Argument from Authority

On September 21, 2009, In Christianity, Philosophy, Religious Arguments, By The Armchair Antichrist

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Another common tactic used by theists is listing various scientists of the past who believed in God such as Galileo, Newton, Coppernicus, Kepler, Farraday and so on. They think that this is somehow persuasive. What they fail to forget is that these scientists lived and died before the theory of evolution explained the diversity of life. In other words, it was much easier to evoke God because there was so much that was unexplained. Furthermore, these figures lived in times when religion was more prevalent.

Theists will also list modern scientists who believe in God, but fortunately they are in the minority. Furthermore, many of these scientists who say they believe in a God don’t believe in a personal one. With further examination you will find that those who say they believe in god are actually deistic or believe in a pantheistic god.

But, even withholding all the explanations I have given this argument is still one purely from authority which is a fallacy of logic. Just because an authority figure accepts something does not make it necessarily true. Science doesn’t work this way. Science is based on the evidence. And I would bet that if the scientists of the past could review all the data we have today that they would deconvert back to atheism in a heartbeat.

Conversely, a similar tactic is also used by theists. Some of them accuse Charles Darwin of racism and sexism and somehow attribute it to the theory of evolution. That is a failed approach. Would it make sense to not believe in the theory of relativity because Einstein was also racist and sexist? Of course not. Also, in Darwin’s time they had much different standards on what was considered sexist and racist. This doesn’t fully excuse him of harboring those discriminatory beliefs (if he indeed held them), but it still has no bearing on the validity of the theory he developed. If you wish to disconfirm evolution or any other scientific theory you must do so scientifically, instead of trying to convince people with these unscientific and deceptive methods.

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