I had an interesting conversation the other day with a wonderful man, who happens to be Baptist minister. We couldn’t be more different, yet we get along well. He is an intelligent man with degrees in Divinity – a gifted and articulate biblical scholar and preacher. Every once in a while we get into conversations about religion. He is an enigma to me in the sense that he is a well read and educated man who is a literalist – he believes that everything in the bible literally. He doesn’t believe in the Big Bang, evolution or any science that contradicts the literal contents of the Bible. For example, he believes in talking serpents and that the universe was created in 6 days.
This past week the big news in science was that the first direct evidence of dark matter was revealed. Positrons, the result of dark matter collisions had been discovered by an instrument in space, consistent with the theory as proposed by physicists and mathematicians. We live in a time of unprecedented scientific breakthrough. For example, scientists have identified the Boson Particle (the “God particle”) which is a key building block to all matter. We almost routinely are discovering planets outside of our solar system that could support life similar to Earth’s. Our lives have been revolutionized by the application of scientific principles to information processesing. In fact, we are on the verge of building the first cellular computer – a living computer built by living cells and far more powerful than any computer currently existing.
Yet, in the midst of all this scientific progress we have people, like my friend, who deny scientific discoveries such as the Big Bang, or laboratory techniques that determine the age of artifacts – in fact all of the science that is routinely encountered in every day life! Now many of these people can simply be dismissed as ignorant or uneducated (or simply Republican). Yet how do we explain someone like my friend who has a faith incompatible with reality? Some say that religious faith is inconsistent with intelligent, educated people. Certainly there are a large number of Americans that fit that description – otherwise known as the religious right.
Getting back to my friend, the Baptist minister, I felt bad for him in the sense that his faith seemed so fragile that he had to deny science and the practical applications of science in his everyday life. I was left shaking my head when he went on and on about talking snakes, Adam and Eve, etc., etc. etc.
All I could tell him was that I was glad that my faith did not depend on denying reality. There is nothing inconsistent about faith and science. But there is something destructive about a faith that denied science.
Wading into a little Religion are we Mr. Fieger?
Oh well that’s my favorite! Sounds like your friend has a good bead on life and from what I can tell you could only wish for such bliss in your life, otherwise why the heck would you hang out with him, outside of a late night talking point on the ole’ blog.
Yes, humans have really advanced themselves over time in terms of technology. For example, let’s look at the wheel.. I bet you the first person that discovered that a round object rolls was probably a Democrat who slipped and fell. It was his hard working, capitalist Republican buddy who while laughing his ass off thought to himself “I bet you that would work good to move some heavy supplies”, and then of course many others improved on this design thru time.
Now days you got people that all but think they are god, but the fact still remains that no one can predict with 100% certainty the weather from day to day. People can’t seem to stop Cancer or other disease, yet somehow humans really want to feel like they are in control. Truth is no-one is in control of anything, and humans are about as insignificant in the grand scheme of things as some space rock floating around in outer space. Yet a Democrat will insist that the entire universe revolves around them and their grand visions of how wonderful life will be if everyone thought just like them.
Then of course we have reality. You see the times we live in would encourage folks to think humans are beyond belief in God, or anything that can not be seen for that matter, dark or otherwise (no pun intended). The very idea that a higgs boson exist or even funnier still that humans were able to somehow harness and contain this particle in a Trillion dollar underground atom smasher just reeks of ignorance, if anything it’s just a bunch of overpaid people trying to save face, and even if they had found some kind of new matter it would be used 1st and foremost to kill and or destroy. Either way you don’t know nothing but what they tell you, so there is no wonder you have given up on God.
The times we live in would see a man think he is greater than God 99% of his life, spending the last 1% of his life praying to a God he never believed in because he has a disease that all these God like Dr’s and Scientist could not seem to cure. Hell, these same bright minds that Democrats and Mr. Fieger likes to call “Gods” didn’t have time to waste figuring out how to kill a little cancer cell, but they can wet wire a computer, smash open atoms, and otherwise parade as a God of innovation without really having their heads around the little things. Just goes to show you how ignorant a really smart person can become.
Faith has never denied science Mr. Fieger… It is Science that has consistently denied faith. The reality is that you just can’t get your mind around it and it bugs the piss out of you.
Speaking of talking snakes Mr. Fieger,