Why I don't love 'I fucking love science'...

I read the God Delusion about five years ago. And I remember thinking that the ideas were really inspiring. It felt, to my late-teenage, hormonal self, that there was a great religious conspiracy which threatened to topple reason and science and society as we know it. Dawkins provided people like me, mostly agnostic/atheists with a voice and with the confidence to question religions. We were actively encouraged not to give two-hoots about respecting religious beliefs since they were ‘stupid’ and ‘irrational’. I went around like this for a while, genuinely believing that religion couldn’t answer anything and yet had a lot to answer to.

For some reason, perhaps because it is the best description we have for describing how we arrived in this existence, evolution got pulled into the religion versus no religion debate. Horror, this was now a religion versus science debate. Both sides of the argument ran to opposite ends of the debating chamber, ready to charge at each other. There were some laughably ridiculous intelligent design videos on Youtube, but then there were equally ridiculous videos from atheists who seek to reduce religion down to a biological argument.

But time has passed…

Religion isn’t trying to destroy reason or rationality, nor is science encroaching on questions which only religion can answer. They are two separate components of society. There are so many other components of society: art, philosophy, football, and preference for talking about the weather. Plato argued that Athens would be strong if there was a balance between three ideals: leadership, policing and creativity. 

Modern culture might not be so very different. Society needs to move towards a state in which, although there is specialisation as a scientist or an artist or a footballer, there is also a commonly held appreciation for the different building blocks of culture. Sure, I don’t personally like football, but I see that it is a really crucial part of being English. We love our football, without it, we wouldn’t be the same.

Science has undoubtedly improved the lives of countless millions through better medicine and made us happier by inventing technologies unimaginable only a few decades ago. But that doesn’t mean we should live in a society which only focusses its attention towards science.  What would we miss if we ignored art or moral philosophy or bee keepers? There should be more dialogue between all the different groups. Why classify yourself as a scientist or an artist or religious?

Here’s a boring question coming up! “Can a scientist be religious and can a religious person be a scientist?” Well. Actually, yes and yes! It’s no big deal, someone can be both religious and a scientist, in the same way that another person could be both a bee keeper and an artist. I’m not religious nor do I think there is a God, but that doesn’t stop me talking to those whom I know are religious about their religion. I enjoy these talks and not in a I-want-to-‘convert’-them-to-atheism kind of way. I genuinely want to know why certain beliefs are held in the same way that a scientist can appreciate art, or a bee-keeper can appreciate football.

Unfortunately sometimes, people can be preachy. They can talk you down, making you feel small, stupid and insignificant. They will often shout loudly about how their world-view is the only one possible for any ‘reasonable’ person. Often, they won’t listen to people from other groups and will actively gang up against someone for voicing their (un)reasonable opinion. Surprisingly, the worst example I have of this isn’t from a church but from Facebook.

I fucking love science, with its constant stream of arbitrary photos and cheesy, ‘inspirational’ quotes aims to get people enthused with the wonder of science. I view it as the science world’s equivalent of an fundamentalist church. “Marvel at the miracles nature has to offer! Behold the beauty of the red cap goldfish! Become inspired by some ambiguously interesting quote taken horribly out of context!” Science isn’t like that!

Scientists don’t walk around labs with their arms crossed and heads down, chanting “I fucking love science.”

It isn’t enough to just stare at the stars, and say “Wow! Isn’t that fantastic! Man, science. Y’know?”

I fucking love science is as toxic and as far removed from science as a radical church is to any religion. All it can ever hope to achieve is to increase the polarisation between different groups of society. This will be a terrible future since science is as much a part of society as art or religion or football or bee keeping. I will end this rant, with a slightly hypocritical and arbitrary photo containing a cheesy, taken-out-of-context, inspirational quote.