June 26, 2007
Should Science Speak of Faith?
This is an interesting article in which “two prominent defenders of science exchange their views on how scientists ought to approach religion and its followers.” The speakers are Lawrence M. Krauss and Richard Dawkins, and here’s an excerpt (Krauss is speaking):
“Indeed, I have argued that questions of purpose in the universe are generally not a part of science, and the best example I know is that of Georges Lemaître, the Belgian priest who was also a physicist, and the first person to realize that Einstein’s General Relativity implied there was a Big Bang origin to our universe (a claim initially much derided by Einstein). Following this realization Pope Pius XII issued a statement that said science had proved Genesis. Lemaître responded appropriately. He wrote to the Pope and urged him to stop saying that. The theory in question was a scientific theory whose predictions could be tested. What religious implications one took from the theory depended upon one’s metaphysical leanings. One could take it to validate Genesis, by implying that the Universe had a beginning—a revolutionary scientific claim at the time. But one could equally well take it to imply that there is no need for a God, that the laws of physics are all that are required to understand the universe right back to the beginning. The point is that the science is accurate in describing how the universe works, independent of the metaphysical implications one derives from it. The same is of course true for evolution, which happened and is happening, whether or not one chooses to believe in God.”
See the whole thing here.
comments
In his book, Demon Haunted World, Carl Sagan pointed out that science has the unique feature of accepting critiques and to critique with arguments: if and only if those arguments have gone through the scientific process of trial and error… This unique feature is one feature that religion lacks, religious representatives think of religion as the ultimate truth, and condemn anything that goes against their beliefs.
In short… Yes, Science is allowed to talk about religion because Science allows anyone else to talk, criticize and debate Science’s beliefs.
Yes, Science is allowed to talk about religion because Science allows anyone else to talk, criticize and debate Science’s beliefs.
That’s my view of the matter as well–thanks for commenting.