The Coexistence of Science and Religion

By Fred Herrmann

The purpose of this book is to examine the apparent paradox that exists between science and religion and how they relate to the current state of the Universe and our existence. Some claim that science and religion cannot coexist.

Religious dogma often ignores the proven claims of science. Science scoffs at religious dogma when used to discredit scientific facts. This book explores many different topics and their relationship to our current state of being and the rigor of their arguments. Some of the topics discussed include natural selection, molecular evolution, anthropic coincidence, the Big Bang asymmetry, the DNA quandary, embryology, paleontology and the physical laws which govern our Universe.

These topics will be analyzed and discussed from both a scientific and religious vantage point. Please join me as I attempt to illustrate why differences often become similarities when viewed from the perspective of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fred Herrmann
• Release date: Apr 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310126741

Fred Herrmann

I was born in the "Atomic City" (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) and then lived my formative years in the "Rocket City" (Huntsville, Alabama). I believe I was destined for a career in the sciences. I received my early education in the United States and Europe and later returned to Huntsville to complete my education at the University of Alabama Huntsville. I retired after thirty years of service at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, as a scientist/engineer and am the proud father of three lovely daughters and six grandchildren. During my career at NASA, I had the privilege of working on a variety of NASA programs including the Spacelab and International Space Station. I also worked on the Spacelab “Astro” Observatory mission which was the first space telescope and precursor to the Hubble Space Telescope. I have published a variety of scientific papers and hold a patent for a "Hanging Drop" Protein Crystal Growth apparatus now currently flying on the International Space Station. Many of my memorable NASA experiences were at the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator where I trained Shuttle astronauts for various missions including the Hubble repair mission, Ease/Access and the Shuttle Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) mission. During this training, I had the honor of working with many of the Shuttle astronauts including Story Musgrave, Bruce McCandless, George "Pinky" Nelson, James "Ox" van Hoften and Ronald McNair just months before he met his premature death in the Challenger disaster in 1986. When I am not traveling with my lovely wife Melody or romping with the grandchildren, I love to explore the Universe from my Owl Mountain Observatory. Here I can unleash the splendor and beauty of the Universe through astrophotography. My interest in astrophotography began with a modest LX-200 telescope in the early 1990's. These astrophotography interests eventually evolved into the fully automated Owl Mountain Observatory. Never stop learning! Fred Herrmann

Book preview

PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to examine the apparent paradox that exists between science and religion and how they relate to the current state of the Universe and our existence.

Some claim that science and religion cannot coexist. Religious dogma often ignores the proven claims of science. Science scoffs at religious dogma when used to disprove scientific facts.

The author of this text is both a Christian and a scientist and believes that science and religion can coexist, despite the strong opinions on both sides which say otherwise.

This text will explore many different topics and their relation to our current state of being. These topics will include natural selection, molecular evolution, anthropic coincidence, the Big Bang asymmetry, the DNA quandary, embryology, paleontology and the physical laws which govern our Universe. These topics will be analyzed and discussed from both a scientific and religious vantage point.

Please join me as I attempt to illustrate why differences often become similarities when viewed from the perspective of the author.

Fred Herrmann

Alabama, USA

February 2016

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I was born in the Atomic City (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) and then lived my formative years in the Rocket City (Huntsville, Alabama). I believe I was destined for a career in the sciences. I received my early education in the United States and Europe and later returned to Huntsville to complete my education at the University of Alabama Huntsville.

I received an early parochial education until my teen years and was raised a Christian, and continue to practice my Christian beliefs. The contradictions between science and my religion has always been a point of personal contention.

I retired after thirty years of service at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, as a scientist/engineer and am the proud father of three lovely daughters and six grandchildren. During my career at NASA, I had the privilege of working on a variety of NASA programs including the Spacelab and International Space Station. I also worked on the Spacelab Astro Observatory mission which was the first space telescope and precursor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

I have published a variety of scientific papers and hold a patent for a Hanging Drop Protein Crystal Growth apparatus now currently flying on the International Space Station. Many of my memorable NASA experiences were at the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator where I trained Shuttle astronauts for various missions including the Hubble repair mission, Ease/Access and the Shuttle Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) mission. During this training, I had the honor of working with many of the Shuttle astronauts including Story Musgrave, Bruce McCandless, George Pinky Nelson, James Ox van Hoften and Ronald McNair just months before he met his premature death in the Challenger disaster in 1986.

When I am not traveling with my lovely wife Melody or romping with the grandchildren, I love to explore the Universe from my Owl Mountain Observatory. Here I can unleash the splendor and beauty of Creation through astrophotography.

Fred Herrmann

I dedicate this book to my wife Melody, my dedicated proof reader Amber, and also to my grandchildren Emma, Lukas, Anna, Katherine, Sophie and Alexis.

—— FRED HERRMANN

Can the Existence of God be Proven?

Religion unlike science is based on faith. It is virtually impossible to prove religious doctrines such as the existence of God, the Creation story and the Holy Trinity using the scientific method. One can however strongly infer the existence of a Designer or Creator using scientific deduction and reasoning. One should also not ignore that many things in science are not capable of being proven and their suspected existence is also a sole consequence of inference.

I took the preceding image of NGC 7293, along with other astrophotography images included in this text from my backyard Owl Mountain Observatory. As an astronomer and astrophotographer I collect light in the form of photons from distant objects that are literally millions and sometimes billions of light-years distant. The distance of these objects is determined scientifically using elemental redshift data. Redshift occurs when electromagnetic radiation, a.k.a. light, increases in wavelength. Simply stated, the more distant an object the more the color of these distant objects is shifted towards the red.

As a scientist I understand and accept that the light from these distant objects took millions and billions of years to reach my telescope. Redshift, the 14 billion year old age of the Universe and the vast size of the Universe are scientific facts based on the natural physical laws of the Universe.

What is scientific proof? One definition is: Scientific proof is evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis. Such evidence is expected to be empirical (measureable) and its interpretation done in accordance with the scientific method. The scientific method is a rigorous procedure consisting of observation, measurement and experiment followed by the testing and modification of the original hypothesis.

The above definition of what constitutes scientific proof is an ideal. This scientific ideal does not exist for many respected scientific theories which exist today such as the Multiverse and Big Bang theories. At the same time this same scientific ideal does not exist for hypotheses which argue in favor of intelligent design such as Irreducible Complexity and Anthropic Coincidence.

The hypothesis of intelligent design is often criticized since intelligent design cannot be directly observed, measured and tested. Proponents of intelligent design by a Creator are usually laughed at and labeled Religious Nut Cases. The closest thing to proof of intelligent design is the consequence of its existence through indirect observation and reason and the unlikelihood of prebiotic chemistry spontaneously generating the basic building blocks of life based on the mathematics of probability.

Now for the Truth in Advertising statement: I am totally new to the concept of intelligent design and have no connection to any funding or political group. I simply want to examine the robustness of the evidence, both for and against, as it currently exists and come to my own logical conclusion. Simply throwing biblical text at the reader and saying, See there! as many sources which claim to have scientific evidence of intelligent design do, is NOT scientific. These types of pseudoscience sources are actually counterproductive and dilute the actual existing scientific evidence that support intelligent design.

Now let us examine an example of scientific reasoning and the ability to come to a false conclusion based on observation and a fitting