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I have a couple friends who grew up very religious, one a Baptist Fundamentalist and both studied science in college and their religious views changed drastically. So that and another thread made me wonder if there are a lot of religious biologists, paleontologists, physicists, neuroscientists, geologists, sociologists, psychologists, ecologists, etc and what the percentages would be.
Are there any on here and what is your religion and field of expertise?
For those of faith and feel certain governing bodies of scientists are wrong, do you think they're intellectually correct with the data up until this point? Do you feel a lack of trust with them and God will prove them wrong?
And those who are on the opposite very pro-science side, can science sometimes be bad for humanity - like the invention of nuclear weapons?
I have a couple friends who grew up very religious, one a Baptist Fundamentalist and both studied science in college and their religious views changed drastically. So that and another thread made me wonder if there are a lot of religious biologists, paleontologists, physicists, neuroscientists, geologists, sociologists, psychologists, ecologists, etc and what the percentages would be.
Are there any on here and what is your religion and field of expertise?
For those of faith and feel certain governing bodies of scientists are wrong, do you think they're intellectually correct with the data up until this point? Do you feel a lack of trust with them and God will prove them wrong?
And those who are on the opposite very pro-science side, can science sometimes be bad for humanity - like the invention of nuclear weapons?
Just curious where people are coming from.
Aw shucks...didn't know you considered me a friend!
But I didn't study science in college...well...I studied Computer Science.
I have a couple friends who grew up very religious, one a Baptist Fundamentalist and both studied science in college and their religious views changed drastically. So that and another thread made me wonder if there are a lot of religious biologists, paleontologists, physicists, neuroscientists, geologists, sociologists, psychologists, ecologists, etc and what the percentages would be.
Are there any on here and what is your religion and field of expertise?
For those of faith and feel certain governing bodies of scientists are wrong, do you think they're intellectually correct with the data up until this point? Do you feel a lack of trust with them and God will prove them wrong?
And those who are on the opposite very pro-science side, can science sometimes be bad for humanity - like the invention of nuclear weapons?
Just curious where people are coming from.
I have 2 degrees in geology (specialized in invertebrate paleontology), but then went into education. However, all the geology professors I had were Christians and most were fairly regular church-goers. I knew this because when we would go on days-long field trips we would sometimes talk about religion and evolution (or related topics) around the table when eating in the evening. Most seemed perfectly able to compartmentalize their religious life and their scientific life.
It's an interesting question, and I would not at all claim that no scientist can be religious. For one thing, it depends on the science and on what 're;igious' means.
Creationists regular;y used to count in Engineers with scientists and, while they are splendid at their job of getting things to work, their job is not fact -finding. Also you can get someone who does sub - atomic physics, or stellar spectrograms. That hardly makes them an authority of Middle east archaeology or mammalian evolution.
There is also compartmentalization. A believer can simply do science in one part of their brain and keep religion in another part. Further, 'religion' can cover a wide range of ideas. Einstein is regularly claimed as 'believing in God' but, while he certainly (and really without valid reason) believed in a sorta cosmic mind that Ordered the universe, he did not believe in any personal god, nor religion. There are, I'm sure a lot of scientists who don't find any conflict between what they know about then way the world wags and a belief that there is some Planning Intelligence behind it. And while I don't believe that myself, I would not see the need for any kind of activism or campaign about it. That is reserved for for organized religion and the claims and holy books thereof, and their interference in human affairs.
Any scientist who believes in any of those and has expertise in a relevant field, and I shall be very interested to find out how and why.
I have 2 degrees in geology (specialized in invertebrate paleontology), but then went into education. However, all the geology professors I had were Christians and most were fairly regular church-goers. I knew this because when we would go on days-long field trips we would sometimes talk about religion and evolution (or related topics) around the table when eating in the evening. Most seemed perfectly able to compartmentalize their religious life and their scientific life.
So there ARE fundamentalist paleontologists? Wow. Compartmentalization is even more magical than I suspected.
Aw shucks...didn't know you considered me a friend!
But I didn't study science in college...well...I studied Computer Science.
One of my best friends is a conservative Christian and long time Baptist. And your posts often remind of my step-dad who is a politically conservative Christian.
Most physicists are atheist/agnostic. I'll post stats later (once I google it); scientists as a whole are far less religious than the population at large
I have 2 degrees in geology (specialized in invertebrate paleontology), but then went into education. However, all the geology professors I had were Christians and most were fairly regular church-goers. I knew this because when we would go on days-long field trips we would sometimes talk about religion and evolution (or related topics) around the table when eating in the evening. Most seemed perfectly able to compartmentalize their religious life and their scientific life.
Geology seems like the branch of science where the practitioners are most likely to be religious...outside medicine, I guess. Not sure if that stats bear that out, but....
Geology seems like the branch of science where the practitioners are most likely to be religious...outside medicine, I guess. Not sure if that stats bear that out, but....
I have no idea about that. Could be, although I would have a difficult time explaining that since evolution and geologists such as Charles Lyell (1800s) argued against Christian thought.
And, things may have changed since my time at university, back in the 1970s.
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