Spring Break
Science versus religion
Lecture series invitees discuss implications for scientific progress to support or suppress faith
By: Nathan Ball
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: News
"If reproductive fitness is to be the ultimate driving force for human behavior, then much of our behavior does not make sense. A man such as Oscar Schindler, who saved thousands of lives at great risk to his own, is an evolutionary scandal, but there is something we find admirable in him which can only be explained by the existence of a moral law."
Collins said that moral law is evidence for the existence of a good God who cares about his creation because he gave humans a conscience to discern good and evil.
Collins summed up his viewpoint with a quote from Immanuel Kant: "Two things fill me with constantly increasing admiration and awe, the longer and more earnestly I reflect on them: the starry heavens without and the moral law within."
"Science has weakened people's view of God," Weinberg said. "The universe used to be much more mysterious, but we know more now."
Weinberg drew from history to describe the ancients' ideas of supernatural forces holding the sun in the sky. "We now understand gravity which holds planets in their place," Weinberg said. "And we do not need to attribute their movements in the heavens to a god.
"None of these explanations ruled out the existence of God, but the spread of religious tolerance is evidence of the weakening of religion."
Though he is not a believer, Weinberg said he did not think that the loss of belief was a good thing.
"When people stop worshipping God, they tend to start worshipping each other, and secular religious substitutes have done the most harm," he said.
Weinberg explained that fascism, Stalinism and Maoism were secular substitutes for religion focused on a charismatic human figure. He said hundreds of millions have died as a result of these worldviews in the past century, more than in all of the religious wars in human history combined.
"The best thing might be for us to stop worshipping altogether," Weinberg said.
"The presentations tonight were very well attended," said Ide P. Trotter Jr., class of 1954. He endowed the Trotter Prize and Lecture Series in honor of his father who had established a similarly styled graduate lecture during his tenure as A&M's dean of graduate studies. Trotter Jr. was involved at A&M as an undergraduate. He served as president of the Student Senate, Corps staff and copy editor for The Battalion. Trotter Jr. is an active supporter of A&M through the Trotter Prize and Lecture Series.
Recipients of the Trotter Prize have included Sir Francis Crick, Nobel Laureate for discovering DNA structure, Charles Townes, Nobel Laureate and "Father of the Laser" and other Nobel Prize and Templeton Prize Winners.
"Professor Marlan Scully deserves a lot of credit for bringing the lecturers to Texas A&M," Trotter Jr. said. "Marlan was the first man to earn entry into the National Academy of Sciences based on work he has done at Texas A&M, and he is well recognized throughout the scientific community."
Collins said that moral law is evidence for the existence of a good God who cares about his creation because he gave humans a conscience to discern good and evil.
Collins summed up his viewpoint with a quote from Immanuel Kant: "Two things fill me with constantly increasing admiration and awe, the longer and more earnestly I reflect on them: the starry heavens without and the moral law within."
"Science has weakened people's view of God," Weinberg said. "The universe used to be much more mysterious, but we know more now."
Weinberg drew from history to describe the ancients' ideas of supernatural forces holding the sun in the sky. "We now understand gravity which holds planets in their place," Weinberg said. "And we do not need to attribute their movements in the heavens to a god.
"None of these explanations ruled out the existence of God, but the spread of religious tolerance is evidence of the weakening of religion."
Though he is not a believer, Weinberg said he did not think that the loss of belief was a good thing.
"When people stop worshipping God, they tend to start worshipping each other, and secular religious substitutes have done the most harm," he said.
Weinberg explained that fascism, Stalinism and Maoism were secular substitutes for religion focused on a charismatic human figure. He said hundreds of millions have died as a result of these worldviews in the past century, more than in all of the religious wars in human history combined.
"The best thing might be for us to stop worshipping altogether," Weinberg said.
"The presentations tonight were very well attended," said Ide P. Trotter Jr., class of 1954. He endowed the Trotter Prize and Lecture Series in honor of his father who had established a similarly styled graduate lecture during his tenure as A&M's dean of graduate studies. Trotter Jr. was involved at A&M as an undergraduate. He served as president of the Student Senate, Corps staff and copy editor for The Battalion. Trotter Jr. is an active supporter of A&M through the Trotter Prize and Lecture Series.
Recipients of the Trotter Prize have included Sir Francis Crick, Nobel Laureate for discovering DNA structure, Charles Townes, Nobel Laureate and "Father of the Laser" and other Nobel Prize and Templeton Prize Winners.
"Professor Marlan Scully deserves a lot of credit for bringing the lecturers to Texas A&M," Trotter Jr. said. "Marlan was the first man to earn entry into the National Academy of Sciences based on work he has done at Texas A&M, and he is well recognized throughout the scientific community."
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