Atheist or Religious, We All Agree on This

Science is not just for secularists. And it’s not just for Democrats, either. Recent reports from the National Center for Science Education have helped make these points clear.

Earlier this week, NCSE reported that recent opposition to anti-evolution legislation has come from both religious and nonreligious quarters. Promoting this fact is very much in the interest of NCSE, which has no interest in dividing its base along (a)religious lines. This political reality is a reflection of a deeper truth, one constantly missed both by creationists and hardline secularists: Understanding science — real science — is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for nonbelief.

Does every atheist, agnostic, freethinker, apatheist, and secular humanist possess a clear understanding of science? Many do, granted, but all? Hardly. They may all appreciate science on some level, and many venerate it. But appreciating and venerating science are not the same as understanding it.