disaster)

As much as Dawkins would like to claim it does, science by itself does not make philosophical claims-- science is the empirical study of the physical world. It relies on philosophy and logic to even get off the ground.

Any good scientist who wants to make a philosophical claim (ie. about the existence of God, for example) must also have a good grasp of philosophy in order to do so without making elementary logical errors.

Unfortunately, Richard Dawkins' material fails this test, and even his atheist philosopher contemporaries agree.
Like Francis Bacon said so many times, belief in God does not detract from our advancing science or understanding; belief in God actually forms the basis for our foundation of advancing science and understanding.

CTTO