Patrick Elliott <sel### [at] npgcablecom> writes:

> On 10/21/2010 12:38 AM, scott wrote:
> But, just for the sake of argument. Would someone asking them to build
> something that conflicts with their belief be considered "having an
> effect on their work"? Or is refusing to work (or the category I named
> previously, which is "refusing to look at things that conflict"),
> somehow not the same thing? I think they are. Though, the nature of that
> problem is **far** more obvious when you consider the sort of,
> "conscientious objector refuses to give X person Y medicine, even though
> they are the only pharmacy for 200 miles that carries it."
>
> Engineers are less likely to run into such situations, admittedly, but
> they instead have a very bad habit of showing up in someone "else's"
> work shop, to tell them that their expertise as an engineer **backs**
> their religion, which in turn undermines the other guys entire
> discipline. A problem that wouldn't be so annoying, except that, as I
> stated in the other post, sometimes you can't *make* progress in other
> disciplines without referencing things in others, and.. well.. What
> happens when you consult an engineer on something in biology, and the
> engineer does 100% perfect work in engineering, but rejects the
> underlying principles *of* the biology they are being asked to lend
> their own expertise on?

Hard lesson learned from years in grad school: Data > logic any day.

And to quote Sherlock Holmes:

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the
evidence. It biases the judgment."

So I ask you: Do you have actual statistics on what you speak of?

1. How many pharmacists refused to provide a drug (hard to call it
medicine - it's not a disease being treated, if I think I know what
you're talking about) on religious grounds? And of those, what
percentage of the cases did not have another pharmacist at the same
site, or within a reasonable driving distance? And of those, how many
were not reprimanded or lose their job (at least in the US)?

2. What percentage of religious engineers claim their expertise backs
their belief in religion, and of those, what percentage of those events
have been demonstrated to be damaging due to their beliefs?

3. What percentage of religious engineers/scientists, when being asked
to apply their expertise on a problem involving biology, have had their
work on that project been subpar compared to, say, an atheist engineer?

Until you present such data, what you keep stating is without merit.

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