GOD vrs SCIENCE

At a recent scientific conference in New York, a student in the audience rose to ask the panelists

 an expected question, “Can you be you be a good scientist and believe in God?

                                 
I find this question interesting and as I thought about it and considered how possible it would be
if I answered the question in the affirmative, though I am no scientist. I don’t know how many
up and coming scientists have already asked themselves this question but I pose it again not
only because it is interesting but also because the average Ghanaian (African) is very spiritual or
religious. Apart from the above, this question dates as far back as the beginning of science itself.
It has caused so many problems, the dreadful of it being death, to humanity. In our quest to find
our place in the world of science and in the midst of our spirituality, we need to be abreast with
the God versus science argument.

“Scientists hate God or find God very disturbing. In fact, modern science has found no evidence
of God and so it is not sensible anymore to think God exists”

The above statement is often presented as conventional wisdom but is it true? The general
issue in relation to the God versus science argument poses several questions due to the stance
various scientists take. Among these questions are; Does the study of science make belief in
God obsolete, Does God exist, What is the difference between Darwin’s evolution theory and
the creation of man according to the Bible and Do we believe the big bang theory or the creation
story according to the first chapter of Genesis? This array of questions brings about three major
arguments.

An extremist group is of the view that science and the study of nature disabuses the idea that
God exists. Belief in the super natural, especially belief in God, is not incompatible with good
science. This kind of belief is damaging to the well being of the human race. This school of

thought postulates that science has proven beyond doubt that no God exists. They apply the
basic natural laws to the various facets of life. “Science has failed to find natural evidence of
God. Natural law is all there is, No God; case closed!” “Science erases the need for God as an
explanation of our experiences and God either doesn’t exist or is at best a hypothesis.” “God:
the failed hypothesis.” These three statements are what people generally refer to as the standard
scientific lines on God. To them God’s place in science, that is if they include him, is to fill the
gaps. They only refer to God in the areas of study where the human intelligence and ingenuity
comes to a dead end. God comes in to cover for areas where man’s limitations begin.

The second group could be referred to as the “don’t mix” group. This group place God and
science as parallel to each other and there should be no way for the two spectrums to meet. To
them, science is just one worldview that has come to be accepted and science and religion need
not be at odds. They strike a contrast between science and religion by saying science speaks with
authority in the realm of what the universe is made up of (i.e. fact) and why it works this way
(i.e. theory) but religion holds sway one question of ultimate meaning and moral value. Science
and religion are two separate realms; “a non overlapping magisterial.”

The final group believes God supersedes everything including science. To them science has
proven that God exists; Science according to this group does nothing but explains the things that
God has done or created in the natural realm. Science cannot prove God’s existence because
human ingenuity and intelligence but God is greater than everything and is not limited by
anything not even science. God should not be used to fill the gaps in scientist knowledge but he
is everything science has found out and would find out. This group also says that God created
a logical, orderly universe and gave us the ability o reason and to be creative that technology is
possible. Technology has shown that sophisticated machines require intelligent designers- not
random chance. Science and technology are perfectly consistent with the bible. A scientist’s
ability to discover a thing is a step in knowing God better. The fact that science cannot prove the
existence of God tells how limited scientific knowledge is. To them to reject God because of self
contradictions and logical failings of organized religion would be like rejecting physics because
of inherent contradictions of quantum theory and general relativity.

As conclude this piece, I leave the question open to you, Can you be a good scientist and
believe in God? Since this is meant to be an interactive medium I also wish to ask that in your
development with science and your relationship with God, which of these three schools of
thought do you identify with? However, I would like to borrow the words of renowned Albert
Einstein that “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

Education and Culture

                Our culture slipping into the gutters      
 
The solution is not to try to get people to realize that our culture is slipping into the gutters. But to conceptualize a culture that the new Ghanaian will embrace. A new culture that reorients our way of thinking and reconstructs our attitude towards the world.
A sort of paradigm shift.

Education is not separate from culture . Education is rather an integral part of  culture. When education is separated from culture there is chaos.
Culture includes the customs,ideas and social behaviour of a society or a group of people. But its defined and determined by a very important factor and that is how a society wants to live.
Now sociology studies the structures , development and functioning of societies, And in retrospect ,societies that have lived centuries past or our own primitive societies will tell you  two things.
A society that knew what kind of life, its people should  lead always achieved great things and a society that didn’t know , always lost the  real essence of their culture.
An example of a society whose culture is slowly slipping away , is our society. Our culture is becoming a mediocre one, because its filled with too much borrowing. A little good from here, a little bad from here, we copy blindly, following fads.

I t is important we realize what it it we want and determine how we can get there.  Plato’s Republic shows an example of how first a country needs to know the kind of life they want to live.  And how they can construct their customs , beliefs  and etc  to make that life possible.
We need to realize culture is a creative enterprise, determined by the creative consciousness of its people.  In a recent discourse with friend she said and I quote;" Culture is the way of life people and in its dynamism it has no choice but to be creative. Otherwise there would be no distinctiveness among people . And a world without culture would absolutely monochromatic".
True, but we are forgetting to notice , we can consciously control the creative process. An example is what Lycurgus did with Sparta and what Plato's republic described.

The question where do we start?
We start with the integral part of culture; education.
In which modes and forms are educated through; mass media( TV, Radio,Journals,News Papers, Magazines), opinion leaders, community centres, schools.
We need a plan << a national policy>> of what life in this country should be and could be, then we work at it.

There is hope for tomorrow but we can only do something now. SO bit by bit, lets discuss how we can effect the change we all                 so want to see.
1.What kind of life do we want to live
2.How do we recreate the kind of culture we want
3.What kind of education should be given
4.How do we effectively create the Ghana we all drea of
We can only start now!