Last month, The Conversation published biologist Jerry Coyne's article, lovingly served up for audiences at Christmastime, "Yes, There is a War Between Science and Religion." Coyne fancies himself a participant in a perceived war between faith and reason, science and religion. His mission: To show people they can't believe the account of Christ's birth—as depicted, for example, in the Book of Luke, Chapter 2—while simultaneously believing there's crackers in the pantry. You use your eyeballs for the latter, but not the former, and it's simply irrational to go through life with a bifurcated mind!
It is of course odd to enlist Coyne to write on such a decidedly philosophical issue, seeing as he once lamented that,
Another problem is that scientists like me are intimidated by philosophical jargon, and hence didn't interrupt the monologues to ask for clarification for fear of looking stupid. I therefore spent a fair amount of time Googling stuff like "epistemology" and "ontology" (I can never get those terms straight since I rarely use them).
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