Friday, March 16, 2007
Carl Sagan says something I agree with!
The March/April edition of Skeptical Inquirer features an excerpt from the new book The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God by atheist Carl Sagan. I thought I would re-produce for you the following quote, with which I wholeheartedly agree:
'Does trying to understand the universe at all betray a lack of humility? I believe it is true that humility is the only just response in a confruntation with the universe, but not humility that prevents us from seeking the nature of the universe we are admiring. If we seek that nature, then love can be informed by truth instead of being based on ignorance or self-deception. If a Creator God exists, would He or She or It or whatever the appropriate pronoun is, prefer a kind of Sodden blockhead who worships while understanding nothing? Or would he prefer his votaries to admire the real universe in all its intricacy? I would suggest that science is, at least in part, informed worship. My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, then our curiosity and intelligence are provided by such a god. We would be unappreciative of those gifts if we suppressed our passion to explore the universe and ourselves.'
Here here.
'Does trying to understand the universe at all betray a lack of humility? I believe it is true that humility is the only just response in a confruntation with the universe, but not humility that prevents us from seeking the nature of the universe we are admiring. If we seek that nature, then love can be informed by truth instead of being based on ignorance or self-deception. If a Creator God exists, would He or She or It or whatever the appropriate pronoun is, prefer a kind of Sodden blockhead who worships while understanding nothing? Or would he prefer his votaries to admire the real universe in all its intricacy? I would suggest that science is, at least in part, informed worship. My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, then our curiosity and intelligence are provided by such a god. We would be unappreciative of those gifts if we suppressed our passion to explore the universe and ourselves.'
Here here.
