"What is worthy of respect is not self-congratulatory pox-on-both-your-houses rhetoric, but steadfast adherence to the principle that there is such a thing as truth, that we can find out what it is, and that the effort to do so is a worthwhile one."

http://www.daylightatheism.org/2007/06/be-hot-or-cold.html#comment-24507

This statement falls pretty close to the concept objected to here, namely a belief that "a single grand, overarching cause explains and underlies literally everything."

My point at the time was that doubt is a virtue, especially in the sciences. I suppose that "the truth" isn't exactly a cause, although the quest for "the truth" is cause enough for a lot of scientists. Just playing devil's advocate here, and imagining some fundamentalist claiming it's the pot calling the kettle black.

GD

Evolution is, after all, more than a scientific theory. It is a worldview—a way of understanding all of life that entirely excludes God.

This is my favourite quote from the Kennedy article. Except I think this is a good thing!

In religious fundamentalism, as well, the one-reason worldview is common. In this column, right-wing Christian spokesman D. James Kennedy blames the theory of evolution for abortion, homosexuality, racism, genocide, and teen suicide.

Ha ha, like those things never existed by Darwin came around. I'm sure the Amalekites would disagree with Kennedy on this score, just for one Biblical example.

I find it impossible to discuss anything pertaining to religion, politics, or science with someone who holds a one-reason view of the universe.

And it always cracks me up that these Fundies "know" that the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's Flood, thereby discounting the work of experts in geology, as if the latter's research and studies were all just a waste of time.

These groups typically attract precisely those people who are uncomfortable with complexity and ambiguity

Until we as a society learn to value critical thinking, there will always be those who will gladly accept easy answers whenever they are offered.

Your diagnosis is spot on. It's sheer intellectual lethargy that drives the hope that a map of the universe-and-everything exists and has been presented to us.
It's hard work to deal with your opponents and to see the same problem from many different angles. And sometimes you just want the bottom line answer so you can get on with your life. But, there is no bottom line, often times, just an ongoing debate ad infinitum - no answer key in the back of the book and no judgment day when a sky daddy will tell you you were right and everyone else was wrong. This is the biggest reason it's hard for someone to question his/her worldview; it's like starting all over again with no hope of finishing.

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

Right on. Even more fallacious is the notion that "science" (crudely defined) is done by lone geniuses to whom all credit for a "discovery" belongs (call it the "Dr. Frankenstein Fallacy"). The inherently group-effort--and, increasingly, international-- nature of science is totally disregarded. My wife is a polymer chemist. "Her" lab employs 23 people, only 5 or 6 of whom are actual doctoral-degree holders. The rest are graduate and undergraduate students, technicians, etc. And it doesn't even end there: her group works with another group on clinical trials, another group on biochemical aspects of their work. Then there's the international connections: They regularly talk to another group in Russia and a third group in South Korea who are all doing similar work.