/download.guardian.co.uk/audio/kip/standalone/science/1239277229778/595/gdn.sci.090409.sc.John-Polkinghorne.mp3&popupurl=
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/a...u-blogs,guardiangu-science,guardiangu-network">
http://download.guardian....ience,guardiangu-network" width="300" align="middle" height="25"> interesting points of view all around. i believe in god, but, i entirely respect the opinions and beliefs of the OP and a majority of people posting in this thread. anyway, here is an article I found in the guardian that has some interesting comments posted from readers. also, listen to the brief audio clip. check the comments from the link; there were too many to post in here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2009/apr/09/religion-controversiesinscience
[h1]Can science be used to prove the existence of God?[/h1]
The quantum physicist turned Anglican priest
John Polkinghorne discusses invisible superbeings, resurrection and how humans would shrivel up if they ever saw God
William Blake's Christ Appearing to the Apostles after the Resurrection. Photograph: The Bridgeman Art Library
Earlier this year, a former Cambridge physicist, John Polkinghorne, published a book called
Questions of Truth: God, science and belief. I interviewed John shortly after it came out, and as
Easter is now upon us, it seemed as good a time as any to post the whole interview.
Polkinghorne ditched science many moons ago to be ordained into the Anglican ministry. His book is essentially a paper incarnation of a website run by
Polkinghorne's former pupil, Nicholas Beale, where the two post answers to questions sent in by readers.
Link to this audio
I was interested in talking to John because I wanted to try and understand how he could believe
extraordinary things for which there is no evidence. This is what fascinates me about people with religious beliefs.
Whatis going on in someone's brain that allows them to believe there is aninvisible, all-knowing, omnipresent superbeing out there? By whatprocess does someone come to the conclusion that there is a God? Ofcourse it might be true, but it's a major thing to sign up to, sosurely one would want some pretty hefty evidence before evenconsidering it?
John believes that something called
God literally became
man. He believes that
a chap called Jesuswas literally raised from the dead. He believes that after his owndeath, he will be re-embodied by God in a form of matter that is not ofthis world.
There are plenty of people out there
bashing religion,
and many of the awful things that are done in its name.I had no interest in attacking Polkinghorne's beliefs, as baffling as Ifind them, but I did want to know why he holds the beliefs he does.
Annoyingly,I didn't end up with the kind of insight I was hoping for. Apparentlyit takes a long time to explain why such beliefs are held, and it's allvery complicated. I felt John re-asserted his beliefs more thanexplained why he held them.
There was plenty in Polkinghorne'sbook I found offensive. In one passage, he says that God hides from usbecause if we ever clapped eyes on an infinite being, we'd be unable tocarry on as we are. We'd be overwhelmed to the point of hopelessness.As John says in the interview: "We'd sort of shrivel up."
It's extraordinary stuff. And surely a bit patronising. My reaction to
superbeings in comicshas always been excitement and mild envy (great powers, but not sure Icould go with the outfits). If I was to see the ultimate superbeing,I'd be very excited for a long time. I might even get a poster and goaround praising them. But I think I could carry on a life of humanmediocrity.
John finishes on a positive note about the teaching of Creationism and Intelligent Design in classrooms.
Iwonder if religious belief can be considered a neuropathology, albeit asometimes benign one? The universe is extraordinary, nature isbeautiful and complex; consciousness is baffling. But why conjure up asuperbeing to make sense of it all?
