One of the common arguments you hear from religious fundamentalists is that their irrational beliefs are somehow more valid because they never change. Science is flawed because whatever we think we know for sure could go out the window in the future! Therefore, the argument goes, science isn’t trustworthy.

We know that’s a silly argument. Correcting your position based on new information is a feature, not a bug, of science. That applies to the details that are being discovered and debated as well as the larger positions we think are set in stone.

Stephen Woodford explains that concept in terrific depth in his latest video.

As Ken Ham famously said in his debate against Bill Nye years ago, there’s literally nothing that would get him to change his beliefs about what Genesis says. That wasn’t a sign of confidence; it was an act of unwarranted arrogance. (Nye, on the other hand, said his views would change given new evidence. Like any intelligent person would.)

It’s ironic that the people who constantly criticize science for “changing its mind” are the people who cling to a belief that is undoubtedly wrong.

(via Rationality Rules)

