What's New Friday May 16, 2008

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday   16 May 08   Washington, DC

1.  BIG QUESTION: DOES SCIENCE MAKE BELIEF IN GOD OBSOLETE?
Yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, William 
Phillips, 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics, answered "Absolutely not!," while 
Michael Shermer, well known skeptic and author, said "It depends."  Their 
stimulating debate was co-sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, created 
in 1987 to act as a "catalyst" for scientific studies into the "Big 
Questions."  Shermer noted that "belief in God," cannot be obsolete since 
most people, including many scientists, are believers.   Science, by 
contrast, begins with causality; supernatural causes don’t count.   To 
Phillips, however, that simply means that belief in God is not a 
scientific belief.  Like most religious scientists, Phillips keeps science 
and religion separate.  The God/Creator doesn’t do much these days.  He 
must be emeritus.  Or perhaps quantum-indeterminacy exists to allow God to 
do stuff without being detected.  You may recall that Templeton once went 
directly to the American Association for the Advancement of Science with a 
million dollars to create the AAAS Dialogue between Science and Religion.  
What Templeton bought was elaborate sound effects supporting his 
conviction that science and religion will find common ground.  Many 
scientists found this relationship inappropriate and it was ended.  For 
the American Enterprise Institute it seems perfect.

2.  EINSTEIN’S GOD:  PUTTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT.
Like many scientists of his era, Einstein often used God as a metaphor for 
forces of nature that are not yet understood.   As a result, he is often 
incorrectly cited as a physicist who believed in God.  It happened again 
in yesterday’s AEI debate. Ironically, at that very moment a January 3, 
1954 letter from Einstein to philosopher Eric Gutkind went on sale in a 
London auction house.  The letter, handwritten in German one year before 
his death, described belief in God as "childish superstition," and 
ridiculed the belief that Jews are "the chosen people."  The letter sold 
to someone with "a passion for theoretical physics," for $404,000, 25 
times the pre-sale estimate   

3.  CASUALTIES OF WAR: THE FIRST CASUALTY IS COMMON SENSE.  
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday that medical care of the 
wounded needs major changes before he leaves office.  Why not start with 
the Fort Bliss Restoration and Resilience Center?  Last Friday the 
American Forces Press Service reported on the treatment of post-traumatic 
stress disorder (PTSD) at the new Center.  The cutting edge treatments at 
the facility include Reiki, acupuncture and Qi Gong - three so-called 
energy" therapies that have in common that they are many hundreds of years 
old and have no conceivable mechanism of benefit other than the placebo 
effect.  Our soldiers deserve better.  

4.  MIRACLE STUDY: IS THE LEGAL NIGHTMARE OVER?
The SLAPP suit against courageous Ob/Gyn Bruce Flamm at UC Irvine was 
thrown out of court last month.  Daniel Wirth, the con man who arranged 
the pregnancy by prayer scam completed his jail term last.  Still, the 
absurd study has never been withdrawn by the Journal of Reproductive 
Medicine.  You might ask the editor, Dr. Lawrence Devoe 314 991-4440, why?

5. DSCOVR: WHITEHOUSE WITHHOLDS RELEVANT DOCUMENTS.
Why did NASA mothball a key $100 million space craft that could resolve 
remaining climate change questions?  It appears that the Whitehouse is 
refusing to release any documents related to the decision.  

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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