I know a lot of scientists. I did my graduate work in one of the “hard” science areas. I never met a single scientist who said, “I’m going to devote my life to proving that those stupid Christians are wrong and this whole thing came about by chance.”
People go into any scientific discipline because they are absolutely fascinated with it, not because they want to show everybody that Christians are wrong. Many scientists, especially the young ones who don’t have administrative responsibilities yet, will tell you gleefully that they’re thrilled some research facility is willing to pay them to spend all day in a lab, because they’re so enchanted with the work that they’d pay to do it. It’s love and delight, not some nasty contempt, that fuels most of them. Please don’t rely for your ideas about scientists on obnoxious types like Richard Dawkins.
You may be surprised to learn this, but many scientists have religious faith. Some even study science with delight in discovering how God created some particular aspect of the universe or the living world. I’ve talked to some physicists, including one in my own family, who admit that they want to know exactly how “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Lately I have been corresponding to a mathematician who ecstatically describes mathematics as “the language of God” (not an original concept with him, by the way).
And if somebody wasn’t pursuing pure science with no direct, immediate application, we wouldn’t have developed the technology that allows you to write this to me on a computer and send it through the Internet to Free Republic, where I can disabuse you of your inaccurate ideas about scientific research.
A very blessed Easter to you.
I am not surprised that many scientists have religious faith...I have been reading some of their papers and attending some of their lectures for decades. My personal library is filled with a lot of material that is published by scientists that have faith as well as some that is published by scientists that argue against faith. I understand that people (scientists are people) will come down on different sides on the issue of faith in God.
My point from my original post was that we are spending a huge amount of time and money with what I do not see as a clear reason why. The only clearly stated reason I have seen published is to show that we can get a clearer picture of the “big bang” and to understand how the universe started...and in all of the articles I have read God is not allowed to be part of the answer. Is there another reason for this research? So far I have read on this thread things such as...something about creation reduced to an equation (-1+1=0), making of bombs, being able to transport messages back in time...but not being able to read them...
So of all the reasons that I have been given so far the only one that sounds familiar is creation being reduced to an equation...
God's blessing to you as well