The Real Conflict Between Science and Religion: Alvin Plantinga's Ignoratio Elenchi

Abstract

By focussing on the logical relations between scientific theories and religious beliefs in his book Where the Conflict Really Lies (2011), Alvin Plantinga overlooks the real conflict between science and religion. This conflict exists whenever religious believers endorse positive factual claims to truth concerning the supernatural. They thereby violate an important rule (r) of scientific method and of common sense, according to which (seriously disputed) factual claims should be endorsed as (approximately, probably, etc.) true only if they result from validated epistemic methods or sources.