George Hammond wrote:
<snip>
> Dear George Murphy and Edward Hassertt:
>
> I find the present situation personally embarrassing and disastrous
> to the point of mortification. Nevertheless, dire circumstances force me
> to have to face up to it and undertake a constructive initiative. There
> are several factual circumstances that bear on this.
> In the first place it is obvious that the world social structure is
> undergoing a rapid change. The good guys of yesterday may easily become
> the villains of tomorrow, and vice versa, and many innocent people are
> at risk. At the center of all this is a potential religious confrontation
> between the Christian and Moslem worlds involving 40 Billion dollars worth
> of potential military action. And central to this type of social situation
> is certainly anything such as the proposal of a "scientific proof of God".
> We have already seen growing levels of hate in the lower realms of our
> society and the situation can get worse if educated people don't put their
> heads together fast and start displaying a proper role model for behavior
> in the coming few years apparently of religious, social and military crisis.
> Therefore, I am going first.. I am officially "standing down" vis a vis
> any further disputation and confrontation concerning the discovery of a
> scientific proof of God. Out of pure concern of the consequences of further
> disputation, I am initiating an effort of reapproachmont; first.
> Edward Hassertt has complained bitterly that I have said that the SPOG
> can only be understood by Nobel Laureates and International authorities.
> The answer to that is yes and no. It can only be confirmed by authorities,
> but it can be understood by anyone. The problem is that no authorities have
> confirmed it, so therefore no one will bother to try and understand it
> because they have no way of knowing if they're wasting their time on
> something
> that may not be true.
> In order to solve this problem, I have recently sent the abstract for a
> summary paper on the SPOG to Philip Hefner, editor of the peer reviewed
> journal
> ZYGON. Sir John Polkinghorne, an eminent Physicist and Theologian is a
> frequent contributor to this journal, and I have asked Dr. Hefner if Zygon
> would give me an assurance that they would ask John Polkinghorne to review
> the paper. Polkinghorne was a student of Dirac's, was head of Particle
> Physics research at Oxford, was President of Queen's College in London,
> is a member of the Royal Society and a Knight of the Order of the British
> Empire as well as being an Ordained Minister in the Anglican Church.
> This is exactly the kind of expertise that is necessary to evaluate
> something
> like the scientific proof of God.
> Now, I mention this at some risk to myself, since George Murphy is also a
> contributor to Zygon, and Howard Van Till, also on this list, is a Book
> Reviewer for Zygon. All I would need is for either one of them to pick up
> the telephone or send an email to Philip Hefner telling him that they
> thought
> George Hammond was a crank, and that would be the end of any publication of
> the SPOG in Zygon, or any chance of John Polkinghorne ever seeing it. Any
> other angry person on this list could do the same thing.
> However, as I said, the current social situation has now reached
> disastrous
> proportions involving something like a 40 Billion dollar budget for military
> action, and there is no doubt that there is going to be shooting between
> Moslems and Christians soon. Therefore, the matter of a "universal"
> scientific
> proof of God has become even more vital and at the same time more volatile.
> Therefore, I am now officially "standing down" from my previous
> adversarial
> posture and now intend to pursue a course of peacemaking, reconciliation,
> and
> strictly sincere dialogue in all matters pertaining to Religion, starting
> with
> the matter of a scientific proof of God. I have great fear of the
> situation.
> <snip>
I appreciate the attitude that Mr. Hammond has shown here. I will not attempt
to influence the decision about publication in Zygon one way or another, and will
consider a response to the article if and when it is published.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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