"Test of Faith" launch


The launch of "Test of Faith" gave me an opportunity to visit the Royal Society for the first time. This is a learned scientific society, founded in 1660, during the Restoration of Charles II, and considered to be the oldest in the world. Past Presidents of the Society include such as Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Humphrey Davy, Thomas Huxley, Lord Kelvin and Joseph Lister.

This was a treat for me because I have had a keen interest in the natural sciences since before I was ten years old and persuaded my parents to get me a chemistry set. At school, my interest was fostered by enthusiastic and engaging teachers so that in the sixth form (age 16-18) I studied A-levels in Physics, Chemistry and Biology: originally intending to follow my sister's footsteps into medicine; but the good Lord had other ideas.

Fr Roger Nesbitt, who studied Chemistry at Imperial College and has an MSc in Nuclear Chemistry inspired me and many other young men to see science and religion as complementary, and not in competition: in the natural world we uncover the wisdom of God in creation, in the teaching of the Catholic Church, we come to know the wisdom of God in those things He has revealed. The Faith Movement was founded to promote just such an understanding of science and religion and to illuminate the path from science to God.

It was fascinating to see part of the "Test of Faith" DVD (and other educational materials) and see many of the same ideas promoted by the Faraday Institute. Fr Hugh McKenzie, the editor of Faith Magazine was also there casting a critical philosophical eye on things.

The highlight of the evening was a question and answer session, brilliantly managed by Professor John Polkinghorne, one of the key figures in the "Test of Faith" project. I think that the DVD will help many young people to see their way out of the quite false opposition that has been put up between science and faith. Professor Polkinghorne quite properly outlined the limits of natural theology and persuasively argued that from our scientific knowledge of the world it is reasonable to believe in God.

Fr Hugh and I had one or two quibbles. Our position would be to say that the evidence from science does indeed demonstrate the existence of God, not simply show that it is reasonable to believe it. One evangelical questioner quoted Romans 1.20 to which Professor Polkinghorne replied candidly that he disagreed with St Paul since he did not think his atheist friends to be stupid. However, minds can be "darkened" in various ways, not only through stupidity. Professor Polkinghorne would also consider the "Intelligent Design" school to be mistaken but would presumably not regard them as stupid. It is possible for intelligent men to be mistaken about the force of evidence. I certainly do not regard Richard Dawkins as a stupid man and greatly admire his presentation of the evidence for natural selection; but I think he is wrong about the existence of God and I would argue that the evidence shows him to be wrong.

Let us not end on a negative note, however. The "Test of Faith" project is a powerful presentation of the reasonableness of belief in God on the basis of looking at the evidence. In that way, it fulfils the motto of the Royal Society "Nullius in Verba" which means literally "into the words of nobody" and has the sense of "I don't take anyone's word for things but look at the evidence." In terms of the natural sciences, that is the right thing to do - look at the evidence and see where it leads you. The evidence of our ordered universe with its precise laws and constants leads us inexorably to the affirmation of a supreme mind who transcends the material universe.

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Saint Ignatius on heresy, and the capsizing boat

Image
On the feast of St Ignatius, I offer my prayers and good wishes to some great Jesuits. Just off the top of my head, I think of Fr Joseph Fessio SJ the founder of Ignatius Press which has not only published the English translations of various works of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict, but has also given a break for good Catholic authors both of theology and of Catholic fiction. Then there is Fr Bob Spitzer SJ, with whom I studied in Rome many years ago, and Fr Paul Mankowski SJ who has written some superb articles over the years. Here in England, I recall Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, the great fatherly commentator on the Fathers of Cappadocia and in Rome, there is Fr Gilles Pelland SJ, the fierce French-Canadian patristics scholar was a bit harsh when I first arrived in the Holy City, but seemed to soften a bit when after 5 years he seeme satisfied that, though English, I was not a modernist. Many of my Jesuit priest friends and mentors have now reached “that night when no man can work”...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more