From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Wed Jul 09 2003 - 20:28:17 EDT
Glenn Morton wrote:
>
> I can accept and fully agree with the idea that actually nothing is ever
> proven in science. All that is done is manipulate the probability. For me,
> if this experiment, which I do believe will be attemped in the next 25
> years, succeeds, the probability for an MWH will go way up. Even so, if
> Deutsch succeeds, the popular culture will elevate MWH to a new icon of
> science. In any event, whether proven, not proven or only probable, a
> successful test will mean we Christians will have to deal with the issue.
> Like it or not. And that is why I don't think we can ignore the issue. My
> money is that it will succeed only based upon the fact that very few
> scientific things Christians have said couldn't be so, actually ended up
> that way. We seem to always back the wrong scientific horse.
I agree with Glenn about the tendency that he notes at the end - though the
problem is often not so much one of backing the wrong scientific horse as of not even
bothering to go to the scientific track. I.e., the church & its theologians have too
often been uninterested in science until some new scientific development comes about
that calls for theological assessment - & then the church is of course unprepared.
A few qualifications though. First, scientific development has not always been
simply a problem for Christian theology. While the physics of the 20th century
certainly introduced some challenges (like MWI), relativity, QM & chaos theory also got
rid of some prior concepts, like the clockwork universe, that were problems for
theology.
Secondly, the science-theology dialogue has developed over the past ~25 years to
the point that there are a number people who have some competence in both science &
theology who are wrestling both with current issues & with those that are on the
horizon. So while we may not have all the answers for new developments, we're not so
likely to be blindsided.
& as a very small token of that, let me mention again the paper I gave at the
'87 asa meeting, "Parallel Worlds, Quantum Theory, and Divine Sovereignty." I don't
have a e-copy (it was pre-word processor) but would be happy to send a copy by snailmail
to anyone who wants it & gives me an address.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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