So during a conversation on an Atheism message board I made a shocking statement which I thought would stir a hornet’s nest of activity, and yet surprisingly almost none of the participants gave it any attention. One atheist had said that science relies on the assumption of ‘materialism’, which he described as the view that only material things exist. I corrected him by pointing out that science, in as much as it is occupied with the study of natural causes and events, obviously relies on the assumption that material things exist, but not on the assumption that only material things exist. Even if it turns out that metaphysical naturalism is false, we would still have science because material things do exist. What I said next should have created a flurry of activity, and yet for some reason it didn’t: that metaphysical naturalism is already considered bollocks and for extremely good reasons, but science continues unabated (thus proving my point).
Yet of the atheists involved in that discussion, there was only one who took issue with my comment, an outcome which defied the predictions of my experiences. But at any rate, what I wish to share with you here is the conversation that occurred between me and that one atheist, the outcome of which was even more unexpected.
