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IThe Church Speaks LA-M By THE REV. TED STE VENS RECTOR St. Thomas Anglican Church, Brooklln SCIENCE AND OTHER BARRIERS TO BELIEF one of the most gigantic lies that has ever been suc- cessfully foisted upon the public is the lie that science dispor- ves God. 0f only slightly less enormity is the corresponding- lie that scientists are unbelievers. Deceived by this sort of stuff the man in the street seems often to have the idea that belief in Christinaity is unreasonable because of what science has 'proved', and thuit it is not possible for people trained in the scientific method to take Crhistian beliefs seriously. Thereis a simple way to correct this widespread error and that is to show that many great men of science have been smn- cere Christian believers as well. 0f course there have been, and still are, many scientists who are not believers, just as there are many people in other walks of life who are not believers. What needs to be shown is that the proportion of scientists who are believing Christians is no lower than amongst most other groups. That in itself would be sufficient to debunk the notion that science and Christianity are necessarily incompatible. In fact, we can do much more than this. We can show that among the really great men of scien- ce, as distinct from the rank and file of people with some scientific training, a surprisingly high proportion have been devout Christians. A very long list of names could be given here but it would be somewhat tedjous. Let us as an example, focus attention upon one place and one period of great importance in the history of modemn science. I refer to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in the early decades of this cen- tury, where the atom was first split. The designer-founder of that laboratory was Professor Clerk Maxwell, whose great work, 'Electiricity and Magnetism', has been called one of the most splendid monuments ever raised by the genlous of a single individual. Maxwell was very well known as a devout Christian believer. He was succeeded in the Cavendish Chair of Physics by Lord Rayleigh, another deepiy Chrisitian man. He prefixed to his collected scientific papers the text from the Psalms "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein and this text is engraved on the great door of the laboratory where he worked. Rayleigh was succeeded in his chair by J.J. Thompson whoe WIIlTBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 10, 1980. PAGE 29 Seientists can be believers epochal discoveries in atomic physics made possible the great developments of the present day in that science. He also was a sincere Christian whose daily habit it was to read the Bible and pray. These are figures of 60Oyears ago. What of today? I have before me now a book which contains the Christian testimonies of fno less than 40 years highly trained men of science fromn ail over North America, some of themn inter- nationally famous in their own fields. There are stong Christian Scientific affiliations both in North America and Europe with hundreds of trained scientists as members. So what does ahl this prove? Not that ail scientists are Christian believers but that scientific knowledge is no necessary barrier to belief. That is a point whîch the man in the street needs to realize. Some learned men would go much further and say that scientific knowledge, rightly appreciated, is a strong incentive to religious faith. Lord Kel.vin, the great physicist, said 'If you think strongly enough you will be for- ced by science to believe in God'. No. Science'is no barrier to Christian belief. The real barriers to belief are three. First is apathy - a failure to realize the importance of the things of the spirit to the full well being of man. People spend ahl their energies on developing the body and the mind and then won- der why they are stili not really happy or satisfied. It is because they are attending to only two-thirds of their being and neglecting what is really the most important third - that which distinguishes man from the rest of the animal world. A great thinker of old said 'God has made us for himself and our hearts are restless until they rest in him'. Jesus Christ, speaking of the need for man to concentrate on this missing dimension, said: 'Ask and you shall receive.* Knock and it shahl be opened unto you. Seek and you shall find'. The second real barrier to belief is ignorance. People are woefully ign~orant about what Christianity really teaches, what it really offers to people and, most of ahl, what its historical foundation really is. People mostly do not realize that the historical evidence supporting the accounts of the beginnings of Christianity in the New Testament is far stronger than that for most of the' things which ancient historians write about as 'facts'. For example, we possess literally hundred of ancient copies of the New Testament documents, while. for most of the ancient Greek and Roman writers we possess only one or two copies, in most cases not 50 ancient. A serious and honest examination of the data about Christianity would dispel many doubts. We are proud, independent creatures and feat that we will lose oui- freedom if we let God i.nto our lives. And that old, devilish lie, that being a Christian means being long- faced, solemn and joyless, keeps deceiving people. WE need honestly to face up to the fact that we are not, in ourselves, really free at ail. We are, in great measure, the slaves of our environment, heredity and habita - sometimes bad habits. What Christianity offers is real freedom - freedom to be the best that we can be, freedom to develop our full God-given potential. Jesus said 'If the Son shail make you free you shahl be free indeed'. This is the glorious, liberating experience of those who have put their trust in the One we celebrate at Christmas. We, who once were doubters, sheltering behind our real or unreal barriers to belief, invite those still un- decided to "seek and find", as we have done. SHUR- GAIN bas them ail, each offers balanced, top quality, palatable nuttition Because Shur-Gain people know about animais and animal nutrition, they flot oniy make different rations for pups and aduit dogs, but they make them in texture suited to the type of dog you have. And each s a completely balanced feed requirnng nothing more for your dog's heaith and enjoyment. The high standards of ingredients in Shur-Gain is assured by Canada Packers' weii known reputation for quality. 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