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I receceived an email today that was a forward of an article by Aryeh Arnie Gotfryd, who views science and religion as being not only compatible but part of the same great picture. He earned Canada's first PhD in the field of applied ecology. His career spans the field of science and religion. He achieves interesting results when he looks for (and seems to find) a common denominator between the two. Consider the following quote, which is part of a larger article in which he discusses the "climategate" scandal.
"Society somehow drew an artificial line between faith in the clergy and faith in
the scientist. The fact is, once you give away to anyone your freedom to decide
any issue, you have essentially committed an act of faith. If you pass it on to
an organized group with an identifiable doctrine, you have in effect practiced a
religion.
The difference is that while most religions center on faith in a Supreme Being,
scientism places that unequivocal trust in man. The upside of religion is that
man takes his infinite trust and attaches it to an Infinite Being - that kind of
makes sense. What doesn't make sense is to attach such unbounded faith in
limited human beings and the contrivances of their minds, however great those
minds may be.
Besides, the objects of our adulation, the duly ordained priests of scientism,
have gods of their own: Power and moneys, as we have seen so clearly in this
past week. If you want to worship power and money, you don't need a middle man;
you can do so directly. On the other hand if it's something absolute that you're
searching for, why not have faith in the Creator? "
Following is a link to the article in its entirety, which I was not yet able to find on the Aryeh Gotfryd site.
http://meditationsinthysight.blogspot.com/
There is a growing body of thought in which science and religion are seen as partners. Such an approach can and should transform public discussion of matters that hinge on science and public policy. Such discussion might increase the light shed on the intersection of science and religion and turn down the heat.
http://www.simpletoremember.com/authors/a/dr-gerald-schroeder/
http://www.geraldschroeder.com/AccordingToGod.aspx
Reprinted with permission from Magdeburgerjoe.com