Welcome to Thursday Coffee Hour cleverly located at the intersection of Street and Prophets. When I was eight years old I discovered science fiction in my local library. It started me on a life long love affair with outer space. I took astronomy classes and went to planetariums every chance I got. I watched every episode of the pioneering series Cosmos by Doctor Carl Sagan. When he told us that we were made of star stuff I was thrilled. My niece was just a child when the show was on and she was telling me how much it changed her life.
Doctor Brian Greene, Doctor Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Doctor Michio Kaku are the scientists I am reading and watching most now. Dr. Green and Dr. Kaku are exploring “string theory.” While I may not be a physicist like my Dad was I did inherit his brain and curiosity. I may not understand all of the nuances of physics but I understand enough to be totally fascinated and wanting to learn more. All of these men are bringing science to people today and explaining to a new generation and firing their imaginations like Carl Sagan did to the previous generation.
One of the saddest things to me is the way in the last few years that science has been ignored and dumbed down by politicians. It doesn’t fit their narrow view of God or whatever. They seem to fear that they have to believe exactly in the Bible or God cannot exist. What a waste of God. I would rather have a God that could start an atom going in the big bang and let it create everything from there. As far as I’m concerned science does not negate a belief in God. I remember reading years ago a scientist say that you can take creation back to the primordial atom and explain how everything we see has been created but what we can’t answer is where the primordial atom truly came from. For some that is where God comes in. I can’t prove God didn’t create the primordial atom and science can’t prove that he didn’t.
We have to reinvest in education and science. We are falling farther and farther behind the rest of the world. We cannot afford to have politicians denying climate change. We cannot afford to have museums built that glorify creationism. This is a big and complex world and if we are going to survive we cannot afford to be ignorant. We must fight so that our children are educated in science and reality not indoctrinated into the world of ignorance. Our survival as a planet depends on us using our brains and solving complex ecological problems. We can’t do it if we don’t educate our people. I am thankful that Dr. Greene, Doctor Tyson, and Doctor Kaku have taken on Doctor Sagan’s mantel and are now teaching a new generation. We older people need to be watching and learning along with the young people.
Morning Has Broken