Years ago, I would have blindly accepted this graphic, which was kindly supplied by an internet atheist community. It’s simple, right? “Religious” people hate science and scientists have no use for “religion”. End of story.
Well, not so fast. First of all, I follow Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God) but I’m absolutely not “religious” (here’s why: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-cP). That said, is faith really just for people who are too dumb to figure out science?
Let’s examine the evidence. I went to Wikipedia and found an entry called ‘List of Christian thinkers in science’. The list from the past is looooong, but I skipped that because people opposed to Jesus could claim science simply hadn’t advanced enough for these thinkers to toss God on the trash heap.
I jumped down to the bottom and found more than 60 (that’s correct; sixty) living thinkers in the fields of engineering, physics and astronomy, chemistry and biomedical sciences.
There are likely more, since Wikipedia notes “This list is non-exhaustive and is limited to those scientists whose Christian beliefs or thoughts, in writing or speaking, are relevant to their notability.”
Want a few names? How about:
- Rosalind Picard, a Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of the Affective Computing Research Group at MIT.
- Don Page, a Canadian theoretical physicist who focuses on quantum cosmology.
- Karl Giberson, a Canadian physicist who has published several books on the relationship between science and religion, such as The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions.
- Joseph Taylor, an American astrophysicist and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery (with Russell Alan Hulse) of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation.
- Ben Carson, an American neurosurgeon. He is credited with being the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins joined at the head.
Is Wikipedia just a patsy for Jesus followers? Just in case someone out there is wondering, I investigated other sources.
The MIT site includes Rosalind Picard and her list of accomplishments is simply astonishing. Don Page, Ph.D, is part of the physics faculty at the University of Alberta. Karl Giberson has a Ph.D from Rice University. The Nobel Prize website has an entry for 1993 winner Joseph Taylor. And the Academy of Achievement website inducted Dr. Ben Carson along with the likes of conservationist Jane Goodall, economist Milton Friedman and architect Frank Gehry.
All this leads to what I think is an obvious point: You absolutely do not have to be “stupid” to be a person of faith. In fact, I feel quite within my rights to leave you with this question: since following Jesus makes perfect sense to these brilliant people, shouldn’t it be worth your serious consideration? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
You ended your post with an appeal to authority. That’s bad form. The graphic is alluding to the fact that most believers don’t understand the science that they argue against. Further when people do learn to understand it the very often stop being believers. Intellectual laziness let’s people believe what they want to believe while they have not done anything to understand the argument they are opposed to. You appear to be guilty of this.
Thanks for your thoughts. Frank’s Cottage is not meant for atheists. It’s written for people who are open to spirituality.
It is a public blog, right? Is censorship something you agree with?
I don’t agree with censorship. And sadly, I’ve found that engaging in debates with atheist people is a waste of time and energy. I really, really wish it weren’t so. 😦
[…] Source: WHEN SCIENCE AND FAITH DON’T COLLIDE […]
My father was raised in an extremely strict Christian environment. He eventually became a biology professor and an avid student of Charles Darwin. He struggled with these issues of science vs. religion for a substantial time in his life, yet was finally able to reconcile them as, truly, the are NOT at war, nor should they ever be.
If we accept that God, the Creator, is still at work in this creation, why not evolution? After all, He begins a good work in us, and because of that, we mature and evolve into more loving, understanding human beings, do we not? Science is knowledge, but only God can give us wisdom.
Great and thoughtful post, Frank! Blessings!
Evolution assumes that death and suffering have been going on for hundreds of millions of years. God’s creation was perfect. No sin. No death. And no suffering. The penalty for sin – death and suffering – were introduced when man chose to disobey the one rule that God gave him.
The more one studies creation versus evolution, the more obvious it becomes that God made the world about 6,000 years ago. (I majored in biology at university.)
This graphic states that when you not intelligent enough to be e.g. a scientist you can still be religious – which is true. Yet I agree that it implies something different: That you have to be stupid to be religious – which is bullshit. There are many intelligent people who are religious!
Yet what is also true is that there is a negative correlation between I.Q. and faith. See e.g. here:
http://psr.sagepub.com/content/17/4/325
and here:
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/08/new-meta-analysis-checks-the-correlation-between-intelligence-and-faith/
Caveats: This is only correlation, not causation! And it of course doesn’t settle the question whether there is a Christian God or not. It simply states that the lower your I.Q. the higher the probability that you are religious… which the graphic says in a somewhat shortened and admittedly not so nice way.
There are lots of incredibly smart believers; these folks have simply learned to submit their self-reliance and self-indulgence before investigating the case for God’s existence.
http://www.str.org/blog/are-atheists-smarter-or-simply-more-self-reliant-and-self-indulgent#.V0YMl5MrJTY
The theory of the expansion of the universe, right now known as the Theory of the Big Bang is the work of several scientists with great minds. One of the main contributors is Georges Lemaitre… a belgian christian catholic priest.
Check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre
You should add Fritz Schaefer to your list – http://www.veritas.org/speakers/fritz-schaefer/
This topic is powerful, I humbly submit that if you understand the God of the Jews is the same as the God of the Christian faith the we add new numbers
To the intelligence of the great thinkers of today and of history.