Science vs. religion : what scientists really think - File PDF

72Society and Broader Publicsinstead to use science to approach the complicated, observable issues of theuniverse.Raymond would not know if any of his colleagues are religious, because hesimply does not discuss religion at work. He added as an afterthought that hedid work with one colleague whom he now knows to be religious. Raymondfound out when a professor at a school where the colleague applied for a jobcontacted Raymond with concerns about her web site, which had links to “fundamentalist,antievolution . . . web sites.” The professor who interviewed herhad called Raymond to find out if she was a “kook.”Raymond thinks that all religion should adapt to new scientific knowledge,citing an interview with the Dalai Lama that he had recently read in Nature asa positive example of religion adapting. The Dalai Lama said that if a scientificdiscovery were found to contradict a current teaching of Buddhism, then thereligious teaching would have to be changed to adapt to science. Raymondadded with a chuckle, “So that’s the way religion should be, but that seems veryrare to me.” When I asked him to elaborate on this, he responded that manypeople ignore scientific facts and “choose to be ignorant.”Raymond thinks science is the only reliable method we currently have todecide “what’s real and what isn’t.” And, unlike most religions, he says, scienceis open to revision: “You [should] never get a scientist . . . in an argument witha religious person, because the religious person knows they’re right. And if theyask the scientist, ‘Are you absolutely sure you’re right?’ the scientist will alwayssay no,” because scientists are constantly testing their theories and making newhypotheses whereas the religious person is not open to change. Religious peopledo not change their mind when new knowledge becomes available. “Factsjust don’t mean anything to them,” he added.Religion does come up periodically in Raymond’s physics courses. Many ofthe students who come from the area surrounding the midwestern researchuniversity where he teaches were raised in religious homes and are challengedby the things they learn in his courses: “The students are aware of it, that they’rebeing pulled in different directions from what they were taught when they grewup, especially around here.” When I asked what he does when students bringreligion up in his physics classes, he responded simply, “I just ignore it. They’rein the big time now!”Joel’s2offi ce was located in the midst of a large group of trees and brickbuildings that all looked very similar—buildings with their names etched intiny letters many years old. After a long trek up a narrow stone stairway to hisoffice, I arrived to our meeting a bit late and a little out of breath. Joel had hisdoor open and stood immediately to shake my hand. Then he closed the thick,