Victor J. Stenger - God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion

Stengera major powerhouse of honest thinkinghas produced another massive exercise in logic. He shows why science is trustworthy as humanity's life-support. And, in contrast, he shows why supernatural beliefs are silly and childish, unworthy of thinking adults.

James A. Haught, editor of the Charleston (WV) Gazette
and author of 2000 Years of Disbelief

A magisterial survey demonstrating that religion is simply not compatible with science. In fact, as Stenger proves here time and again, religion keeps getting in the way of science, often motivates people to distort scientific facts to serve their religious hopes and wishes, and remains attached to ideas and ways of thinking that science has long since proved invalid. If you know someone who gainsays any of these conclusions, give them this book.

Dr. Richard Carrier, author of Sense and Goodness without God

Elisabeth Kbler-Ross famously outlined the stages through which we pass as we come to grips with death: denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance. Well, religion seems to be dying a lingering death, and in God and the Folly of Faith Victor Stenger shows how it is passing through the same stages: fundamentalists are in denial, apologists are in the anger phase, and liberal theologians are bargaining. Stenger's fair and deadly arguments will help religion to accept its inevitable demise.

Robert M. Price, professor of biblical criticism,
Center for Inquiry Institute, and author of Beyond Born Again

Puts to rest the myth that science and religion can coexist peacefully. Thoughtfully researched and delightfully readable!

Craig A. James, author of The Religion Virus

Published 2012 by Prometheus Books

God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion . Copyright 2012 by Victor J. Stenger. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stenger, Victor J., 1935

God and the folly of faith : the incompatibility of science and religion / by Victor J. Stenger.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9781616145996 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 9781616146009 (ebook)

1. Religion and science. 2. ChristianityControversial literature. I. Title.

BL240.3.S737 2012

201.65dc23

2011050570

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

Science flies us to the moon.

Religion flies us into buildings.

Victor J. Stenger

That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

Christopher Hitchens

O
nce again I am deeply indebted to Brent Meeker and Bob Zannelli for their meticulous reading of my various manuscripts and their many invaluable corrections and changes. They are longtime members of the discussion group avoid-L (Atoms and the Void) that I created over a decade ago, now ably managed by Bob. Others from avoid-L who have helped on this book include Greg Bart, Martin Bier, Yonatan Fishman, Don McGee, and Christopher Savage. I have also received valuable assistance from religion scholar Hector Avalos, ancient historian Richard Carrier, physicist Taner Edis, and writer Andrew Zak Williams. Keith Augustine was of great help with my discussion of near death experiences. Sean Carroll and Alexander Vilenkin graciously replied to my e-mail queries on cosmology. I am grateful to Peter Montgomery, senior fellow at People for the American Way, for tracking down some references for me. Also, I wish to express my appreciation to the prominent free thinkers Dan Barker and Michael Shermer for their continual encouragement and support.

Beside these friends and supporters, I am fortunate to have a loving family that continually provides me with inspiration and encouragement.

Finally, I wish to add that I am forever grateful to the late Christopher Hitchens for his inspiration, support, and friendship. He was the greatest writer, intellect, and gentleman I personally have ever known.

Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck.

Thomas Jefferson

M
adeline Kara Neumann was a fun-loving, eleven-year-old girl who liked to wear her straight, brown hair in a ponytail. A photo that ran in a newspaper after she died shows her kneeling proudly over a work of art she was creating at an outdoor chalkfest in Wausau, Wisconsin. Since Kara, as she was called, was completely under the care and authority of her parents, she was not allowed to choose her own religion, nor was she free to decide to take herself to the doctor. She died on Easter Sunday 2008, after suffering days of ghastly pain from undiagnosed but easily treatable diabetes. Her devout Christian parents had refused to take her to the hospital, believing that prayer alone can heal the sick.

Kara's father, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister, testified that he neither wanted nor expected his daughter to die. Believing himself to be a good parent, he had faith that God would heal Kara, as promised in the Bible:

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. (James 5:1415)

During the trial after her death, Kara's father was resolute. If I go to the doctor, Dale Neumann said, I am putting the doctor before God. I am not believing what he [God] said he would do.

Instead of acting like normal, prudent parents, who would naturally seek real help when it was obvious their daughter was in serious condition, the family contacted Unleavened Bread Ministries. The founder of that fundamentalist church, David Eells, has written: Jesus never sent anyone to a doctor or a hospital. Jesus offered healing by one means only! Healing was by faith. A statement posted later on that church's website by Eells reveals that the Neumanns, believing the scripture verse cited above, contacted one of our elders to ask that I call them to pray for their daughter. That elder got in touch with me Saturday evening and I called the Neumanns. As a direct result of her loving parents' faith-based inaction, Kara Neumann died the next morning, the day Christians celebrate their Lord Jesus' resurrection and victory over death.