By GUARDIAN
Added: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:00:00 UTC

Thanks to Sven Klinge for the link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2008/sep/12/robert.winston

Robert Winston criticises dangerous 'science delusion'

Fertility expert Lord Robert Winston says Richard Dawkins has been "irresponsible" for alienating religious people from science

Lord Robert Winston has renewed his attack on atheist writers such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens, whose arguments he said were "dangerous", "irresponsible" and "very divisive".

The science populariser and fertility expert said that the more bombastic arguments of atheist scientists were making dialogue between religion and science more difficult.

"I would argue that the 'God Delusion' approach is actually very divisive because it is the one way surely of not winning over opposing views … Religious people can say, 'look these guys just don't understand us'."

"We need to be much more sophisticated in how we handle these problems in our society and I don't think the propositions of Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and a number of other writers have really furthered useful healthy debate. I think actually they've limited it — that worries me"

Winston, who is a practising Jew, made the comments to journalists at the British Association Festival of Science in Liverpool. He has previously criticised Dawkins for his views on faith and has said that he is suffering from a "science delusion".

"Far too many scientists including my good friend Richard Dawkins present science as the truth and present it as factually correct. And actually of course that clearly isn't true."

"What Dawkins says is, 'if you don't believe in the fact that religion is a nonsense then you're deluded'. I think that is a very dangerous message because I think actually it is irresponsible. I think it poo-poos other people's views of a universe about which none of us know clearly or absolutely."

As an example of misplaced scientific certainty Winston said the traditional "determinist" approach to genetics was proving to be too simplistic.

"We can't any longer have the conventional understanding of genetics which everybody pedals because it is increasingly obvious that epigenetics — actually things which influence the genome's function — are much more important than we realised … One of the most important aspects of what makes us who we are is neither straight genes or straight environment but actually what happens to us during development."

Winston also criticised the notion — popularised by developmental biologist Prof Lewis Wolpert at University College London — that science can be separated from technology and the application of science. After praising Wolpert as a "really significant scientist", Winston said:

"I love Lewis, he's a wonderful man, but he's barmy. He presents science as the total truth — it's a nonsense."

"You can't do that. [Science and its applications] are interconnected aren't they. That's the problem. The use of science is dependent on the science that we produce. I think my answer to Lewis has to be that ... when we are doing research we have to look forward to see where it might have an application."

TAGGED: ACCOMMODATIONISM, RELIGION, SCIENCE