Six quotations from scientists on religion

Last updated on: March 19, 2019 at 11:27 pm by Dan Peterson

Six quotations from scientists on religion 2019-03-19T23:27:25-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The Lovell Telescope, Jodrell Bank Observatory, United Kingdom (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Despite its title (“The Neanderthal renaissance”), this slightly longish but quite interesting article isn’t actually about contemporary American politics:

“The Neanderthal renaissance: Handprints on a cave wall, crumbs from a meal: the new science of Neanderthals radically recasts the meaning of humanity”

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From a Edward Reichman, a rabbi and a professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City:

“Scientists: Don’t Leave Religious Communities Out in the Cold”

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“The ghostly presence of virtual particles defies rational common sense and is non-intuitive for those unacquainted with physics. Religious belief in God, and Christian belief . . . may seem strange to common-sense thinking. But when the most elementary physical things behave in this way, we should be prepared to accept that the deepest aspects of our existence go beyond our common-sense understanding.” (Antony Hewish, British radio astronomer and 1974 Nobel laureate in Physics)

**“Nevertheless, just as I believe that the Book of Scripture illumines the pathway to God, so I believe that the Book of Nature, with its astonishing details – the blade of grass, the Conus cedonulli, or the resonance levels of the carbon atom – also suggest a God of purpose and a God of design. And I think my belief makes me no less a scientist.” (**Owen Gingerich, former Research Professor of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard University, currently senior astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)

“Scientific progress is the discovery of a more and more comprehensive simplicity. . . . The previous successes give us confidence in the future of science: we become more and more conscious of the fact that the universe is cognizable.” (Father Georges Lemaître [1894-1966], Belgian astronomer, physicist, and priest, and, arguably, originator of the theory of the “Big Bang”)

“The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.” (Albert Einstein, German-American physicist [1879-1955])

“The idea of a universal mind or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference from the present state of scientific theory.” (Sir Arthur Eddington, British astronomer, physicist, and mathematician [1882-1944])

“Let me say that I don’t see any conflict between science and religion. I go to church as many other scientists do. I share with most religious people a sense of mystery and wonder at the universe and I want to participate in religious ritual and practices because they’re something that all humans can share.” (Sir Martin Rees, British cosmologist and astrophysicist; Astronomer Royal since 1995; president of the Royal Society 2005-2010; Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 2004-2012.)

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