Thursday, December 11, 2008

From physicist to priest - John Polkinghorne talks about science and religion


An interesting piece in which science and religion's interface is talked about. Also has a link to an audio interview. (I have a feeling the "Quark" he discovered isn't the one pictured.)

John Polkinghorne truly was a great physicist. His work helped lead us to the discovery of the quark. Quarks are a type of subatomic particle that do not occur on their own in nature. They are always found together in composite particles known as hadrons, the best known of which are protons and neutrons, the particles that make up the nucleus of atoms.

It is not much of a leap of faith to say that someone who is involved in this type of research is a rational, reasonable person with more than average intellectual abilities. So, when someone like John Polkinghorne decides to become a Christian believer, one listens, and one listens very attentively.

John Polkinghorne was recently interviewed by Mary Hynes on CBC radio and that interview has now been posted on the Internet. A friend brought it to my attention and I strongly encourage everyone to listen to it. I cannot describe the entire interview here, as it is more than 40 minutes long. I must confess that I am thoroughly disappointed in what I heard. While it is certainly his inalienable right to believe in whatever he wants to, I had thought and hoped to hear some convincing arguments for the belief in the Christian God he claims to believe in. However, his arguments weren’t even remotely convincing.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263342

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