"All scientists-- including agnostics and atheists-- believe in God. They have to in order to do their work.
It may seem outrageous to include agnostics and atheists in this broad statement. But by their actions people sometimes show that in a sense they believe things that they profess not to believe in. Bakht, a Vedantic Hindu philosopher, may say that the world is an illusion. But he does not casually walk into the street in front of an oncoming bus. Sue, a radical relativist, may say that there is no truth. But she travels calmly at 30,000 feet on a plane whose safe flight depends on the unchangeable truths of aerodynamics and structural mechanics."
These are the opening words of chapter one of Vern S. Poythress' Redeeming Science. I picked it up at church tonight after hearing him speak and it promises to be an interesting, if difficult, book to read.
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2 comments:
Yes, very interesting... I would be very interested in hearing the argument for such a statement.
Unfortunately I think that requires reading the whole book, which is quite a tome, and written by a guy who has to PH.Ds-- one in mathematics from Harvard. If I ever manage to muddle through, I'll let you know.
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