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| Remnants of supernova. |
“How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.” ― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Amen.
ReplyDeleteCarl spoke the truth.
ReplyDeleteYou know, the sad fact is that all religions fight against truth, and thus they expose their immorality.
perfectly wonderful; thank you!
ReplyDeleteThey want to keep 'their' God small, just again confirms they're small minded. No ability to see outside their own small brain -- and I mean 'real' small brain.
ReplyDeleteThat is where my spirit leads me.... Nice.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful picture. My small Brethren church has been attended by a home schooling family for several months. The 11 year old daughter is quite precocious and has read scripture during services and always puts someone in the family up during prayer time. We had a VBS this past August, titled " Portraits of Peacemakers." The kids studied Dan West (a Brethren who started the Heifer Priject,) Marion Anderson, and Gandhi. This girl wondered why we were talking about Gandhi "because he wasn't a Christian." They have not been back since. Sad that these people have total control of their kids' educations.
ReplyDeleteCarl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson, who inherited his role of Explainer of the Universe, are my heroes.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do not mean to shortchange Stephen Hawking, whom I admire in a wholly different way.
The brillince of this physically supremely challenged man's brain, and the determination to inform others against all odds, is beyond my limited comprehension.
type alert for my above statement: "brilliance", not brillince... so sorry!
DeleteMC 900 Ft Jesus: A Greater God
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdVUFWRP5g
Where we could arguably benefit from millions and millions of Carl Sagans, there's only been one. Taking nothing away from Neil Degrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Lisa Randall and others, tragically, even the one Carl Sagan we had is long gone and sorely missed.
ReplyDeleteListen/watch Professor Leonard Susskind of Stanford teach a course in String Theory where the subject matter is DeSitter Space. The magnitude, grandeur, and perspective on the scale of where remnants of Super Nova are mere specs becomes something of wonder where even Carl Sagan had to take pause.
ReplyDeletePerspective is a strange and wondrous thing. To be able to imagine where we fit in this grandeur and the forces that got us here are truly breathtaking...
ReplyDelete"Religion" is a word. It doesn't look, fight, or accept- people do those things (admittedly some with the word in mind).
Contra Carl, Issac Newton, a deeply committed believer, did think the natural world (the explanations of which comprise "science") was "bigger than many thought."
The corpus of views we call science would be a much slimmer book if views of only non-believers were included.
How is it that Carl Sagan hasn't studied Islamic theology yet claims to speak on all major religions?
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Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe? [Qur'an 21:30]
Sometimes translated as: "Do the unbelievers not realize that the heavens and earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water we made all living things. Would they believe?"
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Say, [O Muhammad], "It has been revealed by He who knows [every] secret within the heavens and the earth. Indeed, He is ever Forgiving and Merciful." [Qur'an 25:6]
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Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire." [Qur'an 3:191]
The Father of the Big Bang Theory was a Catholic priest named Georges LeMaitre. Another Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, proposed the "Omega Point" theory of cosmic evolution.
ReplyDeleteCosmologist Robert Jastrow, director of many NASA projects, said (paraphrased) that if scientists ever reach the summit of discovery on the nature of the universe, they will find theologians sitting there.
The fields of astrophysics and astronomy are full of people who believe in a higher power. How is it Carl Sagan didn't realize this?