The mail that caught my attention first when I came back from vacation was a forward named "Don't miss even a single word". It was "an inspirational story" intended to show that atheists are not as rational as they claim to be. As my friends can imagine, I couldn't leave the argument at that. The mail and my reply are given below just for fun.
The Story:
An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and.....
Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof : Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student : Yes..
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?
(Student is silent.)
Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student : No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From....God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
(Student does not answer.)
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
(Student has no answer.)
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold . Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat . We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy . Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it . (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture hall.)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor.Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain,sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his faceunfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH . That is all that keeps things moving & alive.
NB: I believe you have enjoyed the conversation...and if so...you'll probably want your friends/colleagues to enjoy the same...won't you?.... this is a true story, and the student was none other than.........
APJ Abdul Kalam, the former president of India
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My Reply:
Hi,
I can only say that the Professor is not much intelligent. No scientist would want his students to listen to his lectures faithfully. He would want them to question every word he says, to see for himself as far as possible.
Also, belief in evolution can never be compared with belief in God. Evolution is a scientific theory. Nobody asks anyone to believe it as immutable truth. Ever since the theory was put forward, scientists are collecting more and more evidence. Upto now EACH piece of evidence suggests that the theory is true. If tomorrow a SINGLE fact is discovered which proves conclusively that evolution by natural selection is false, ALL the scientists would discard it as a non-working theory. (By the way, evolution doesn't teach that man is descended from monkey. It says that Man and Monkey are cousins. So are Man and Cat. This shows that the professor doesn't have much knowledge of evolution)
Science doesn't have all the answers. No scientist claims that he knows the principles behind everything. But he is hopeful. He believes that he can find the answers. This keeps the science alive. The crucial point is this: Just because science has still a long way to go doesn't mean that religion has already reached the summit. The major difference between a scientist and a religious person is that when a scientist doesn't know something, he admits so. In contrast, the religious claims to have all the answers already written in some books.
Well I can't imagine that the professor fell for these silly logic. I think it just shows the standard of professors in India.
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I don't know if the foolish arguments of the story were indeed used by the former President of India. If he did, I hope that he is now an intellectually maturer person (If you have been reading my earlier posts carefully, you can see that here I am contradicting myself. But as you are bright enough to notice it, you can sort it out, too).
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I don't know if the foolish arguments of the story were indeed used by the former President of India. If he did, I hope that he is now an intellectually maturer person (If you have been reading my earlier posts carefully, you can see that here I am contradicting myself. But as you are bright enough to notice it, you can sort it out, too).
