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Adolescent scientists

I am at a unique age where teenagers do not associate me with the generation of their parents and yet the parents knowing that I am a mature ( arguably mature ) person of 36 years, know that I am closer to their children's generation then they can ever be. With this unique age I was approached by a mother who is a friend of the family asking how she could deal with her teen age son. A fine young man that I know is a good person and I have no doubt will grow to be an honorable man. His mother has a problem and that is lately this fine young man has become very rebellious towards his parents but more so towards his mother. And all I told her is that she should try to weather the storm that it was just a phase and it will go away. For young men as they grow and as did I will always challenge the maxims that are closer to home, and will question the authority of those that have for long held the dominant power in their life. Boys will be boys I told her and that is not a real cause for concern.

Today I was reminded of this event that happened not so long ago. What reminded me was a very different situation. Here I was talking to a very knowledgeable professor of my father's age, and what we where talking about is science and God. See he was of the opinion that is sadly held by the world's most respected scientists. It is estimated that of the entire human population only 14% are atheists but in western scientific circles that number rises to about 70% and to 93% among the scientists of the national foundation of sciences in the USA.

Why does this remind me of the fine young man that was causing his mother distress. Well because science is in its adolescence and still very very immature. Look do not get me wrong, the person writing these words knows what atheism is and what the scientific method is. I was even an atheist or rather agnostic for a few years. In my path to search for the truth, I had to pass by that desert called atheism, I was moved to the core by philosophies of Bertrand Russel and the scientific method of thinking that does not need to assume that the universe was created. So I am not a stranger to that line of thought. So as in the case of my age group it was this unique position where I have been on both sides of the fence that I was able to see the problem.

Science is in adolescence, a stage where you have to challenge the old ways to start forming your own way. Well known scientists in the western world frown on other scientists that believe in God the same way teenagers will frown on their peers that still take sandwiches from home or do not take that cigarette because their parents said so. To me it is so clear it almost made me laugh thinking of these respected scientists as teenagers pushing cigarettes to each other.

But this problem as with the problem of most teenagers is not wholly due to the scientists it is also due to the religious establishments that have been very quick to condemn all science that does not conform to their point of view. It is these establishments along with the traditions and way of life that have carried the human race to this point in time, that are acting like simple minded parents that do not give their children enough space to experiment or vent the passions of youth. Nothing shows this more than the hottest battle between scientists and religious establishments more than the theory of evolution.

ولقد خلقنا الإنسان من سُلالة من طين

المؤمنون 14

الذي أحسن كل شيء خلقه وبدأ خلق الإنسان من طين

السجدة 7

Luckily for me since I have read Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud's excellent book Quran: A trial at modern undertanding, I know that the Holy Quran is not against evolution even that of homo sapiens, ie you and me, and that there are verses that even suggest if one is open minded that this is the way humans where created. I can not here go into this in detail, since I can never put it as elegantly as Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud. But the real moral of the story is that such modern views of old texts can solve many problems and help the scientists to move on from the adolescence into maturity just as a parent can help their child grow by giving them enough space to vent but not to much to drown.

To me the religious leaders have to look at works and forward thinkers like Mustafa Mahmoud and take into consideration that they may be right and open the door to a new era. To positively reach out to scientist and tell them that it is not a sin to believe in the theory of evolution of man kind. That for example commentaries and tafseer of the Holy Quran written a thousand years ago that are taught in religious universities are not as strong as the actual words of the Holy Quran if we reinterpret them in light of our modern scientific understanding of the universe.

Some day in the future both sides of humanity the mind and the soul should be equally developed and there will be no problem between science and the path to God. Some day, but not today.