Is Faith Irrational? (A Refutation Of Scientism)

• Introduction:

          -Atheists commonly portray Christians as establishing their beliefs on an empty shell of faith. It is claimed that they uphold their beliefs on irrational grounds or personal feelings. Religion is viewed as a coping mechanism by atheists. Many of them reject the validity of anything that cannot be tested or proven in a laboratory. People who subscribe to this view, known as scientism, automatically deem the supernatural realm to be nonexistent because it transcends the scope of the natural world. A great deal of atheists are quick to rule out the possibility of truth in anything miraculous because they subscribe to naturalism, which is the philosophy that nothing exists beyond the material world.

• The Inherent Inconsistency Of Scientism: 

          -It is unreasonable to dismiss any given idea (i.e. the miraculous) as being false when there is no scientific basis for establishing such a denial. Thus, people who subscribe to scientism (including famous proponents such as Richard Dawkins) are being utterly inconsistent with their own ideological framework because they are not making a verdict in accordance with known facts.

• Proponents Of Scientism Misrepresent Biblical Faith:

          -Biblical faith is not merely a mental conviction that is founded without evidence or equivalent to blind submission. It is not a form of wishful thinking. If biblical faith were these things, then God never would have sent prophets who foretold future events or take on human flesh and perform miracles for people. These are things which can be seen, heard, and felt. Our faith must be tested or proven (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Thus, biblical faith is not at odds with scientific investigation. It is based on what we know to be true and reasonable.

• Scientism Is A Corrosive Philosophy That Must Be Rejected:

          -It is impossible to examine the truth of everything that we have seen or heard every day. Our lives are simply too short to test the validity of everything that we may have learned, whether we obtained knowledge from experience or education. To doubt the truth behind everything would inevitably result in infinite regression. Such an outcome would undermine the concept of certainty, as well as trust. It would corrode the objectivity of education and court rulings. Human beings must possess a degree of faith in something. Faith is necessary for the establishment of relationships. Do atheists have faith in their own existence?

• The Limits Of Scientific Investigation Undermine Scientism:

          -Let us consider for a moment some of the essential features of human life. We have free will. We have conscience. We have rationality. We have intellect. We acknowledge the existence of moral truths. We know that human life has intrinsic value. We yearn for an ultimate purpose in life. Mathematics consists of several infallible formulas, proofs, and theorems. Universals, propositions, and possible worlds are examples of abstract realities. There are principles of beauty and artistic innovation, which are known as aesthetics. The universe came into being for a reason. Physical constants have a fine-tuning. Scientific laws themselves are based on foundational (empirically unverifiable) assumptions. If scientism is true, then all of the aforementioned ideas must be rejected as false because they cannot be verified by the scientific method. In fact, science itself would be self-refuting. None of the previously mentioned notions would be true, let alone applicable to our lives. Truths do exist beyond the scope of the scientific laboratory. It does not contain all the answers to the questions of life. What Christians argue against is a "science only" worldview, not science itself.