"Hey...Mr. Science Guy..."

"Could you please stand over there in your assigned area? We're discussing faith and the non-empirical over here. Thanks a lot!"

So I'm reading a terrific book right now: "What's So Great About Christianity" by Dinesh D'Sousa

A gem of a book! Here's a tiny, TINY nugget (mostly my synopsis of some interconnected thoughts):

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein stated that "even if all possible scientific questions are answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all."

Wow! How true is that?!

Imagine EVERY possible science question being answered; we still have the most fundamental questions of all facing us!

The most important questions of life - Why am I here? What should I love? What should I live for? What lies beyond death? - are NON-empirical! They lie outside the field where science is conducted. It is impossible for science to answer those questions.

Faith is an attempt to reach beyond the empirical realm (the realm of science) and illuminate those questions.

When people (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, etc.) use science to make claims about this non-empirical realm, they are making the fundamental mistake of trying to apply the empirical to the non-empirical (philosophers call this a "Category Mistake").

Science is a good... no, great!... thing. But, scientists are people too. They often take their expertise into non-science areas and claim expertise and special insight there. Classic act of pride.

When they do this, they've succumbed to that great temptation we all face: self-worship.

The New Atheists reek of self-worship. They are ignorant in their claims, yet evangelize nonetheless.

Remember this when some scientist/rationalist makes claims about the non-scientific/extra-rational:

They have jumped into deep waters... and they don't know how to swim!