[Phys-L] Re: god friendly science

[John Clement <clement@HAL-PC.ORG>]

> Riding on top of our basic differences is the additional baggage that
> some scientists are practically zealots for atheism just as some
> religious groups are practically zealots for Bible inerrancy and literal
> interpretation.  These two groups don't want to coexist; they want to
> wipe each other out.
>
> The typical scientist has been very frustrated by religious zealots who
> seem to be forcing religion into public education, but the religious
> folks have also been very frustrated by science zealots who use the
> science classroom to preach atheism.  The subject line for this thread
> has been god friendly science.  Recently we also heard the suggestion of
> science friendly god.  Perhaps these are both good ideas.
I would agree with only part of this.  I have never been in a science
classroom where the instructor wished to preach atheism.  Such a thing would
be very unprofessional.  Now dorm room discussions are another matter.  Even
in a physical anthropology course I did not encounter any overt
anti-religious statements.  There was a brief discussion of how one
justifies evolution with religion that was brought up by a student.  The
instructor failed to mention that most mainline churches in the US have no
conflict with evolution, indeed most now consider the Garden of Eden to be a
charming story with a moral rather than a literal truth.

Incidentally there are a number of urban myths that are sent around by the
religious zealots with stories about atheistic professors who are squelched
by divine intervention.  These little things proliferate like the warnings
about the evils of ... and get people riled up.

The rest of the unquoted post was good as it brought in some serious
considerations of what we should do as teachers.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX
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