How did Sean Carroll manage to survive Villanova?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the experiences of outspoken atheists, particularly those who graduated from religious universities. It raises questions about how individuals like Michael Shermer and others navigate the culture at such institutions. The conversation highlights that many religious colleges, such as Notre Dame and Villanova, have significant non-religious faculty members, suggesting a diverse academic environment. The dialogue also touches on the idea that a strong atheistic stance may develop in response to a religious background, prompting speculation about the influence of student culture on personal beliefs. Additionally, the conversation hints at the intersection of science and religion, noting that creationism has encroached on scientific discourse, which may necessitate stronger arguments from the scientific community.
Simfish
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He's one of the most outspoken atheists on the Internet (far more hardcore than most atheists I know), and yet he graduated from a religious university. Hmm, this sounds interesting.
 
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Did the physics department not do physics?
 
Of course it did physics. I'm just wondering how he managed to survive the student culture there.

But then the student culture might have influenced that. Someone just told me that Michael Shermer also went to a religious college.
 
How does one... not survive a student culture?

I mean, you have to be pretty insecure to leave a university just because it's a religious university unless people are throwing bibles at you while you're trying to do homework.
 
There are religious-oriented colleges and universities that don't enforce a religious lifestyle, and there are ones that do (e.g. Bob Jones University).
 
Interesting points. Do a lot of religiously oriented colleges (like Emory, Villanova, Notre Dame, etc) have atheist faculty?
 
a few minutes with Google (a useful tool...I suggest you take a look at it) says that Notre Dame's faculty is 47% non-Catholic. You can get corresponding numbers for Villanova, SMU, etc. You might spend a few moments looking at even their theology departments and you will see a number of scholars who are adherents of Islam, Buddhism, etc.
 
Simfish said:
He's one of the most outspoken atheists on the Internet (far more hardcore than most atheists I know), and yet he graduated from a religious university. Hmm, this sounds interesting.

Maybe he didn’t "survive"... maybe this "hardcore attitude" is a result of this...? :wink:

Well I don’t know, I’m just guessing here, but as a layman I always got the 'impression' that it’s not the task for science to find out if "Mr. X" exist or not, and maybe that’s what Sean is really saying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCVqJw7T1WU

On the other hand, Creationist has stepped into the domains of science. Maybe there’s a need to "sharpen the arguments"... I don’t know...

Personally I’m very fond of jarednjames https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=3088174&postcount=40". :smile:
 
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