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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be surprised that a scientist with a doctorate is religious

775 replies

Margaritapracataz · 22/09/2015 07:45

I assumed she was joking, but no she's a very intelligent woman (double first) but she has deeply religious beliefs.

Aibu to think this is a bit strange and to think less of her professionally?

OP posts:
Binkybix · 22/09/2015 10:26

If be interested to see that research. It might be a higher likelihood of psychotic mental illness that I'm thinking of. Of course, it could also be the case that there is a correlation (either way) but there is no causative relationship.

I had also heard that Christian people were more charitable but listened to something that looked into the actual studies this was based on and largely discredited the broad conclusion based on the methodology, so the devil can be in the detail.

I can see the argument for the benefits of community etc that you can get from religion though, absolutely.

Bumpsadaisie · 22/09/2015 10:28

Many physicists are Christians and many biologists are atheist, and I don't think that is a coincidence.

It seems to me that the more we learn about the universe the more possible it is that there are all sorts of "realities".

Its all very well taking an empirical approach to the question but "verifiable reality" is not a fixed immovable concept. Humans' "verifiable reality" is limited by their humanity, their ability to perceive and understand.

What is reality? Answer on a postcard.

To date no one knows what preceded the Big Bang (indeed since time did not exist in a linear sense prior to it, it is not possible for anything to precede it). Therefore the only rational position to take in my view is that it is POSSIBLE that there is something transcendent behind it all.

Leaving that aside, in any event many modern Christians do not look to Christianity to provide explanations for the natural world. Rather they find truths in the teachings of Jesus about how to live your life in the here and now, and what is important in the here and now. I fall into this category. For me "the Kingdom of Heaven" isn't somewhere we all get transported to when we die, where everyone is dressed in white and floating around. It is something that could potentially be created here during our earthly lives if we humans were fully able to follow the teachings of Jesus.

Bumbledumb · 22/09/2015 10:29

It's perfectly possible to have faith

But religious faith is by definition unreasonable. It is a belief in the absence of evidence. Would it be reasonable for me to believe that there are fairies living at the bottom of my garden?

squoosh · 22/09/2015 10:30

'She's catholic and study's the spread of diseases.'

And this is a problem how exactly?

Binkybix · 22/09/2015 10:31

Surely being a good scientist is not having preconceived ideas about the universe

But isn't this exactly the reason that there could be a clash between religious belief and being a scientist? Note that I am only saying 'could'!

A belief in god does mean that you're coming at things from a preconceived idea, and one which is not based on evidence.

squoosh · 22/09/2015 10:37

Unless she's investigating how waving rosary beads at a petri dish halts the spread of disease I can't see why you'd think her faith would interfere with her work OP.

Dogzeyes · 22/09/2015 10:37

You are right Binkybox Smile

Many religious people can be a bit blinkerd and not very scientific. As can fundamentalist atheists. I've met both tbh.

KevinAndMe · 22/09/2015 10:38

Only if you have such a restrive view of what 'beingh religious' means. If you look at what Bumpdaisie said, you can see that it's totally possible to be religious and also be a scientist as the religiosu view isn't there anymore to explain the whole thing about how the world was created etc...
Unless you are a creationist but somehow I doubt you would have chosen that career.

SuburbanRhonda · 22/09/2015 10:39

I'd also be interested to see the research that links having a religious faith with low incidence of mental health problems and longevity.

Link please!

MaidOfStars · 22/09/2015 10:39

To paraphrase Attenborough...I wonder if, when you study how worms infect the eyeballs of children, you start to query the concept of a benevolent God.

Cerseirys · 22/09/2015 10:40

She's catholic and study's the spread of diseases.

You're a bit vague OP. Is this related to the spread of HIV and the Catholic stance on condoms? In which case I don't think YABU.

KevinAndMe · 22/09/2015 10:40

Dogzeyes anyone who is a fundamentalist will be blinkered imo.

SunnyScot89 · 22/09/2015 10:41

I know many doctors who have faith... It's the only way they can understand why some things happen and cope with the loss and heartbreak.

Dogzeyes · 22/09/2015 10:44

Maidofstars I think a lot of Religious people put that sort of stuff down the 'the fall' of creation or whatever it is.

Skiptonlass · 22/09/2015 10:48

I did my PhD at the same time as a girl who believed in the literal truth of the bible Not 'a Christian faith' which I think you probably can have while being a scientist, although I've no truck with it myself...

That is, in creationism, world made in 6 days etc, dinosaurs being fake..the whole caboodle

Her PhD was in genetics. I've never quite understood the cognitive dissonance there.

Binkybix · 22/09/2015 10:49

skiptonlass that is extraordinary!

Thefuckinggrinch · 22/09/2015 10:51

Yadbu to say you respect someone less because they have faith. If a christian or muslim said they disrespected people without faith there would be uproar.

You are also not understanding faith. Only extremists and strong creationists totally discount science. I have a few christian scientist friends. Science as we know it neither proves nor disproves God. Many scientists of faith say that they believe in evolution etc but think that everything is so well ordered they believe a creator God to be behind it.

BartholinsSister · 22/09/2015 10:52

The trouble with arguing with god-botherers (whether they be scientists or otherwise), is that whenever a tenet of their religion is shown to be false, they reinterpret the text to mean something different.

BartholinsSister · 22/09/2015 10:55

And many scientists point out how badly ordered the universe is. How many sperms wasted for one to fertilise an egg ??

Binkybix · 22/09/2015 10:55

now it neither proves nor disproves Many scientists of faith say that they believe in evolution etc but think that everything is so well ordered they believe a creator God to be behind it

In what sense do they think god is behind evolution?

TriJo · 22/09/2015 10:55

Depends on the field really. I cannot imagine a creationist developmental biologist, but I knew quite a few religious Catholics at uni who studied theoretical physics, mathematics or computer science. Quite a lot of devout Muslims in the health sciences and engineering too. Evangelical Christians seemed to avoid the pure sciences though and go for applied fields which would lead relatively quickly to employment rather than further study.

MajesticWhine · 22/09/2015 10:56

YABU. I think people can interpret religion however they see fit, as in reality many catholics do. People that have a problem with this kind of thing have a narrow and possibly ignorant understanding of what religion means to people and how it is practised.

Igneococcus · 22/09/2015 11:01

I did my PhD at the same time as someone from a Mormon family who did not believe in Evolution but she would still use phylogenetic trees of the proteins she worked with for her research. It's not that uncommon.

BertrandRussell · 22/09/2015 11:03

"If a christian or muslim said they disrespected people without faith there would be uproar."
They say exactly that all the bloody time!

MaidOfStars · 22/09/2015 11:03

I personally think that the strength of religion is to give you a moral compass

...seems irrelevant to:

That's why I am religious as in 'I blieve that xxx religion is offering me the best way to live my life in a meaningful way'

So does it offer a moral compass or does it offer meaning in an apparently meaningless world?

What state do you think your morals would be in without religion?