Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10.5)

Disciplines
Scientific Publishing
In his biography of coming to faith, Surprised by Joy, C. S. Lewis recalled the care he took as a young atheist to make certain nothing would upset his preferred worldview, remarking that avowed atheists have to be careful about the things they read.

Apparently, things haven’t changed all that much within the community of unbelief. Secularists today are, if anything, even more vigilant than C. S. Lewis ever was.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the prestigious science journal, PLOS ONE, has retracted an article by four Chinese scientists because of its references to the Creator (Paul Basken, “‘Creator’ Puts Fear of God in Open-Access Giant,” March 7, 2016). The article, which explored the mechanics of the human hand, was determined to be “scientifically unreliable” and seemed to promote “a creationist ideology” (horrors!).

At several points in the article, the authors reflected on the wisdom of the Creator for having constructed the hand to function as it does. These comments were made strictly in passing, without any attempt to preach or indoctrinate.

Some readers thought the problem might only be a matter of mistranslation, but, you know, better safe than sorry. The academic editor for PLOS ONE, who vouched for the article, has been identified as being associated with a Chinese Evangelical Church in the US, and is under pressure to resign from the journal.

Clearly, the scientific community is on guard against any views suggesting the secular, materialist, rationalist worldview may not be the only way of viewing the world. They have managed to bar any consideration of alternative worldviews from their classrooms, now they won’t even allow bona fide members of their community to raise a nonconforming voice in scientific literature.

I suppose that’s their prerogative. But they should be consistent. If they’re going to disallow any references to God in their literature, they have a good bit of work to do yet before consistency is achieved. Here are a few other quotes from scientific publications which are universally accepted, even revered, among the members of the scientific community, which the censors apparently missed:

“It is reasonable to believe, however, that the Creator, if he paid attention to the relation of the orbits [of the planets] in their general aspect, paid attention also to the relation of the varying distances of the individual orbits in detail...” (Johannes Kepler, The Discovery of the Laws of Planetary Motion).

“All these facts were discovered and observed a few days ago by the help of a telescope devised by me, through God’s grace first enlightening my mind” (Galileo Galilei, The Discovery of Jupiter’s Satellites).

“Nevertheless, all the observations which could possibly be made in so short a time, I was enabled, by Divine Providence, to complete...” (Jeremiah Horrox, The Transit of Venus).

“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being” (Isaac Newton, Principia Mathematica).

And so forth.

It has become fashionable these days to do science without reference to God, indeed, for the purpose of keeping God at bay. For the founders of the modern scientific enterprise, however, such a notion would have been unthinkable.

For reflection
1.  How do your unbelieving friends or co-workers respond when you bring God into a conversation?

2.  Why do you suppose belief in God played such a foundational role in the beginnings of the scientific enterprise?

3.  If Christians spoke more openly, personally, and sincerely about God, do you think unbelievers would be more open to hearing about Him? Explain.

How can Christians encourage one another to be more consistent in talking about the Lord? Talk with a few Christian friends about this question.

T. M. Moore

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