scientism

Beloved for his Narnian tales for children and his books of Christian apologetics for adults, best-selling author C.S. Lewis also was a prophetic critic of the growing power of scientism in modern society, the misguided effort to apply science to areas outside its proper bounds. In this wide-ranging book of essays edited by John G. West, contemporary writers probe Lewis’s Read More ›

George Orwell once quipped that “no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.” Orwell, who penned the classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, was undoubtedly aware that the best stories — especially science fiction — are those that contain just enough truth to have the air of plausibility. If one were to believe the news media, 2010 was a banner Read More ›

Militant atheism is on the rise. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens have dominated bestseller lists with books denigrating religious belief as dangerous foolishness. And these authors are merely the leading edge of a far larger movement–one that now includes much of the scientific community. “The attack on traditional religious thought,” writes David Berlinski in The Devil’s Delusion, “marks Read More ›

Set to inspirational choir music and glorious scenes of a rugged green shoreline, Carl Sagan opened his television documentary Cosmos by declaring that “the Cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be.” The famous astronomer then outlined a plan for humanity’s salvation: For the first time, we have the power to decide the fate of our Read More ›

David Berlinski’s new book describes the remarkable extent to which the dominant religion of the intelligentsia is now “science.” This new religion — which is based on atheism and materialism — is actually better termed “scientism,” since its religious claims far overreach its scientific content. Scientism reflects the tendency of scientists to become what Ortega y Gasset called “barbarians of Read More ›

This impressive volume contains critical essays on naturalism from the perspectives of theology, ethics, cosmology, ontology, and epistemology. Various Discovery Fellows make contributions including Robert C. Koons, J.P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, and William Dembski. Koons, a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, begins by noting that there is a simple correlation between existence and the requirement of Read More ›

University of California at Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson enjoys taking on the theory of evolution … even if it means swimming against the tide in a place not exactly known as a bastion for anti-Darwinist views. He has written a new book, which has sold nearly 50,000 copies, aimed at giving parents and students material to counter Darwinism in Read More ›