CARL SAGAN: PROPHET OF SCIENTISM

By David N. Menton

Carl Sagan has gained international attention through his popular

writings on science and especially through his 13 part television

series "Cosmos". In all of these, Sagan says he presents only

scientific facts or scientific theories supported by scientific

evidence.

What has often emerged in his popular writings and

television appearances, however, is only a tissue of empirical science

covering a great bulk of unprovable speculation liberally laced with

Sagan's own philosophical and religious views of life. Sagan's

religion is not so much one of science as it is of "scientism."

Scientism is the belief that the assumptions, methods and even

the speculations of science are equally appropriate, if not essential,

for the proper understanding of all knowledge including religion.

Scientism explicitly denies both the special revelation of truth and

the existence of a sovereign, supernatural and eternal being. In the

religion of Scientism, the Cosmos (matter, energy, time and space) is

believed to be eternal and the only ultimate reality. Scientism

teaches that all things have their being and origin in the intrinsic

properties of nature.

It follows that if gods were to exist, they too

would only be a part and product of nature. The social and

philosophical implications of Scientism for man are embodied in the

religion of Secular Humanism. Sagan's scientistic religious beliefs

and pronouncements are well documented in his own books:

"Broca's Brain", New York, Random House, 1979

"The Cosmic Connection", New York, Anchor Press, 1973

"Cosmos", New York, Random House, 1980

"Life in the Universe", San Francisco, Holden-Day Inc.,1966

Sagan, who insists that evolution is a fact not a theory, that

"we (humans) are the products of a long series of biological

accidents" and thus concludes that "in the cosmic perspective there is

no reason to think that we are the first or the last or the best"

("The Cosmic Connection" p.52).

Carl Sagan was a student of the

evolutionist-astronomer Harlow Shapley who once said "some piously

record 'In the beginning God', but I say in the beginning hydrogen."

Shapley appears to believe that hydrogen is a colorless and odorless

gas which, given enough time, turns into people! Shapley's most

famous student reflects this same atheistic materialism when in his

book "Cosmos", Sagan confidently asserts that "the world was not made

by the gods, but instead was the work of material forces interacting

in nature" (p.177).

Naturally, such beliefs have profound

implications for the nature of man, and so it is not surprising when

Sagan says of himself "I am a collection of water, calcium and organic

molecules called Carl Sagan" (p.127).

In a logical extension of his

crass materialism, Sagan insists that all of our human traits - loves

and hates, passions and despairs, tenderness and aggression are simply

the result of "minor accidents in our immensely long evolutionary

history" (p.282).

In a lame attempt to find some sense of purpose and

meaning in a human consciousness born of "minor accidents" Sagan

proposes that "We make our world significant by the courage of our

questions and by the depth of our answers" (p.193). As a further

extension of this "boot strap" Sagan maintains that man has evolved by

mere chance to the point where he can now take over and direct his own

evolution (p.320).

With this, the ultimate goal of Scientism and

Secular Humanism is finally achieved; man becomes his own creator and

thus "god".

One way Sagan believes that man can ensure his own

continued evolution is to rid himself of his violent nature by

encouraging the fondling of infants and sexual activity among

adolescents (p. 331).

In a recent syndicated interview, Joan Sannders Wixen asked Carl

Sagan about his views on the future of man.

Sagan replied "I feel in order to survive

we someday must be able to give up our allegiance to

our nation, our religion, our race and economic group and think of

ourselves more as just a temporary form of life under the creation of

a power beyond our comprehension" (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Oct. 6,

1980).

Sagan concludes that if man is to worship anything greater

than man himself, it should be something which amounts to the pagan

worship of nature.

In his book "Cosmos", Sagan proposes the stars and

the Sun as being a more worthy object of worship than Jehovah. "Our

ancestors worshiped the Sun, and they were far from foolish. And yet

the Sun is an ordinary, even a mediocre star. If we must worship a

power greater than ourselves, does it not make sense to revere the Sun

and stars?" (p.243).

Neither does Sagan overlook "mother earth" in his proffered

religion and urges us to listen to her voice as well. "Some part of

our being knows this is from where we came. We long to return.

These aspirations are not, I think, irreverent, although they may trouble

whatever gods may be" ( p.5). In any event, Sagan appears to think it

most unlikely that "the gods" will be troubled since he reminds us

that "it is said that men may not be the dreams of the gods, but

rather that the gods are the dreams of men" (p.257).

In his book "UFO's--A Scientific Debate," Sagan

freely admits that "science has itself become a kind of religion."

itself become a kind of religion."

In fairness to legitimate science

it should be emphasized that it is Sagan's Scientism that has become a

religion.

Empirical science must depend on observability,

repeatablility and testability of all phenomena it would seek to

explain. True science of this kind has never been found to be in

conflict with the Bible.

Why is it then that so many public schools in our country manage

to get away with teaching the religions of Scientism and Secular

Humanism even in the face of widespread efforts to erect a "wall of

separation" between church and state?

Has the ACLU decided that there are acceptable and

unacceptable religions for our public schools? Can, indeed, any

teacher discuss the origin of the universe, and particularly the

origin of man and his "values", with out teaching or discussing

religion?

It seems unlikely that there can be such a thing as

"religion free" education on many of those subjects that most intrigue

man. We are led to conclude that all schools are to at least some

degree "religious schools", it is only a question of which religion is

being taught.

Finally, we might ask why Carl Sagan, of all people, was invited,

at considerable expense, to address the recent conference of Catholic

educators and librarians in St.Louis? Are these educators unaware of

Sagan's openly professed beliefs? Could it actually be that some of

these Catholic educators share these beliefs?