he had a larger scope of imagination and vision for humanity as a whole, including religion, that I have ever read in a scientific author. The oddest thing about all this is that he himself was a self-proclaimed agnostic--he was quoted as believing most in Einstein's description of God as the sum of all physical laws in the Universe. Fair enough. But in reading his fiction, I feel as though he wrote out all of the questions and feelings that I have about religion versus science and allowed his characters to wonder open-endedly about all of it, without being so vain as to think he himself as an author could ever answer those questions. In the end he gave the reader all the evidence he could and simply allowed them to decide whether their faith is enough to take them the rest of the way. I, being a trillion times less intelligent and much less scientifically minded than he, have realized that my faith is not only enough to take me the rest of the way, it is actually strengthened when I allow myself to question it in the first place. The entire reason that I have had such qualms with religion in the past is the unwillingness of the church to allow people to use their brains (which are, in my opinion, themselves a miracle). Its as if they know that if people think too much about it, they will come to their senses and leave. And this is true for some--but in the end isn't it better for believers to be followers of their own will rather than prisoners of ignorance? It's amazing to have found that luxury in a very unlikely place.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
I heart Carl Sagan
I've been a sort of lapsed Christian over the past several years. Most of this is due simply to development of logical opinions and moral beliefs that seem to be excluded from the realm of Christianity, more often than not in what I believe to be extremely short-sighted and ignorant ways. Lately though, I've developed a popular-type interest in things like physics and special relativity (god that looks so nerdy spelled out, but it is beyond fascinating if you give it a chance), and this interest has led to to a lot of stuff by Carl Sagan. And, strange as it sounds, I feel like Carl Sagan is leading me back to God. In reading his books I've noticed 1. that he had an extremely high regard for women and was very sympathetic to their struggles with sexism, especially in the scientific community, which in turn gives me a lot of respect for him, and 2. 
he had a larger scope of imagination and vision for humanity as a whole, including religion, that I have ever read in a scientific author. The oddest thing about all this is that he himself was a self-proclaimed agnostic--he was quoted as believing most in Einstein's description of God as the sum of all physical laws in the Universe. Fair enough. But in reading his fiction, I feel as though he wrote out all of the questions and feelings that I have about religion versus science and allowed his characters to wonder open-endedly about all of it, without being so vain as to think he himself as an author could ever answer those questions. In the end he gave the reader all the evidence he could and simply allowed them to decide whether their faith is enough to take them the rest of the way. I, being a trillion times less intelligent and much less scientifically minded than he, have realized that my faith is not only enough to take me the rest of the way, it is actually strengthened when I allow myself to question it in the first place. The entire reason that I have had such qualms with religion in the past is the unwillingness of the church to allow people to use their brains (which are, in my opinion, themselves a miracle). Its as if they know that if people think too much about it, they will come to their senses and leave. And this is true for some--but in the end isn't it better for believers to be followers of their own will rather than prisoners of ignorance? It's amazing to have found that luxury in a very unlikely place.
he had a larger scope of imagination and vision for humanity as a whole, including religion, that I have ever read in a scientific author. The oddest thing about all this is that he himself was a self-proclaimed agnostic--he was quoted as believing most in Einstein's description of God as the sum of all physical laws in the Universe. Fair enough. But in reading his fiction, I feel as though he wrote out all of the questions and feelings that I have about religion versus science and allowed his characters to wonder open-endedly about all of it, without being so vain as to think he himself as an author could ever answer those questions. In the end he gave the reader all the evidence he could and simply allowed them to decide whether their faith is enough to take them the rest of the way. I, being a trillion times less intelligent and much less scientifically minded than he, have realized that my faith is not only enough to take me the rest of the way, it is actually strengthened when I allow myself to question it in the first place. The entire reason that I have had such qualms with religion in the past is the unwillingness of the church to allow people to use their brains (which are, in my opinion, themselves a miracle). Its as if they know that if people think too much about it, they will come to their senses and leave. And this is true for some--but in the end isn't it better for believers to be followers of their own will rather than prisoners of ignorance? It's amazing to have found that luxury in a very unlikely place.
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