• Question: Do you think science and God can coexist?

    Asked by spock to Tom, Matt, Antonia, Douglas, Hugh on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by twspredatorzz, leonac.
    • Photo: Tom Hardy

      Tom Hardy answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I think so yes. I’m not sure what ‘god’ is and I’m sure ‘god’ means different things to everyone, but for me I don’t see why there can’t be something out there. Believing in something is important but that doesn’t mean you can’t understand science. I like to pick and choose.

    • Photo: Matthew Hurley

      Matthew Hurley answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Yes – why not?

    • Photo: Hugh Roderick

      Hugh Roderick answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      I don’t see why not, science is evidence based investigation of the world around us that is the collective work of lots and lots of people who all have reached a consensus of what good scientific methods are where as belief in god is a more personal thing that doesn’t rely on hard evidence, which is why it’s called faith. I don’t believe there is a god, but I can understand why other people would believe in a god and respect their desire to do so.

    • Photo: Douglas Blane

      Douglas Blane answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Yes I do.

      So do all the main religions – Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc. Some of the best scientists, especially in the early days, believed in god.

      Although most don’t nowadays, a fair number still do. John Polkinghorne, a professor of mathematical physics, became a priest in the Anglican church

      Jocelyn Bell Burnell, one of my favourite scientists – she discovered an amazing new kind of star called a pulsar when she was a student – is a Quaker.

      There is a big problem between religion and science only when a religious person believes that everything in a book written long ago is true – or everything some religious leader tells them is true.

      Science is about evidence. A lot of the things we know and understand about the world – because we have the evidence – just weren’t known when these books were written.

    • Photo: Antonia Hamilton

      Antonia Hamilton answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      science can’t ever prove that god doesn’t exist, but we don’t have any evidence for a god who actually intervenes in the world or cares about what happens to individual people. so to my mind, that makes god a bit pointless, and I prefer not to believe. If other people get comfort from believing in god, that is fine, as long as they don’t tell me what to think.

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