A scientist view of God and religion

Three or four years ago, I was locked in a dispute on this page with men who do not believe in the existence of God and who claimed that the world could be made better not by religion but humanism.

They based their philosophy on the scientific findings of Charles Darwin, author of the Origin of Species. To them, anything whose existence cannot be proved scientifically is not worth considering, let alone believing.

I had never believed that all scientists were atheists but until recently, I had never come across the views of a person who was not just a great theoretician in science but whose practical work has been of great benefit to mankind for more than a hundred years.

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), a French scientist best remembered for his study of microbes and invention of a cure for rabies, was engaged in a dispute with followers of Auguste Comte’ the man who coined the terms sociology and positivism.

One of these followers of Comte, M. Littre, said: “I call positivism all that is done in society to organise it according to the positive, that is to say, the scientific conception of the world.”

In his essay titled ‘Against positivism in science’ Pasteur says he agrees with this conception of positivism except that it does not take into consideration the most important of positive ideas that of the Infinite.

What does Pasteur himself mean by the Infinite? I venture to say the endlessness of time and space. When did time begin? Where will it end? Where does the universe start and where does it end?

“Everywhere in the world, I see the expression of the idea of the Infinite,” said Pasteur. “Owing to it, belief in the supernatural is found at the bottom of every heart. The idea of God is a form of the idea of the Infinite. As long as mystery of the Infinite weighs upon human minds, so long will temples be raised to the cult of the Infinite whether God be called Brahma, Allah, Jehovah or Jesus, and on the pavement of these temples you will see men kneeling prostrate, sunk in the contemplation of the Infinite.”

Pasteur, saw the sources of human dignity, liberty and modern democracy in the idea of the Infinite. Happy are those people who carry within them a God, an ideal of beauty which they obey, the ideal of art, science, the gospel idea of virtue.

By the way Charles Darwin, the idol of the atheists and Louis Pasteur were contemporaries. I do not know if they read each other’s writings. If so, I wonder what Darwin said when Pasteur wrote: “Only a misguided mind tries to introduce religion into science. More misguided still is he who attempts to introduce science into religion because he entertains greater respect of the scientific method. The man who has religious faith does not know and does not want to know. He believes in a supernatural revelation. You will say that this is incompatible with human reason.”

For Pasteur, reason is not everything. Apart from reason, there is feeling. What gives strength to the conviction of a religious man is that the teachings of his faith are in harmony with the natural impulses of his heart.

In conclusion, the great benefactor of mankind said: “It is an insult to the heart of man to say with the materialists, ‘Death is extinction’.”

Leave religious people alone, those of you who got your PhD licking the feet of Charles Darwin and have added nothing of your own to scientific discoveries. Pasteur, like Isaac Newton, stood on the shoulders of the giants, saw more than the giants had seen. He found that he could not dispense with the belief in the supernatural.

Between religious people and atheists, let there be co-existence, avoid quarrels; there should be mutual tolerance between different religions, denominations and creeds. Moreover, there should be mutual respect and mutual love. A neo-Voltairean would say: “Though I do not believe in God, I will defend your right to practise your faith. Though I believe in the existence of God, I will defend your right to be a scoffer of the idea.”