Newton's Monkey Wrench
By Miguel Guanipa (06/27/07)
For decades, scientists who perpetually harbor a veiled hostility toward organized religion have been heralding the dawning of a new era in which the unenlightened masses are finally liberated, by the superior eminence and prowess of scientific inquiry, from the superstitious diversions that are ostensibly so much a part of spiritual piety.
But their efforts have been repeatedly frustrated in part by their own disproportionate fixation on anemic believers, whose fidelity to religion is based on a puerile yearning for a grandfather in the sky type figure who serves as a crutch for their emotional deficiencies and a quick and shallow answer to the pressing questions of their existence and impregnable mysteries of the universe (which science purports to some day be able to solve), rather than the vast majority of the faithful whose convictions are founded on even sturdier matter than that which often supports a large sector of the scientific establishment.
Imagine then, the added disappointment and utter dismay for many of today’s members of the scientific aristocracy at the recent news that one of their own may have actually carried water for the other team.
Proponents of scientific and religious apartheid must have been somewhat taken aback when they heard the news about the recently released letters of Sir Isaac Newton in which he is said to display a rather unusual interest in religion.
Newton, who is known as the father of modern physics, apparently had a keen interest no less, in the apocalyptic prophesies contained in the scriptures. Such a level of enthusiasm for this particular genre of biblical interpretation is typically found only in those who are considered by the secular elite as the true religious “fanatics”; presumably only the most “eccentric” converts to the Christian faith squander their time engaged in such drudgery.
Newton’s private manuscripts reveal that according to his estimates, which are based upon his study of the prophesies in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, the world would end sometime in 2060; this should give those scientists at enmity with religious trespassers who are daily infiltrating their sacred domain sufficient time to discount Newton’s interest in theological matters as a fleeting curiosity in his otherwise rigidly scientific mind.
What is most peculiar to this event is the rather unpropitious timing of the curators at the Jewish National & University Library in Jerusalem, who ran the exhibit of these manuscripts so demonstrative of Newton’s little known religion fetish.
The exhibit comes at the heels of an explosion of literary creativity by virulent anti- religion writers like Richard Dawkings, Chistopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, etal, who are firmly entrenched in their belief that an unbridgeable chasm- much like the chasm that separates the laws of thermodynamics and the tooth fairy -will always separate science and religion, and that the twain shall never meet.
Of course the dirty little secret in many scientific circles - notwithstanding the typical caricature of the intolerant, antediluvian zealots that many scientists often cast as the standard disciples of Christianity – is that amongst the most renowned scientists in history (not to mention artists, musicians, statesmen and philosophers), there is a sizeable majority that stand out as men and women with deeply held religious convictions.
Additionally, if these critics cared to delve deeper they would find that the scriptures themselves openly foster a spirit of curiosity at the marvelous wonders of creation, i.e. nature, and often challenge its readers to carefully examine the veracity of its own claims, which is the purest form of the agnostic spirit at the core of the scientific enterprise.
Reason itself seems to prescribe a logical method of scientific inquiry which might begin with the premise that a logical explanation for natural phenomena should presuppose a certain intended order - given that science entails the observation of an universe in which there is a discernible preponderance of order, patterns and purpose - rather than the alternative which postulates an universe of virtual anarchy in motion, in which harmony and coherence are merely a few of the myriad random occurrences.
Within that premise it is also easier to comprehend how an acutely ordered and inquisitive mind like Newton’s still found time to delve into the impenetrable mysteries that are found in the scriptures.
But for scientists who remain obstinate in their animus towards all things religious, no amount of evidence presented which reinforces the notion that there is no incompatibility between an erudite mind and deeply held religious beliefs will significantly alter their stance, as long as they remain committed to their own narrow interpretation of what truly constitutes an open mind; even if it means the temporary excommunication of one of their own.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-06-19-newton-religious-papers_N.htm
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/871786.html
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/carlin_romano/20070617_Slim__portable_gift_book_for_atheists.html
http://www.amazon.com/God-Not-Great-Religion-Everything/dp/0446579807/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2073743-2347821?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182359364&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/God-Delusion-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0618680004/ref=pd_sim_b_1/103-2073743-2347821?ie=UTF8&qid=1182359364&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Letter-Christian-Nation-Sam-Harris/dp/0307265773/ref=pd_rhf_f_t_1/103-2073743-2347821
www.tinyurl.com/28ervr.
http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/Pascal_Wager.htm
(Printer friendly version) Email: Miguel Guanipa
