The Faith of Scientists (Introduction)

Professor Bryan Froehle sent me an email which recommended a book titled The Faith of Scientists. I'm hoping that if time permits, I'll be able to locate this book and use it as one of my research sources. It deals with the different religious views and beliefs of twenty of the most famous scientists that have ever existed, such as Galileo, Johannes Kepler, Charles Darwin, Einstein, Newton, and Hawking. I believe that researching the beliefs of these brilliant minds and comparing their viewes will strengthen my entire research foundation.

Survey Results

Despite the fact that only sixteen people took my survey, I believe that the results and the feedback that I received was very relevant toward my research. Acquiring the different opinions of different college students about their beliefs and traditions was one of my main intentions for my research project. I received very diverse results from students who were both religious and not religious. The beliefs that were provided ranged from evolution, intelligent design, creationism, and individuals who were simply undecided about how everything came to be. Below are some statistics and quotes that were provided with the survey:

-- The majority believed in creationism (by one vote), evolution and “other” beliefs were tied with 25 percent apiece, and intelligent design was in last place with 18.8 percent of the votes.

-- A very minimal number of individuals stated that a science course influenced their beliefs. About 31 percent confirmed that a religion course had persuaded and 62.5 percent said that none had an influence in their personal beliefs or customs.

--> "I believe that religion and science, if understood correctly, could explain one another. The belief that there is a greater purpose in life for human beings helps students become stronger when faced with life's problems and uncertainties. With great knowledge comes great responsibility; with greater happiness and peace to the self in knowing that the knowledge can be used to become a piece of the puzzle in changing the world one day at a time."

--> "Religion is just beliefs, thoughts, traditions... etc. It is a nice way to go through life as it keeps you from doing "wrong" things and provides hope. Science, on the other hand, "tries" to explain the world."

--> "I think science and religion could work together, but the church needs to change some of its opinions. They fight against the theory of evolution, but it actually makes sense. Look at a virus that goes through mutations in order to change into something entirely unique."

Interview Results (more extensive)

I believe that Bryan Froehle was the best choice I could've made when it came to my interview on the "Religion" aspect of my project. He affiliated theology, religion, science, and society with reality, making the session more influential than actually informational. Here are some quotes from the interview that had an impacting meaning toward both my research and my life:

---> "We don’t exist as separate beings from one another. None of us could ever exist without other people. Everything that surrounds us was done by someone for us, with us, or in some connection with us. Everything that we’re surrounded by is a gift of being a part of a much wider human community. Someone created everything (computers, cars, etc.), but whoever created these, never created them fully by him/herself, he always had a preceder. There was always someone/something that came before. The work of science is a collective enterprise."

---> "If we truly appreciate our surroundings, we can both be humble about who we are as well as relational about who we are with each other and also in relationship with that which loves us into being."

---> "The key area that must be emphasized on is community. A liberal university can be pointing toward freedom as a free-for-all, leading ultimately to lose and forget ourselves and make us believe that somehow we’re better than tradition. A liberal understanding can also mean that we’re putting individualism at the very center. If we become people without a tradition, we become people without a story; people without a history; people who have rejected all wisdom that came before us, wisdom that humanity has struggled long, hard, and shedded blood to acquire. For us to lose that tradition is not only one of the most arrogant things we could do, but one of the most dangerous things we could do. A people without that kind of collective wisdom from our past will be doomed to be doing terrible things to each other in the future because we would’ve lost all of the wisdom that we’ve gained throughout history."