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On a chat group last week, a friend shared a local rabbi’s newly recorded class, in part about the Book of Job. I listened and was slightly surprised at myself by being irritated by the braininess. The rabbi dismissed as “stupid” what he considered to be naïve views on theodicy represented in the book by Job’s friends.
“Stupid”? That’s a bit harsh. I mention this because an article in The Telegraph yesterday made me think of it. Urban studies scholar Joel Kotkin highlights a shift in religious sociology. He reports, “Scientists who believe in God are challenging the expert atheist establishment.” Well, that I knew. He cites our colleague Stephen Meyer:
For much of modern history, religion and science have been cast as natural enemies. But today there is a growing (albeit minority) view among scientists that God may well be behind their new discoveries.
As they continue to untangle the complexities of the universe and molecular biology, they see a system that only a higher power could construct. Simple mechanical explanations simply fail to meet the explanatory test.
“The new discoveries in science push us in this direction,” notes Dr Stephen C. Meyer, who recently wowed the broadcaster Piers Morgan (and millions of his viewers) on his eponymous YouTube show.
As scientists learn more about cells and chromosomes and the programming they share, some are openly challenging Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution with a view that sees a purpose behind natural phenomena.
In physics, the redefinition of the universe as having a beginning — the so-called Big Bang theory — challenges the conventional notion that the cosmos has always existed and that it operates entirely in quantifiable, predictable ways.
Yes, yes, that’s all familiar. This observation, though, was striking: Kotkin points to a study he published recently with Bheki Mahlobo, finding that “The sociology of religion… is also changing. …[R]eligious affiliation now tends to rise with income and education.”
They elb at Real Clear Investigations:
Note this: “religiously engaged people have become more likely to be well-educated, while atheists are less so.” On behalf of atheists: “Ouch!”
But it kind of makes sense of why a book like Dr. Meyer’s Return of the God Hypothesis can get away with weighing in at 551 pages, and why you can have a documentary like The Story of Everything, based on the book, that is frankly the highest-IQ movie I’ve seen in a while. (As I learned this morning, it is, by the way, pre-ordering now on Blu-ray and DVD.)
I don’t say that merely to compliment the film, but as a reflection of how religious sociology is changing in interesting ways. It’s not just that science increasingly points the way to engagement with faith, but that intelligence and intelligent design, contrary to the old atheist stereotypes, are proceeding arm in arm.
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Actually, computers aren’t even the sort of thing for which consciousness is relevant. Dogs are, and maybe frogs, but not computers.
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