Beyond the New Atheism is a new science of self
I commend Gary Wolf’s balanced and reflective treatment of the New Atheists (issue 14.11), to which I shall add two points. First, the claim that atheists must prove God’s nonexistence is absurd, since only a God’s-eye view could provide the kind of absolute proof that would satisfy this belabored demand. Second, there is a scientific answer to Wolf’s question, “Where does this leave us...?” – but not to where we are left, but to where we are led. Error is not the dead-end religions would have us believe. Our recognition (it does not require faith) that, as Wolf puts it, “there’s always a chance we could turn out to be wrong,” is actually the bedrock of our objectivity. A scientific perspective leads us to this bedrock of self-doubt, to build upon it an experimental, first-person science of self-knowledge. This answer neither relies on prophecy nor implies a contradiction – only a concentrated, long-overdue investment of talent, technology, and all-too-human, trial and error effort.
Chris CherpasCapitola, CA
