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Freeman Dyson Wins Templeton Prize For Religion

Posted by emmett on from the a-world-apart dept.

Cy Guy writes "Quantum physicist Freeman Dyson, (father of the Dyson Sphere and Esther Dyson) who has written about religion's role in modern culture, won the $940,000 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. 'Religion has a much more important role in human destiny than science.' Here's a link to the wire story."

3 of 406 comments (clear)

  1. "Cliffs Notes" for replies to this article. by emerson · · Score: 5

    Here we go again. Based on past stories, here's my breakdown of how the commentary will go:

    30% -- Comment threads defending religion's place in society, ranging from clever, well-spoken, impassioned defenses of spirituality and religion as necessary to a well-balanced life, on down through "GOD LOVS ME AND SIENTIST SINERS WILL GO TO HELL!" Interesting subflavors include "Some of the most reknowned scientists in history were religious," and "Scientific method isn't the only way to gain knowledge."

    35% -- Comment threads alleging that any belief system based in faith is worthless because there's no empirical repeatability, ranging from graduate-level epistomological essays down through "SIENCE MAKES SENSE RILIGION DOSNT." Interesting subflavors include the issue that science is typically learned from elders with no empirical repeatability on the part of the learner and is therefore also based in faith, and oh-yeah?-yeah exchanges about the provability of (math|god|intelligence|grits)

    15% -- Pot-calling-kettle-black posts, where someone makes an allegation about science or religion that's also true of the other. Typically starts with history of deaths, progresses through history of art, stalls out somewhere about the time the invention of Tang is being compared to televangelists.

    10% -- Topical trolls. "Jesus was an idiot and so are you." "Scientists are all atheists." "Freeman Dyson naked and petrified."

    5% -- Typical trolls. "First post." "Grits." Stupid repressed-homosexual Katz/Columbine stories.

    3% -- Meta-posts. Commentary on the nature of the story. Ponderings about the makeup of Slashdot's readership. This post.

    1% -- Posts that crept in from other threads. Slashdot bug? Posters losing track of multiple browser windows? It's a mystery. In any case, posts about Paying Bills Online, Chili!Soft, and whatever story gets posted next.

    1% -- People karma whoring by posting mirror links, pasted text from the wire story, and other bloat that inexplicably keeps getting moderated up as 'informative.' See my .sig....

    Predictions for final count of comments: 500-600.

    Predictions for final count of comments that have anything new or interesting to say (and no, this one doesn't make that count): 5.

    In any case, this whole story should be moderated (-1, Known-Controversial Ad-Banner-Revenue-Generation Flamebait).

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  2. Dare we hope? by Amphigory · · Score: 5
    Dare I hope that we are in the start of the end of this "religion opposed to science" idiocy triggered by the monkey trials? In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, there was a horrible conflation of some loud-mouthed, obnoxious pseudo-scientists (e.g. Huxley) and some loud-mouthed, obnoxious religionists (e.g. Dwight L. Moody, Bob Jones). They setup a bogus opposition between religion and science, that is not really based in fact.

    The net effect is that a whole lot of straw men have set up and both sides have a great time knocking them down. For more (from an unabashedly religious perspective) see http://www.cornerstonemag .com/features/iss112/baloney.htm.

    Look guys: being religious (including, specifically, Christian) does not mean checking your brain at the door. And it never has. It means (broadly speaking) acceptance of a setup of principles, a world view, and a decision to devote your life to it. In Christianity, this is expressed by (to oversimplify) the Ten Commandments, Christ as the risen savior, and (of course) the decision to act on this information -- we call that decision faith.

    It also doesn't mean (in most cases) that you are signing up for some militant crusade -- whatever Pat Robertson or the Pope would have you believe. You still have the one natural right God gave you: self-determination as a free moral agent. FWIW, I regard most "cults" (e.g. the Heavens Gate bit) as more a psychological experiment than a religious one.

    Also, let me comment that anyone who thinks religion, esp. Christianity, is for the simple minded should read Karl Barth or George Fox sometime (to pick a couple of examples among many).

    Also, if you're interested, check out Geeks for Christ. We're still in a fledgeling state, but one of the purposes of the site is precisely to be open to intelligent discussion of Christianity.

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  3. The Dancing Wu Li Masters by kingsquab · · Score: 5

    I first read this book, by Gary Zukav, quite a few years ago. A quote:

    "The Wu Li Masters know that 'science' and 'religion' are only dances, and that those who follow them are dancers. The dancers may claim to follow 'truth' or claim to seek 'reality', but the Wu Li Masters know better. They know that the true love of all dancers is dancing."