Taner Edis

Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey to Turkish and American parents, he traveled to America many times in his childhood.[2]

Fascinated by the plethora of supernatural and fringe science beliefs around him, and concerned about the rise of Islamist politics back in Turkey, Edis first got involved with skeptical inquiry into religious and paranormal claims during his graduate studies. "Science is difficult," states Edis to Point of Inquiry interviewer D.J. Grothe in answer to a question about why science has not replaced religion. Edis explains to his students that they will have difficulty understanding this "because the human brain is not wired to understand something like quantum mechanics correctly, it's a struggle."[3] In an interview with Susan Gerbic at CSICon, Edis characterized his more recent writings on the subjects of science and skepticism by saying that "it might [even] be rational to believe in certain falsehoods. The argument turns on the costs of acquiring and possessing beliefs; sometimes truth is just too costly."[4]

Edis has given several lectures about Islamic creationism. One of his premises is that creationism in the United States is quite moderate compared to Islamic countries. Turkey for example, despite being known as a secular state, has high levels of belief in a young Earth. This is because the textbooks and curriculum in the schools do not offer both evolution and creationism, but only creationism. Teaching evolution is not part of the syllabus at all.[5][6][4] Grothe asked Taner in 2007 if he thought that Islam could be compatible with western science. His answer was that it just depends on the type of Islamism. As in Christianity there are both liberal and conservative Muslims The more liberal their views the more compatible they are with science.[2]

Concerning crop circles Edis wrote that we know how these are created, we know the techniques. "So we do not need to find the perpetrator of every crop circle to figure out that probably they all are human made. Many true believers remain who continue to think there is something paranormal — perhaps alien — about crop circles. But the circles we know all fall within the range of the sort of thing done in hoaxes. Nothing stands out as extraordinary."[7]

One thing I think we need to be more impressed with, is how naturally religion comes to a normal human mind. ... It is not so much death of perception of supernatural agents all around us, it's that organized religion has lost its ability to convince people. That's very different than people becoming science-minded skeptics and rationalists... it's religion fading away that is the default."[3]

Edis was an editor of the book Why Intelligent Design Fails, which has received positive reviews.[8][9][10] His book The Ghost in the Universe received the Morris D. Forkosch Book Award for "Best Humanist Book of 2002"[11]

• Edis, T. (2016). Islam Evolving: Radicalism, Reformation, and the Uneasy Relationship with the Secular West. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-63388-189-1. OCLC 940455332.
• Edis, T. (2007). An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9781591024491. OCLC 71948044.
• Edis, T. (2006). Science and Nonbelief. Greenwood Guides to Science and Religion. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313330780. OCLC 61131830.
• Young, Matt; Edis, Taner, eds. (2004). Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-3433-X. LCCN 2003020100. OCLC 59717533.
• Edis, T. (2002). The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9781573929776. OCLC 694847577.

According to his university website, Edis states he "regularly wander(s) off into strange territories where science and weirdness intersect, and, along with my wife, serve as a slave to three cats."[12]

• Publications by Taner Edis, at ResearchGate
• Publications by Taner Edis at Academia.edu