Religion and science have always been on shaky grounds with one another. Leaders of the Christian Church saw much science as a blatant attack on God, and a way to condone non-religious life. If God could be disproved in some way, then there would be no one to which humans would be responsible. Life without a religious influence would be chaos.
In the book Philosophy of Religion: A Global Approach, compiled by Stephen Phillips, there is an excerpt from Michael Scriven's Primary Philosophy. IN this excerpt, Scriven is discussing the lack of evidence with regards to a God. Scriven feels that this lack of evidence leaves "no alternative to atheism." Many theologians have believed that without decisive proof against the existance of God, that there is still an opening for faith. Scriven does not believe that this third option should exist, but that atheism is the only sensible route given that there is not any evidence that proves the existance of God.
Scriven likens God with Santa Claus. Both have supernatural powers; that which defies known powers. Scriven speaks of the progress from belief to loss of belief in a child's life in reference to Santa Claus. Initially, all of the stories that our parents tell us seem to be true. We naively trust that what they are telling is true, until we find evidence to the contrary, evidence that shows that Santa Claus is not real. Scriven states that:.
"Now even belief in something for which there is no evidence, i.e., a belief which goes beyond the evidence, although a lesser sin than belief in something which is contrary to well-established laws, is plainly irrational in that it simply amounts to attching belief where it is not justified. So the proper alternative, when there is no evidence, is not mere suspension of belief, e.g., about Santa Claus, it is disbelief . It is most certainly not faith.".
Scriven goes on to say that belief in something non-supernatural such as Big Foot is different than belief in God.
