When discussing the facts of science and spiritual beliefs, some interpret my advising them of the facts as an attack on their belief in God. I do no such thing. God can exist within the scientific world (no matter how unlikely that may be) and scientists, such as Kenneth Miller, have written on the subject. However, when their beliefs contradict what is known by science, I will call them on it and remind them that it is not a matter of belief. When I point this out to believers, I am showing them the difference between what can be called a belief and what cannot. I am not attacking their belief in God or a soul. With most subjects other than the spiritual, most believers will behave in the same rational manner and advise those who are less informed of the facts. For example: I will not dispute whether God created the universe, but it is impossible for the earth to be ten thousand or fewer years old and this is not a matter of belief, but a fact. Science may not know the exact age of the earth, but we do know that it is on the order of billions of years and not thousands or even millions. I only dispute what science can tell us about ourselves and the universe and not what it cannot. Although I put God in same category as other mythological Gods (and frankly I don’t understand why people make a distinction between the god they believe in and Zeus, but people can believe as they so choose), I recognize that, as of yet, science has very little to say about whether he exists, so I do not dispute their belief in a god. I extend this same respect to all gods and not just a god of any one particular belief.

Another example is that I don’t dispute one’s belief in a soul, but when one states that it is the existence of a soul that makes us different from other species, I am going to advise them of the facts. Again I am not disputing whether a soul exists or not, but the details of belief that believers state as if they were facts, when they are not. I am merely advising them of the scientific evidence that is based on research and not feelings or what a book may say.

There are some things that can be disputed and fall into the category of belief, but a vast majority of what believers call belief (and irrationally many even incorrectly call them truths), which they will dispute, is actually non-disputable and falls in the realm of fact based on years of scientific research. These things are not left to be decided by belief, but born out in rational science. No one would say that gravity or that the shape of the earth is a matter of belief. There is no difference between those sciences and the age of the earth and human biology.

So next time when I state the facts as they are, do not accuse me of trying to tell you what you can believe.