Oh, Atheists, can't you be less right? And If you can't do that, can't you just apologize for it more?

Why does everyone want scientists, especially atheist scientists, to apologize for being right, or to be right less emphatically? I don't get it. Facts are important, and people should know them. Without facts people make awful, dreadful decisions. The thinking is that creationists and the like would be more willing to listen and accept facts if the facts were presented in a more politic fashion.

Creationists say that they aren't mad at scientists for citing science (because that would be awesomely silly), they say they are mad at scientists for the way it's done, for the "condescending manner," for the aggressive defense of science-y facts. That's a lie. They are embarrassed about being wrong and want some way to be less wrong, so they say, "It's not what you said that I'm upset about, it's the way you said it."

People say this all the time and it is never, ever true. There is no way to point out to someone how wrong they are without hurting them. Especially when what they are wrong about is something they profoundly believe and that gives them so much pleasure.

Being wrong is painful, and there is nothing we can do about it. 


All you can do is let them feel it, let them complain about it, let them blame the manner they were told and not the substance of the facts. That's okay. Everyone does this. We get hurt, we get defensive, we react poorly and lash out, and then, if the field is ready, if the seed is sown, we grow. That's life. That's how learning works.

The thing we shouldn't do is blame scientists and put the onus of easing people's pain on them. That can't  done. Pain is progress. Without pain, no progress. If scientists couch things in such a way that believers, people who have a heartfelt stake in "truth," can't feel it, they haven't been told, and they can't learn. All you can do is nod, and say, yes, it must have been a difficult experience, I'm sorry you were hurt.

Because it probably was.