The Black Vault

Hi,

The old excuse that scientists do not believe in God, because God is not logical is not true. The fact is most scientists do believe in God, and the reasons given have to do with the idea that the Universe is run on logical systems and laws and not by chaos. The very harmony of the universe suggests that indeed there is a God which underlies all of it.
Many of the great scientists of the past, believed in God. Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627),Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) , Isaac Newton (1642-1727), and Albert Einstein (1879-1955) to name a few. These are scientists who theories we still hold to be true.

Albert Einstein recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in "Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the harmony of what exists." This actually motivated his interest in science, as he once remarked to a young physicist: "I want to know how God created this world, I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the "uncertainty principle" was "God does not play dice" - and to him this was a real statement about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying of his was "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

What about modern day scientists? About two-thirds of scientists believe in God, according to a new survey that uncovered stark differences based on the type of research they do. In the new study, Rice University sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund surveyed 1,646 faculty members at elite research universities, asking 36 questions about belief and spiritual practices.
In separate work at the University of Chicago, released in June, 76 percent of doctors said they believed in God and 59 percent believe in some sort of afterlife.
Do scientists believe in god? Perhaps not all but according to what I've read the majority do. I'm sure a person can find something online that will tell you the opposite, but saying that scientists don't believe in God just isn't true.

Item7

Very good article Item7. Since I have been doing some reading on different subjects of dna I have found that many, MANY, of the scientists who are head of projects and research of dna believe in God. DNA is such a micro example of science. Makes me contemplate how an Atheist believes they can disprove every belief in God by a said believer, yet if they read research by a scientist without knowing anything about their belief in God, they will much easier accpet it as truth. How omnipotent is belief in God? How much does it affect every aspect of our thought processing in any subject and mirror our faith? There is alot to wonder.

Here is a little information on one of worlds leading geneticist, whom is quite fascinating to me. Francis Collins was appointed lead of the human genome project back when Bill Clinton was president and now he is director of the National Institutes of Health for Barack Obamas administration, and a strong christian.

..........................
"On July 8, 2009 President Barack Obama nominated Francis Collins to the position of Director of the National Institutes of Health[11]. The US Senate unanimously confirmed him for this post, announced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on August 7, 2009[12].

According to Science, Collins "is known as a skilled administrator and excellent communicator" and President Obama's nomination of him to lead the NIH "did not come as a big surprise". However, a discussion about whether his very public religious views would influence his leadership of the NIH played out on blogs[13]. His appointment was welcomed by the CEO of the AAAS[14] and by Bernadine Healy[15].

On October 1, 2009, Collins appeared for the second time on The Colbert Report, discussing his leadership at the NIH and other topics such as personalized medicine and stem cell research"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Collins_(geneticist)

"I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/03/collins.commentary/index.html

Thank you for posting that info Item 7, I always thought it was only some scientists who didn't believe in God, its nice to have the names of a few who did believe.

I think its one of the misconceptions many people use to support a positon, that if someone like Carl Sagan was an Atheist (don't remember if he was), that all other scientists must be too. Even the Big Bang theory doesn't disproove the existance of God, if anything it may proove it by proving there was a Void and Nothing before any creation. It prooves the first sentence of the Bible was true.

This is misleading. Most fields of science are not relevant to the existence or non-existence of God. Scientists in relevant fields generally do not believe in God at all.

Also, it is misleading to suggest that this makes belief in the Christian type personal Gods more likely, as you'll find the majority of these scientists find that type of God, who interacts with the Universe, very unlikely, and prefer a pantheistic type God, or a creator who does not meddle in our affairs, nothing like the God of the Bible most of you believe in.

Truth of, it is very hard to do science and take it seriously when you believe in a God who can meddle with our affairs at his whim, as it would suggest a Universe that is not necessarily consistent.

Also, it is misleading to suggest that this makes belief in the Christian type personal Gods more likely, as you'll find the majority of these scientists find that type of God, who interacts with the Universe, very unlikely, and prefer a pantheistic type God, or a creator who does not meddle in our affairs, nothing like the God of the Bible most of you believe in.

humphreys ,i wasn't implying that these scientists who believed in God were Christian, although I'm sure some very good scientists have been. Maybe there are energies that exist that do interact with the universe and all its beings ,that are very much connected with a living creative force.

Its like your saying this creative God created science and the universe with its all it living things ,and decided to step back and only observe at some point.....for what purposes? To see how long the human mind would take to figure out a tiny percentage of all there is to discover?

sheye wrote:

Also, it is misleading to suggest that this makes belief in the Christian type personal Gods more likely, as you'll find the majority of these scientists find that type of God, who interacts with the Universe, very unlikely, and prefer a pantheistic type God, or a creator who does not meddle in our affairs, nothing like the God of the Bible most of you believe in.

humphreys ,i wasn't implying that these scientists who believed in God were Christian, although I'm sure some very good scientists have been. Maybe there are energies that exist that do interact with the universe and all its beings ,that are very much connected with a living creative force.

Its like your saying this creative God created science and the universe with its all it living things ,and decided to step back and only observe at some point.....for what purposes? To see how long the human mind would take to figure out a tiny percentage of all there is to discover?

Hi sheye, my post was actually directed at Item's opening post, not yours.

While I don't actually believe in any God or creator at all, why is it more purposeful for a God to interact with his creation, than it is to sit back and watch.

They both seem pretty pointless (or equally useful), to me!

While I don't actually believe in any God or creator at all, why is it more purposeful for a God to interact with his creation, than it is to sit back and watch.

They both seem pretty pointless (or equally useful), to me

Interesting point of view humphreys


(curious...have you ever taken the knife and cut yourself so deep you passed out?...) I've always wondered why a seemingly intelligent scientific man would have a header like that? I've enjoyed reading many of your posts, then I get to the end (I think its called a header), and I just sort of shake my head in confusion.

sheye wrote:

While I don't actually believe in any God or creator at all, why is it more purposeful for a God to interact with his creation, than it is to sit back and watch.

They both seem pretty pointless (or equally useful), to me

Interesting point of view humphreys


(curious...have you ever taken the knife and cut yourself so deep you passed out?...) I've always wondered why a seemingly intelligent scientific man would have a header like that? I've enjoyed reading many of your posts, then I get to the end (I think its called a header), and I just sort of shake my head in confusion.

LOL, it's just a line from a character from a cartoon I like (see the guy in my avatar).

Scientists in relevant fields generally do not believe in God at all.

And your information is from what? The fact Carl Segan was like that? Any actual statistic to back that claim up?