Selective Skeptics
I regularly consume atheist podcasts and YouTube videos, and something about them is especially striking. These self-described skeptics rarely apply their vaunted skepticism to whatever they perceive the consensus to be among scientists. How odd! The ideal of science -- even if it is not often fulfilled -- entails vigorous (and rigorous) continuous debate and s uspicion of consensus, which in other contexts is denigrated as group-think or herd mentality. Skeptical atheists seemed to have missed this point. Many scientific truths that we today take for granted were once marginalized minority positions that brought their proponents immense grief from the scientific establishment -- such as the life-saving importance of doctors' washing their hands . Yet many members of the skeptical school of atheism seem to believe that the correct scientific position is whatever the alleged consensus seems to be and that any doubt (skepticism) about an alleged consensus position is...