However, those who go beyond a theological perspective and argue that science done right (a la AiG or CRI) actually supports the YEC view, e.g., that dinosaurs lived within the last 10ky and walked alongside people—they are (at best) severely misinformed folk being led by (at worst) liars for Jesus. [1]
If you have a YEC view, then your view about science, if you are honest, should be: “Science disagrees with my view of creation. So be it, I don’t care. It'll all sort itself out in the end.”
I have total respect for this view.
Back to the debate. This is a site frequented by scientists and science lovers, theists and atheists.
Several atheists were arguing that YECs cannot do science, at least science related to evolution or the age of the earth/universe. This is total nonsense. You could argue that YECs ought not do such science, or that you would never knowingly hire a YEC to do scientific research in these areas, and I might (or might not) agree with you. That is a different matter altogether, and one fraught with value judgements and legal considerations.
But to argue that they can’t, because they lack some proper ideological viewpoint, is nonsense.
Science is not a religion. Scientists are practitioners of a craft, not clergy. To do science means to follow the scientific method. That means: experiment and/or calculate, document, and disseminate. And the holy of holies, never falsify (by addition, subtraction, or modification) your data.
Science does not ask you about your motivations, beliefs, religion or lack thereof, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, party affiliation, etc. It simply doesn’t give a rat's derriere about any of these.
This is what a lot of scientists have trouble with: science does not even care if you love science or if you believe in the results you are obtaining. So a YEC astronomer could make the most precise measurement of the Hubble constant, while not believing for a second that the reciprocal of the Hubble constant gives the age of the universe. His measurement, that is his science, is no less valid because he does not believe what he measured reflects reality.
Why would a YEC want to be an Astronomer? It doesn’t matter, as far as science is concerned. A person whose motivation is ideologically pure: “I want to know the secrets of the universe!” does science the same exact way as the person whose motivation is: “I want tenure and a paycheck” or "I want to learn how to blow up the world."
One of the atheist scientists posted a scenario that I though made my point better that I did. He wrote:
If you go to a candidate talk and they give an impressive, rigorous, detailed and well supported study and then at the end the punchline comes and they say “of course none of this is actually real because it contradicts the Bible” then no person with any academic integrity would take them seriously.To which I responded:
This. A thousand times this. They just gave a talk that was “impressive, rigorous, detailed and well supported” and then came out of the closet. How does that retroactively affect the science they just presented? If what they presented had you excited and could further your own research, would you now say: “Well darn, I guess I can’t use that after all!”This isn’t hard. Science is agnostic about everything you are as a person. It cares only about one thing: that you follow the method.
[1] Another repulsive (but common) position is that a young earth view is a first tier doctrine and, via the slippery slope, if you deny the young earth view you'll soon be advocating universalism and denying the trinity and justification by faith alone. Because of "metaphysics."
Of course a YEC believer can do science.
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