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

22Crossing the Picket Lines: The Personal Faith of Scientistsexperienced at home—how her family could still go to church and pretend thatwhat was being said there mattered in how they lived their lives. Yet sometimeseven now she yearns for a sense of what it would mean to have faith. “What isit that keeps people believing?” she muses. “There’s a part of me that reallylongs for that sense of comfort that people must get from knowing that there’sa purpose to everything.”The Problem of PainFor Evelyn and a plurality of other scientists, it is not the long, arduous strugglewith science itself that leads them away from God. Rather it is life’s big questions,such as the problems of evil and pain—problems that plague manybelievers as well. 22 A chemist23explained that he has no problem with the ceremonyand community of religion. But when it comes to belief in God, he asks,“If God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and good, then how do you explain thequantity of evil in the world?” He has “read various discussions of that problem,from people [who are] pro-religion and anti-, but [he] could never see anycredible response from the theological side to that problem.” I talked with achemist24around the time that hurricane Katrina, the most deadly hurricane inrecent U.S. history, hit New Orleans. He told me he finds it difficult to talk withthose who believe in God about events like this devastating hurricane:I have a conversation with a believer, and I ask him to describe God. Ah! Forgetit. What evidence do you have for the existence of God? None! None whatever! Ijust say New Orleans as case in point. I asked a believer, “If you believe in God,why did God permit New Orleans?” And the answer came back, “Oh, there weresinners in New Orleans.” . . . There are sinners everywhere. There are more sinnersin Chicago than there are in New Orleans, and we don’t have hurricanes. Imean, come on! Eventually they give up. They just walk away.For these scientists, it is not the hard, cold facts of science that lead them awaybut their struggles in response to questions such as “How can a good God allowbad things to happen?” that make belief difficult.Bad Religion in SocietyGreg Graffin studied evolutionary theory at Cornell University, but he is bestknown as the lead vocalist of the punk rock band Bad Religion. One of the