http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/22/opinion/22precede.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Er I believe in demons. At the moment I believe that Arun is possesed by the devil and the only solution is to deprive the devil the body that it is inhabiting, ie burn Arun at the stake.
Let no scientist or government stop me from doing this. Atleast I should have the freedom to propogate this truth. This is the truth that my religion taught me.
(Salem witch trials anybody)

Sorry for that outburst. But the point is that while religious freedom is good, so too is intellectual freedom, the freedom to criticise religions/theologies/religious practices. This intellectual freedom is probably the most needed for a civilised society

Infinitely more serious problems than whether God exists or not?
Thats debatable. I can see a whole lot of problems that have a root in irrational belief.

So i’ll merely point towards a few works which some (more so than others) may find interesting:

Nietzsche’s words and comments would be appropriate throughout this thread. See his “Beyond Good and Evil” for comments on morality, good/evil, whether to murder etc.

Nietzsche of course also had much to say on God’s Death (please let me indulge in this rather lengthy quotation):

“Where has God gone?” he cried. “I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now?
Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God’s decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? ”

- Section 125, The Gay Science

Another relevant text would be The Last Temptation of Christ, a Martin Scorsese film from 1988. His rather interesting interpretation/retelling of the story of Jesus (played by William Dafoe with a thick NYC accent) strikes at the heart of how important myth and the power of story is at work in religion…

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Sure, walking on water cannot be done…by us. It can be done by some insects Suppose, for the sake of argument, that there is a God and that He created the universe. Would it not be so much easier for Him to walk on the water He made?

We have to remember that the Big Bang Theory is just a *theory* and that no one of us was actually here when it happened; we have to allow for the possibility of other theories like Intelligent Design (for those who cannot say G-o-d). In the same way, evolution is a theory as well; if we are the objective scientists we say we are we have to look at *all* possible explanations.

Maybe the aspect that disturbs some scientists so much is that God — and Jesus, when He walked the earth — violates many if not all physical laws and principles we know. But does He really? I really like this illustration: if an apple is supposed to fall to the ground and I catch it in midair, did I violate the laws of physics? Not really. I just intervened, in a manner that is ordered and scientifically sound as well.

Born to a virgin? It hasn’t happened before..again, to humans. (Parthenogenesis occurs in some animals.) But just before it never happened to anyone else before or after Jesus *does not* mean it cannot happen. For one, He’s God and we’re not. (Okay, so this might seem like circular reasoning, but please stay with me. ) Secondly, as scientists we know that just one counterexample disproves the entire theory or law, just like that. Our moms definitely weren’t virgins when we were born, so let’s look at another instance.

Jesus claimed that our bodies will be resurrected to eternal life if we follow Him and let Him save us. Suppose now that He did rise from the dead. Then by golly, it’s possible for us as well. Sure, nobody else we personally know rose from the dead before. But regardless of the billions of people who have died and decomposed on this planet, ONE counterexample (remember our scientific training) is enough. Yes, it is possible.

Obviously another thing that irks many scientists is when people say that “science can never prove or disprove the existence of a god”. This looks like a convenient way to stop all arguments eh? But again being a scientist I respectfully disagree. I have seen and heard many stories of people being encountered by God on their *own personal* level: whether one’s needs are emotional, psychological, physical, and so on. He meets you where you are. The fact that all-powerful God let Himself be born to mere mortals, work, sweat, defecate and die would show us that He adjusts to us so we could grasp Him.

For scientists, especially astronomists and cosmologers: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4) He meets you where you are, including scientists like us
Okay, so we cannot see God. I cannot see energy and electrons either. Jesus obviously meant the same thing when He says “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

Wouldn’t it be scary to entrust your entire life to someone I cannot even see? But how different is it from a marriage vow, where I believe and hope that my spouse really will love me till death? How different is it from a child or a friend, who I hope will always be there for me? The relationship is still based on trust (which is another word for faith).

Just because it did not happen before, and just because we cannot perceive it, does not mean it’s not true.

In anything else, science holds that statement without question, but when it comes to the issue of God suddenly the barriers are up. Shouldn’t we be more objective? Maybe, just maybe, God is true.

We can even make our own experiments if we want…just to test the God hypothesis. Besides, if there really is no God, what have we got to lose? Blaise Pascal himself said this: “Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”

“Come near to God and He will come near to you.” (James 4:8)

I do hope that you do I’ll be praying for you guys.

With all the love from a fellow scientist (who you cannot see and whose words you have to decide to believe),
Teci

Scientists could do a lot more for the world if they would stay off Jesus and the bible believe what ever you want just let others believe what they want !

I agree. But scientists actually stay off Jesus and the bible. It is Doctors of Philosophy who are out there preaching and trying to convert the souls of unconverted to their side of the religious fence. The esteemed owner of this blog is on the trenches coast to coast and he is preaching “…not only to the converted, but also to the skeptical.” This is not surprising because Doctor means teacher. To teach and to proselitize is in the job description of Doctors of Philosophy.