What's New Friday November 30, 2007

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 30 Nov 07   Washington, DC

1. FAITH: THE WAR BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION.  
It’s time we had a little talk.  The New York Times on Saturday published 
an op-ed by Paul Davies that addresses the question: "Is embracing the 
laws of nature so different from religious belief?"  Davies concludes 
that, "until science comes up with a testable theory of the laws of the 
universe its claim to be free of faith is manifestly bogus."  Davies has 
confused two meanings of the word "faith."  The Oxford Concise English 
Dictionary on my desk gives the two distinct meanings for faith as: "1) 
complete trust or confidence, and 2) strong belief in a religion based on 
spiritual conviction rather than proof."   A scientist’s "faith" is built 
on experimental proof.  The two meanings of the word "faith," therefore, 
are not only different, they are exact opposites.  Davies, who won the 
1995 Templeton Prize is not the only physicist to make that 
mistake.  "Many people don’t realize that science basically involves 
faith" Charles Townes said in his 2005 Templeton statement.  On laser 
physics I would happily defer to Townes, but this is a matter of the 
English language.  Here we defer to the dictionaries.  The judges who 
awarded Townes’ the 2005 Templeton Prize cited a single line from his 1966 
article The Convergence of Science and Religion: "Understanding the order 
in the Universe and understanding the purpose of the universe are not 
identical, but they are also not very far apart."  They are a universe 
apart,  http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN05/wn031105.html .  In any case, 
the "purpose" of the universe is not on the science agenda.  Suicide 
bombers no doubt believe they are part of some divine "purpose." 

2. THE FAITH WAR: WHAT CONNECTS SCIENTISTS OF FAITH?
I count 8 physicists among the 34 recipients of the Templeton Prize, and a 
couple more had degrees in physics.  It was initially the Templeton Prize 
for Progress in Religion, and the first winner in 1973 was Mother Teresa.  
Winners have included Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.  Billy Graham got it in 
1982, Charles Colson of Watergate fame in 1993 and Paul Davies in 1995.  
But in 1999 Ian Barbour, a student of Fermi, was the recipient.  A 
professor of physics and theology at Carleton College, Barbour was 
credited with initiating a "dialog between science and religion."  
Templeton admired Barbour, and coveted his dialog. The scientific 
revolution, after all, led to the fantastic growth in the world economy 
that made him a billionaire.  Templeton believes God has chosen him to 
show the world that, as he put it, theology and science are two windows on 
the same landscape.  So he changed the name to the Templeton Prize for 
Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities.  It is the largest 
prize for intellectual accomplishment in existence, chosen to be bigger 
than the Nobel.  Since that time, six of the last eight winners of the 
Templeton Prize have been physicists.  They all relied on the anthropic 
principle in their Templeton Prize statements.

3. ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE: SOME THINK IT PROVES THERE IS A GOD.  
It argues that the universe has been "fine-tuned" to make life possible.  
In the so-called strong form: "The fundamental parameters of the universe 
are such as to permit the creation of observers within it."  I believe an 
equivalent wording would be: "If things were different, things would not 
be the way things are."

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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