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Hadron Collider; and those Christian cry babies!
Funny what gets people talking. It seems that the shiney new Large Hadron Collider has become the new most popular science topic of discussion, for both the tech elite, and the mindless Christian scare mongering morons, alike. If you haven’t been keeping up with the news - or the only news you follow is the entertainment pages and Britney’s latest act of public stupidity - the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is basically a fuck off big race track for quantum particles. The whole idea is to send two sets of protons spinning in opposite directions and when they are near the speed of light, smash them head on and see what happens. Exciting stuff! There’s even talk of a few little quantum sized blackholes getting created for a nanosecond or two! Imagine that; mini blackholes you can show off to your mates! Those physicists at CERN must be wetting themselves with excitement.
Mind you, as always the Christians are in a hissy fit over this new toy because some of them are worried we might destory God’s creation - being the earth and all of us - as the little blackholes could become very big blackholes and rend us atom by atom into nothingness. Well, sure, but you know - no guts, no glory, man! You’re not going to win a Nobel Prize without breaking a few laws of physics, that’s for sure!
Serious for a second, there isn’t any way this thing is going to destroy the earth. You have more chance of being able to walk to the moon in a pink bikini than the LHC ending our existence in a puff of anti-matter. As usual the Christians are panicking and slinging the FUD around! Jezuz, you would think after losing that argument with Gallello they would have learned to shut the fuck up by now (it only took them 183 years to admit they lost as well). But no, it appears where there’s high end science, there’s a bunch of Christian numbnuts screaming about the end of the world. The shitty part about it is, decent scientists don’t run around screaming the world is going to end every time some fat paedophile guy puts on a long dress and starts preaching the “Word of God”. No, they just go about their day, building bigger and better science experiments.
So really, why bother making a fuss at all?! Honestly what’s the worst that could happen? The world being devoured in a second big bang, you say! So what! Even it does, it will be so fast you won’t even notice. Then we all get to see who was right, and who was wrong between the Buddhists, and the Christians.
Another very interesting debate that needs settling! 
Andy.
Posted: September 12th, 2008 under Tech Culture Rant.
Comments: 4
Comments
Comment from Father Joe
Time: September 12, 2008, 4:28 am
I noticed that you linked my blog and named me a Christian nut who thinks the Collider will destroy the world. Please, I am a believer but I am not particularly worried about the Collider. The post was an effort at cheap science fiction, a joke, just to have some fun. I am amazed that anyone took it seriously. I look forward to what the great experiment will tell us. My only regret is that Congress killed the even larger Collider that Reagan approved for Texas. Now the U.S. has to look on instead of take a lead in this monumental event. I see no contradiction between my faith and wanting to know more about the Big Bang and the nature of the universe. My deacon at the parish is one of the leading physicists in the nation and was instrumental at Catholic University in developing the nuclear waste glass used for storing and retaining radioactive material. They even beat places like MIT and the big schools! Believers can support science as much as anyone else, and without any fear about the answers. No one should ever fear the TRUTH, no matter what it is. Peace!
Comment from Andy
Time: September 12, 2008, 12:58 pm
Hi Father Joe,
Firstly my apologies then for missing the sarcasm, and taking your post seriously. I’ve actually seen other posts that do in all honesty say stuff about the world ending from Christian fundamentalist groups.
Your site is actually pretty interesting, but I find it hard to reconcile how a Christian can be a scientist. Faith belies understanding. To have faith in a Christian God, you have to forgo questioning and challenging the establishment and simply accept how it is laid down in “The Book”. This is the diametrically opposed paradigm of science, where the scientific method is to challenge accepted ideas and expand the body of knowledge that leads to understanding.
I don’t believe there can be such a person as a Christian scientist. Quite simply the two paradigms are in conflict, so one must give to the other. So you’re either a scientist, or a Christian. But you are not both. If Christianity wasn’t so fundamentalist in it’s view of the world, they would not have taken 183 years to accept that Gallello’s theory was correct. Nor would they have put him in front of the Inquisition.
However, this is purely my own viewpoint based on my understanding of the world; my own training in science (as I hold a university degree in a science field); and my belief in Buddhism above all else theologically.
You’ve got my interest though, so I look forward to reading more from you on your blog.
Andy.
Comment from Father Joe
Time: September 12, 2008, 3:25 pm
Andy,
I think part of the problem with seeing how a person can be both a Christian and a believer stems from misconstrued historical events and from the multiplicity of religious confessions. For instance, there are certain Protestant Christians who argue that faith is all that matters and that science must either take a secondary role or that the devil himself has a hand in falsifying scientific discoveries. The Catholic Church has repeatedly rejected this stand. I heard one fundamentalist minister contend that fossils were planted by Satan and that the dinosaurs died because they could not get them onto the ark. This is all silliness. Most scientists, even the late Pope John Paul II, had no problem with evolution, albeit with an Intelligent Designer in the background.
Catholics study astro-physics and speculate about the big bang, the residual radiation at the edge of the universe being a tell-tale sign, and about matters like string-theory. Catholics do not use the Bible like a science book. Of course, neither are we schitzophrenic; we do not accept contradictory truths but feel that truth must compliment itself, no matter if from science, theology or philosophy. As a believer, I contend that the Bible shares stories and events from real history, as well as religious metaphor to convey its message.
The story of Galileo is somewhat convoluted. He was not alone in thinking that the earth and other planets revolved around the sun. Various churchmen thought as much, not simply from scientific data of the time but from a knowledge of the ancient Greeks. If he had argued straight science, he probably would not have gotten into so much trouble. Man’s place in creation was not dependent upon the planetary alignment. But he also tried to weave his science with Scripture and religious faith. His writing was creative and used a cast of characters, one of whom was rather dumb and overly resembled the Pope at that time. In any case, Pope John Paul II offered an official apology, especially in how the event seemed to create enmity between the religious and scientific communities.
Take care and watch out for crashing protons, quarks and those pesky bits of strange matter!
Comment from Andy
Time: September 13, 2008, 12:28 pm
Father Joe,
You have a gift for eloquence, and a rare humour my friend. I’ve learned a few things with this discussion and have had my own viewpoint challenged in a positive way.
A large part of my own negative association with Christians comes from having had to go to a private secondary school for a number of years where the ministers would use what we call post 9/11 as terrorist interrogation tactics to scare kids stupid with the Word of God. In the same school Christian ministers would denounce the teaching of the science lessons as “heretical”, with particular vehemence against our biology classes that taught Darwinian evolution theory! And if that wasn’t enough, after I graduated from university, the place I went to live (in a big city) for work, was a regular route for Seventh Day Adventist members who would come in every Saturday afternoon and attempt to convert the house, and get us to give up our “sinful” beliefs that “Satan’s” science had lulled us into holding. These were some of the funniest discussions of my life - ignorance can be hilarious.
It wasn’t until years later when I started studying Buddhism in London, did I realise that theology could be rational and not in conflict with science. The Dalai Lama himself is an scientist of some reknown and has made many changes to the Buddhist Dharma (teachings/doctrine) where science has proven doctrine wrong.
Thanks very much for stopping by and giving us your comments. Very enjoyable, and extremely interesting.
Andy.
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