God, Science, and Logic
SEPTEMBER 10, 2012
Earlier today on Facebook and Twitter I promised a rant about my biology professor. After calming down and taking the advice of wise man to pray before I rant, my rant is not so much a rant about my biology professor anymore. It has morphed into a few thoughts on the scientific community.
What got me all upset was his attitude towards faith and science. He said that scientists must assume that everything they study can be explained. He said there was no room for “magic” or “miracles.”
I’ll touch briefly on his poo-pooing (shall we say?) of miracles. The Vatican does not take claims of miracles lightly. They have a team of scientists that investigate alleged miracles. If their scientists cannot come up with a possible reason as to why something extraordinary happened, only then do they call it a miracle. NOTE: It’s possible that I underestimated or misrepresented their process there. My main point is that if science cannot explain why someone completely recovers from a terminal illness, sometimes miracles are the only logical answer.
He also mentioned that some people may act one way in part of their life and another in a different part of their life. This reminds me of Nancy Pelosi’s ridiculous statement that she does “her religion on Sundays” when she was confronted on the differences between Catholic Church teaching and her own views on contraception. If a person disregards their faith outside of that one hour on Sundays, then are they really a person of Faith? I know my Church/Faith tells me that I must always be Catholic in everything that I do.
Later in class, he was trying to give an example of what a bad hypothesis to test would be. His example was this: “God if you exist prove it by making there be no more pain and suffering in the world.” He was lucky that his example wasn’t “God if you exist, strike me down” because I might have stood up and punched him. I think both he and I are grateful that didn’t happen.
I must note that my professor (at least after three classes) seems like a nice guy. It was his reasoning that made me upset. He is even humorous at times. This is nothing personal against him, but his scientific logic/philosophy is off. I didn’t consider punching him because I don’t like him. Also, he is not the only person
There are some things science can’t explain and sometimes elements of faith can properly explain them. Example: In order for something to exist, it must have been caused into being. However, this cannot go on for infinity. At some point there had to have been an uncaused causer. The only cause that can be uncaused is God.
I’ll give him that my reasoning to prove God exists is not a scientific experiment. What it was though was sound logical reasoning. That argument was taken from one of the most logical thinkers of all time, St. Thomas Aquinas.
Lastly, I wrote a much, much longer essay on this topic for school last spring. If you would like to read it click here. If you don’t want to read it, then don’t.
I am going to start praying for my professor and the entire scientific community. I invite you to do the same. Also, pray for me that I may be charitable in any future dealings with the topic.
Bl. Pope John Paul II, PRAY FOR US.