Scientists on Religion

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Max Planck, Physicist Nobel Laureate

“No matter where and how far we look, nowhere do we find a contradiction between religion and natural science. On the contrary, we find a complete concordance in the very points of decisive importance. Religion and natural science do not exclude each other, as many contemporaries of ours would believe or fear. They mutually supplement and condition each other. The most immediate proof of the compatibility of religion and natural science, even under the most thorough critical scrutiny, is the historical fact that the very greatest natural scientists of all times — men such as Kepler, Newton, Leibniz — were permeated by a most profound religious attitude.”
 
Pope Benedict XVI

“But the big problem is that were God not to exist and were he not also the Creator of my life, life would actually be a mere cog in evolution, nothing more; it would have no meaning in itself. Instead, I must seek to give meaning to this component of being. Currently, I see in Germany, but also in the United States, a somewhat fierce debate raging between so-called “creationism” and evolutionism, presented as though they were mutually exclusive alternatives: those who believe in the Creator would not be able to conceive of evolution, and those who instead support evolution would have to exclude God. This antithesis is absurd because, on the one hand, there are so many scientific proofs in favour of evolution which appears to be a reality we can see and which enriches our knowledge of life and being as such. But on the other, the doctrine of evolution does not answer every query, especially the great philosophical question: where does everything come from? And how did everything start which ultimately led to man? I believe this is of the utmost importance.”
 
Pope John XXIII

“In order to imbue civilization with sound principles and enliven it with the spirit of the gospel, it is not enough to be illumined with the gift of faith and enkindled with the desire of forwarding a good cause. For this end it is necessary to take an active part in the various organizations and influence them from within. And since our present age is one of outstanding scientific and technical progress and excellence, one will not be able to enter these organizations and work effectively from within unless he is scientifically competent, technically capable and skilled in the practice of his own profession.”
 
Pope Paul VI

“Physics does not change the nature of the world it studies, and no science of behavior can change the essential nature of man, even though both sciences yield technologies with a vast power to manipulate the subject matters.”
 
Michael Faraday, Scientist

“Electricity is often called wonderful, beautiful; but it is so only in common with the other forces of nature. The beauty of electricity or of any other force is not that the power is mysterious, and unexpected, touching every sense at unawares in turn, but that it is under law, and that the taught intellect can even govern it largely. The human mind is placed above, and not beneath it, and it is in such a point of view that the mental education afforded by science is rendered super-eminent in dignity, in practical application and utility; for by enabling the mind to apply the natural power through law, it conveys the gifts of God to man.”
 
Bishop Leroy Matthiesen

“In the Texas Panhandle guns are often used for decorating the cabs of pickups. Guns are romanticized and relied on as if we were still living in the days of the Wild West when it was thought that differences would be settled on Polk Street in Amarillo with single combatants throwing down on each other at high noon. It is time to end our innocence. It is high noon on Main Street on Planet Earth. But the characters in the nuclear hats are not Clint Eastwood and Gary Cooper. The characters wearing the hats are dealers in death whose guns are loaded with noonday suns that vaporize and cremate and sow cancer.
We need to be reminded of that and say ‘No more,’ for the alternative is annihilation. We
must raise our voices and speak out loudly, clearly, and continuously until nuclear weapons are abolished. If we do not do so, then let us pray that somewhere someone will be left to say in our name, ‘I didn’t know the gun was loaded.’”
 
William of Occam, Medieval Friar and Philosopher

“When you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better.”
 
Martin Luther King Jr., Clergyman

“The first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws. (from “Rediscovering Lost Values”)”
 
Henry Adams, Historian

“Evolution of mind was altogether another matter and belonged to another science, but whether one traced descent from the shark or the wolf was immaterial even in morals. This matter had been discussed for ages without scientific result. La Fontaine and other fabulists maintained that the wolf, even in morals, stood higher than man; and in view of the late civil war, Adams had doubts of his own on the facts of moral evolution:”
 
“Geometry existed before creation.” – Plato

“Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here.” – inscription above Plato’s Academy

“The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics.” – Galileo

“The merit of painting lies in the exactness of reproduction. Painting is a science and all sciences are based on mathematics. No human inquiry can be a science unless it pursues its path through mathematical exposition and demonstration.” – Leonardo Da Vinci
 
Michio Kaku, Physicist

“The mind of God we believe is cosmic music, the music of strings resonating through 11 dimensional hyperspace. That is the mind of God.”
 
Jerry Bowyer, Author

“The argument is that mathematical laws, in order to be properly relied upon, must have attributes which indicate an origin in God. They are true everywhere (omnipresent), true always (eternal), cannot be defied or defeated (omnipotent), and are rational and have language characteristics (which makes them personal). Omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, personal… Sounds like God. Math is an expression of the mind of God. Sound strange? It isn’t. Modern natural science was created by people who said that they were trying to ‘think God’s thoughts after Him.’”
 
Tobias Dantzig, Mathematician

“Mathematics is the supreme judge; from its decisions there is no appeal.”
 
Moses Maimonides, Jewish Philosopher, Physician

“Consequently he who wishes to attain to human perfection, must therefore first study Logic, next the various branches of Mathematics in their proper order, then Physics, and lastly Metaphysics.”
 
Melvin Calvin, Biochemist Nobel Laureate

“As I try to discern the origin of that conviction, I seem to find it in a basic notion . . . enunciated first in the Western world by the ancient Hebrews: namely, that the universe is governed by a single God, and is not the product of the whims of many gods, each governing his own province according to his own laws. This monotheistic view seems to be the historical foundation for modern science.”
 
Piercarlo Valdesolo, Psychologist

“Justice Antonin Scalia and Keyser Soze agree: the greatest trick the devil could ever pull is convincing the world he didn’t exist. Fortunately for them, the devil does not seem to be effectively executing this plan. Some 70 percent of Americans, according to a 2007 Gallup Poll, believe in his existence.”
 
C.G. Jung, Psychologist

“God has fallen out of containment in religion and into human hearts—God is incarnating. Our whole unconscious is in an uproar from the God Who wants to know and to be known.”
 
J Budziszewski, Political Scientist

“If anthropological data suggests something short of the ideal, that is not because nothing is universal, but because two universals are in conflict: universal moral knowledge and universal desire to evade it. The first one we owe to our creation. The second we owe to our fall.”
 
Will Durant, Historian

“Hence a certain tension between religion and society marks the higher stages of every civilization. Religion begins by offering magical aid to harassed and bewildered men; it culminates by giving to a people that unity of morals and belief which seems so favorable to statesmanship and art; it ends by fighting suicidally in the lost cause of the past.”
 
Anonymous

“Brought to you by the miracle of modern science in the 20th Century:
The atom bomb which killed, maimed, and poisoned millions in Japan!
The poison gas which killed millions in the concentration camps of Germany!
And coming soon to theatres near you in the 21st Century:
The means of tracking everyone which finally makes totalitarianism a reality!
The most virulent plagues like the Ebola virus which could wipe us out tomorrow!
Be sure to remember and thank our sponsor, Jurassic Park whose motto is:
‘maybe we shouldn’t but we have to because we can - it’s science!’”
 
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