Dumb as mud?
BQ: One of my friends said, "you'd have to be dumb as mud to believe in God." Another person said, "science has made religion obsolete." Richard Dawkins claimed, "If children understand that beliefs should be substantiated with evidence, as opposed to tradition, authority, revelation or faith, they will automatically work out for themselves that they are atheists." Are these things true? Does becoming a scientist change one into an atheist?
A: Francis Collins headed the human genome project and is the current director of the National Institutes of Health. During the HGP, science convinced him that his atheism was misguided, and proved to him that God was real. His predecessor, Jim Watson, who also worked on the project, remained an atheist.
Both being top-level scientists, we can see that there is a divide, but it is not in their science, which was the same. It is theism vs atheism; there are scientists on both sides. As my former medical director once said, "Med school proved to me that there was a God, though it was trying to do the opposite."
Saying that intelligent, well educated people cannot believe in God is nothing more than an Emperor's new clothes argument—surely you see them, right? But be careful, because it works both ways! Belief systems often come about as a result of peer pressure, but they shouldn't.
(PN221)