# Coyne on the war between science and faith

**URL:** <https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/coyne-on-the-war-between-science-and-faith/12756>\
**Category:** Conversation\
**Tags:** Society\
**Created:** [December 14, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/coyne-on-the-war-between-science-and-faith/12756 "2020-12-14T03:10:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 76

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![T\_aquaticus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/t_aquaticus/32/1249_2.png) [@T\_aquaticus](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/T_aquaticus)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/coyne-on-the-war-between-science-and-faith/12756/76 "2020-12-16T22:43:22Z")

</div>

> [@thoughtful](#):
>
> what **facts** do YEC ignore? And why are they facts rather than interpretations?

Facts are interpretations. As Gould put it:

> [@](#):
>
> Well, evolution _is_ a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein’s theory of gravitation replaced Newton’s, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from apelike ancestors whether they did so by Darwin’s proposed mechanism or by some other, yet to be discovered.
> 
> Moreover, “fact” does not mean “absolute certainty.” The final proofs of logic and mathematics flow deductively from stated premises and achieve certainty only because they are _not_ about the empirical world. Evolutionists make no claim for perpetual truth, though creationists often do (and then attack us for a style of argument that they themselves favor). In science, “fact” can only mean “confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.” I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.  
> [Stephen Jay Gould, "Evolution as Fact and Theory" 1994](http://wise.fau.edu/~tunick/courses/knowing/gould_fact-and-theory.html)

The facts that YEC’s have to ignore is the fact that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, that other galaxies are millions and billions of light years away, the fact that life has been on this planet for billions of years, and so forth.

---

_[View the full topic](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/coyne-on-the-war-between-science-and-faith/12756)._