Phil Cooke

More Scientists Believe in God Than You Think

For those of you who get worked up over the “science versus faith” argument, you’ll be pleased to know that the lastest Pew Research study reveals that 51% of scientists believe in God or a higher power, while 41% do not.  As reported in today’s Los Angeles Times, “Today, a century and a half after Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” the overwhelming majority of scientists in the United States accept
Darwinian evolution as the basis for understanding how life on Earth developed. But although evolutionary theory is often portrayed as antithetical to religion, it has not destroyed the religious faith of the scientific community.” 

Rather than bashing those scientists who don’t believe, perhaps we should support those who do, and make an impact from the inside of the scientific community. The closing of the Times article is interesting:

“As for Darwin, his letters indicate that he was probably an agnostic who lost his faith not because his groundbreaking theory was incompatible with religion, but because of his grief after the 1851 death of his favorite child, his 10-year-old daughter, Annie. And even then, he may not have completely rejected the idea of a higher power. The concluding sentence of “Origin of Species” speaks of a “Creator” breathing life “into a few forms or into one.” The passage raises at least a little doubt as to how the father of modern evolutionary theory might have responded to the question on belief in Pew’s recent survey of scientists.”

What do you think?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.