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lickenforyou -> RE: Where is God ? (12/8/2010 1:20:46 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: tazzygirl
No God, No Moral Compass?
He rejects the idea that scientists who reject religion are arrogant. "We know how many mistakes we've made," Dr. Weinberg said. And he is angered by assertions that people without religious faith are without a moral compass.
In any event, he added, "the experience of being a scientist makes religion seem fairly irrelevant," he said. "Most scientists I know simply don't think about it very much. They don't think about religion enough to qualify as practicing atheists."
Most scientists he knows who do believe in God, he added, believe in "a God who is behind the laws of nature but who is not intervening."
Kenneth R. Miller, a biology professor at Brown, said his students were often surprised to find that he was religious, especially when they realized that his faith was not some sort of vague theism but observant Roman Catholicism.
Dr. Miller, whose book, "Finding Darwin's God," explains his reconciliation of the theory of evolution with his religious faith, said he was usually challenged in his biology classes by one or two students whose religions did not accept evolution, who asked how important the theory would be in the course.
"What they are really asking me is "do I have to believe in this stuff to get an A?,' " he said. He says he tells them that "belief is never an issue in science."
"I don't care if you believe in the Krebs cycle," he said, referring to the process by which energy is utilized in the cell. "I just want you to know what it is and how it works. My feeling about evolution is the same thing."
For Dr. Miller and other scientists, research is not about belief. "Faith is one thing, what you believe from the heart," said Joseph E. Murray, who won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1990 for his work in organ transplantation. But in scientific research, he said, "it's the results that count."
Dr. Murray, who describes himself as "a cradle Catholic" who has rarely missed weekly Mass and who prays every morning, said that when he was preparing for the first ever human organ transplant, a kidney that a young man had donated to his identical twin, he and his colleagues consulted a number of religious leaders about whether they were doing the right thing. "It seemed natural," he said.
Using Every Tool
"When you are searching for truth you should use every possible avenue, including revelation," said Dr. Murray, who is a member of the Pontifical Academy, which advises the Vatican on scientific issues, and who described the influence of his faith on his work in his memoir, "Surgery of the Soul" (Science History Publications, 2002).
Since his appearance at the City College panel, when he was dismayed by the tepid reception received by his remarks on the incompatibility of good science and religious belief, Dr. Hauptman said he had been discussing the issue with colleagues in Buffalo, where he is president of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.
"I think almost without exception the people I have spoken to are scientists and they do believe in the existence of a supreme being," he said. "If you ask me to explain it - I cannot explain it at all."
But Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary theorist at Oxford, said that even scientists who were believers did not claim evidence for that belief. "The most they will claim is that there is no evidence against," Dr. Dawkins said, "which is pathetically weak. There is no evidence against all sorts of things, but we don't waste our time believing in them."
Dr. Collins said he believed that some scientists were unwilling to profess faith in public "because the assumption is if you are a scientist you don't have any need of action of the supernatural sort," or because of pride in the idea that science is the ultimate source of intellectual meaning.
But he said he believed that some scientists were simply unwilling to confront the big questions religion tried to answer. "You will never understand what it means to be a human being through naturalistic observation," he said. "You won't understand why you are here and what the meaning is. Science has no power to address these questions - and are they not the most important questions we ask ourselves?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/national/23believers.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_thinkers_in_science
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_scientists_and_philosophers ....... by country no less!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_science_and_religion_scholars
It goes on and on and on. Your assertion that you could not find a list of atheists scientists is bs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_atheists_(science_and_technology)
Its ok, though, i found one for you... and no theistic attachments, imagine that!
quote:
First of all Einstein is on top of that list. He is on record as saying that he "does not believe in a living god" Religious people, even in his day, try to say he was religious. He was not, so I'm not going to even bother with the rest of the list.
Im sorry you are too lazy to do your own research. But, here ya go. Read up first. There are some truly intelligent people on these boards. Just because a source isnt something you dont approve of (Templeton) isnt a reason to discount them. Much has been written about that group. And those who have attemped to slam them have actually agreed their bias .. well... here you go, you can read it for yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Templeton_Foundation#Accusations_of_conservative_orientation
Now, do make sure you read the whole thing, else you will fail the exam.
I NEVER said that I couldn't find a list of atheist scientist. Please read my ACTUAL arguments. And, I never said there weren't any religious scientist in other countries. We were talking percentages.
And, LOL the Wiki link you gave me confirmed that secular scientist finds the Templeton Foundation biased. And, of course, you look at who's funding and wh's conducting the study. That's how science works.
And lastly, to address ANOTHER argument that I never made. I'm sure there are intelligent people on these boards...
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