What do famous scientists say about God, faith and the Church?

ARTEM OGANOV

Artem Oganov is a world-famous Russian crystallographer, president of the Russian-American Association of Scientists, head of the Skolkovo Institute and three scientific laboratories in the USA, China and Russia. Included in the list of "10 most successful Russian scientists" by Forbes .

“I agree that science is the greatest achievement of human culture. But the fact that science can help a person in everything, satisfy all human needs, is, of course, not true. That's funny. If you are tormented by remorse, science will not help you at all.”

“Science can extend your life, give you physical health, improve your quality of life. Science can satisfy your curiosity. You know what pleasure I get when I tell my children, for example, about black holes. At this moment you relive the delight of knowledge: how amazing the world we live in is! Why is he so amazing? Where did the laws that govern this world come from? Aren't these laws strange? This is where some kind of bridge appears, perhaps with faith. And who actually gave these laws? Well, we can say that no one. And we can say that Someone. And then believers and non-believers diverge, and no one will ever be able to prove anything to anyone.”

“I think we will never be able to prove the existence of God using scientific methods. But this should not confuse us, because in science itself there are statements that cannot be proven. We call them axioms, and the entire edifice of science is built on these statements. Therefore, this is the way of human knowledge. We need to take something on faith, but this something should be intuitively close to us. Well, for example: parallel lines do not intersect. You will never prove it, but we intuitively feel it. Just like God. Some of us intuitively feel that God exists. And therefore they may well accept this as a truth that does not require proof. I believe that to the best of my five senses I have received my proof of the existence of God.”

Read the full interview of Vladimir Legoyda with Artem Oganov on the Foma website or watch the episode of Parsuna.

RADIY ILKAEV

Radiy Ilkaev - Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, honorary scientific director of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center - All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics.

He did a lot to preserve the nuclear center of our country in the 90s. The Church helped convince the authorities that the nuclear center cannot be divided. Ilkaev did not approach her lightly: the Institute was located on the former territory of the Holy Dormition Monastery of Sarov Monastery . Today nuclear scientists consider St. Seraphim of Sarov their patron, and Ilkaev himself is one of the initiators of the 2003 celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the glorification of the St.

“The most important thing in science is insight. The highest achievements of scientific thought come through insight. And this is certainly not a scientific and technical phenomenon. It is characteristic of spiritual life; it is realized and comprehended there. The history of science has a lot to do with insights. And there is no serious contradiction between the highest achievements of scientific thought and the highest achievements of spiritual life. But where does it come from - insight? It is not a consequence of any specific formula, calculation or measurement. It comes from above. This needs to be emphasized sometimes, because if you forget about this side of a scientist’s work, it actually just dilutes science.”

“This is a difficult time for science in Russia, we need to fight. And here I will allow myself one remark. The Russian Orthodox Church has enormous power these days. My personal opinion: it contains the moral basis of civil society. Her public point of view, including on science, that is, in fact, on the future intelligence of the nation, is very significant. Some officials and leaders now listen much more to the Church than to scientists. Therefore, I consider it very important to have a dialogue between the Church and science in a careful, constructive form.”

You can read about how holiness and nuclear physics are combined in the letters of Radiy Ilkaev’s colleagues about St. Seraphim of Sarov.

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- this is what lies on one side of the scale, while the mind always lies on the second. Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher

You can explain to a Martian the existence of gas stations. But it will be very difficult to explain to him why all these churches are needed. — John Updike writer

By teaching religion in schools, these church bastards, to put it mildly, want to lure the souls of children. — Vitaly Ginzburg physicist

What magnificent fools religion makes of people! — Ben Jonson playwright

There is too little love and goodness in the world to be lavished on imaginary beings. — Friedrich Nietzsche philosopher

I suppose I would have been a good Christian, but the church did everything to turn me into a complete atheist. — Friedrich Schiller playwright

Civilization will not reach perfection until the stone of the last church falls on the head of the last priest. Emile Zola writer

The absence of God is difficult to prove. If I suggest that there is a porcelain teapot orbiting around the Sun between Earth and Mars, no one can disprove it, especially if I carefully add that it is so small that even the most powerful telescopes cannot see it. — Bertrand Russell mathematician

God is a plug for the hole of the unknown. — Anatoly Lunacharsky, politician

The Christian concept is disgusting. It makes of God either embodied anger, and, moreover, infinite anger, which created thinking beings in order to make them forever unhappy, or embodied impotence and feeble-mindedness, unable to either predict or prevent the misfortunes of its creatures. — Francois Voltaire, philosopher

The blood shed by the worshipers of the God of mercy and peace since the introduction of His religion would perhaps be sufficient to drown the adherents of all other sects living on the globe. — Percy Shelley, poet

Reason is the main enemy of all faith. — Martin Luther, priest

Religion has always seemed indecent to me. Ingmar Bergman, director

If God exists, then atheism is certainly less offensive to him than religion. Jules Goncourt writer

Thank God I'm an atheist! — Luis Buñuel, director

I am sure that a serious scientist studying the laws of nature or human society will not be able to maintain faith, because everything around him will dissuade him from the dogmas he has learned from childhood. — Umberto Eco writer

All thinking people are atheists. — Ernest Hemingway writer

Piety finds justifications for bad actions that a simple decent person would not find. Charles Montesquieu philosopher

No religion can do anything for humanity. — Stanislaw Lem writer

If you look at the ratio of all living beings in the world, it turns out that most of all the Lord loves microbes and insects. — Conrad Lauren biologist

Prayer is a demand to change all the laws of the Universe for the sake of one, clearly unworthy, petitioner. — Ambrose Bierce journalist

Religion is regarded by ordinary people as truth, by smart people as a lie, and by the government as a useful thing. Edward Gibbon historian

You shouldn't believe in something just because it would be terrible if it didn't exist. — Jean Rostand biologist

Religiosity is simply one of the by-products of our behavior as a species. Quite harmful, it should be noted. Ernst Mayr zoologist

It's amazing how all these priests and soothsayers, looking at each other, can refrain from laughing. — Cicero politician

The people positively demand that they be deceived, otherwise it is impossible to deal with them. — Synesius, bishop

Calling believers donkeys is unfair, because donkeys are never so stubborn. — Luis Vélez de Guevara, writer

He who has science does not need religion. — Johann Goethe, poet

I have never tried to find God, thinking that if He is as smart as he is described, he will be able to find me himself. Isaac Asimov physicist

There is nothing more remarkable than the spread of religious unbelief that I see in the world today. Charles Darwin biologist

You ask what I think about the sweet feeling of absolute faith? I think this is absolutely terrible and completely unacceptable. — Kurt Vonnegut writer

The religion of mortals encourages them to commit great atrocities. — Lucretius the poet

With certain certain tendencies towards vegetative life, a hermit may turn into a cucumber instead of an angel. This is an occupational hazard. —André Frossard journalist

The most important task facing religion today is to disappear as quickly and painlessly as possible. — Joseph Dietzgen philosopher

It is strange that all religions devote so much time to miracles, while every schoolchild knows that a miracle, that is, violation of the laws of the Universe, is impossible. — Max Planck physicist

God is good only in that one can always refer to him, unless some other authority comes to mind. Churchill

For you I am an atheist, but for God I am a constructive opposition. — Woody Allen director

The power of the priest depends on the superstition and stupid gullibility of the people. He doesn't need them to be enlightened at all. The less they know, the more submissive they are to his decisions. — Claude-Adrian Helvetius philosopher

If you read the Bible with your eyes open, you will be convinced that it was written by people, and very unpleasant and poorly educated ones. — Robert Ingersoll lawyer

The ancients, observing natural phenomena - thunder, lightning, eclipses of the moon and sun, were horrified and believed that the gods were the cause. They did not understand that there was nothing in the world other than them that would be endowed with a divine nature. — Democritus philosopher

The Lord is gradually turning from an almighty helmsman into the fading smile of the cosmic Cheshire Cat. Julian Huxley writer

Apparently, God deliberately made people so gullible to make it easier for priests to deceive them. George Halifax politician

Perhaps not everything in religion is so bad, but Sunday morning is still worth spending on something truly useful. Bill Gates

MORE SERIOUS PEOPLE ABOUT RELIGION

It is not our place to prescribe to God how he should rule this world. — Niels Bohr

For every human society there comes a time when the sacred symbol, under the suppression of free thought, wears out and is erased, when a person escapes the attention of the clergy, when the tumor of philosophical theories and state systems corrodes the face of religion. - Victor Hugo

How many atheists do not realize that their kindness and sadness are the same prayer addressed to God! - Victor Hugo

How much captivating kindness is in His teaching! What a height in His rules! What depth of wisdom is in His speeches! What presence of the Spirit, what insight and faithfulness in His answers! — Jean Jacques Rousseau

Only little knowledge removes one from God; great knowledge brings one closer to Him again. — Francis Bacon

Atheism is such thin ice that one can walk on it, but the people will fall into the abyss. — Francis Bacon

The beautiful day, the moonlight, all the great spectacles of nature awaken deep religious feelings in all sublime minds. — J. G. Byron

Two things testify to me about God: the stars above me and my conscience within me. — Immanuel Kant

God's goal is human happiness. — Kosagovsky

What to do in paradise if you don’t learn happiness here? — Kosagovsky

“The New Testament is the greatest book now and in the future for the whole world.” — Charles Dickens

The Bible contains more evidence of authenticity than all of secular history. - Isaac Newton

“Let scientific culture develop, let natural science prosper in depth and breadth, let the human mind develop as much as it likes, but they will not surpass the cultural and moral level of Christianity, which shines in the Gospels” - Goethe

“The mind is not our highest ability. His position is no more than that of a police officer: he can only put in order and put in its place everything that we already have. He himself will not move forward until all the other abilities that make him smarter move in us. Distracted readings, reflections and incessant listening to all courses of science will only make him go too far ahead; sometimes it even suppresses him, interfering with his original development. He is incomparably more dependent on mental states: as soon as passion rages, he suddenly acts blindly and stupidly; if the soul is calm and no passion is boiling, he himself becomes clear and acts wisely. Reason is an incomparably higher ability, but it is acquired only by victory over passions. Only those people who did not neglect their inner education had it in themselves. But the mind does not give a person full opportunity to strive forward. There is still a higher ability; its name is wisdom, and Christ alone can give it to us.” — Gogol

Without love for God, no one can be saved, but you do not have love for God. You won’t find it in the monastery; Only those who have already been called there by God Himself go to the monastery. Without the will of God it is impossible to love Him. And how can one love Him Whom no one has seen? With what prayers and efforts can I beg this love from Him? Look how many kind and wonderful people there are now in the world who eagerly strive for this love and hear only callousness and cold emptiness in their souls. It's hard to love someone whom no one has seen. Christ alone brought and told us the secret that in love for our brothers we receive love for God. [ 118 ] One has only to love them as Christ commanded, and in the end love for God Himself will come naturally. Go into the world and first acquire love for your brothers.

But how to love brothers, how to love people? The soul wants to love only the beautiful, but poor people are so imperfect and have so little beauty in them! How to do this? Thank God first of all for the fact that you are Russian. For the Russian this path is now opening, and this path is Russia itself. If only a Russian loves Russia, he will love everything that is in Russia. God Himself is now leading us to this love. Without the illnesses and suffering that had accumulated in such abundance inside her and which were our own fault, none of us would have felt compassion for her. And compassion is already the beginning of love. Already the cries against outrages, lies and bribes are not just the indignation of the noble against the dishonest, but the cry of the whole earth, which heard that foreign enemies had invaded in countless numbers, scattered to their homes and imposed a heavy yoke on every person; Even those who voluntarily accepted these terrible spiritual enemies into their homes want to free themselves from them, and do not know how to do this, and everything merges into one stunning cry, even the insensitive ones are already moving forward. But direct love has not yet been heard in anyone, and you don’t have it either. You don’t yet love Russia: you only know how to be sad and irritated by rumors about everything bad that happens in it, all this produces in you only callous annoyance and despondency. No, this is not love yet, you are far from love, this is perhaps just one too distant harbinger of it. No, if you really love Russia, then by itself that short-sighted thought that has now arisen in many honest and even very intelligent people will disappear in you, that is, that at the present time they can no longer do anything for Russia and that they are already not needed at all; on the contrary, only then will you feel with all your strength that love is omnipotent and that you can do anything with it. No, if you really love Russia, you will be eager to serve her; You won’t go to governor, but to police captain; you’ll take the last place you find in it, preferring one grain of activity on it to your entire current, inactive and idle life. No, you don't love Russia yet. And if you don’t love Russia, you won’t love your brothers, and if you don’t love your brothers, you won’t be kindled with love for God, and if you don’t kindle with love for God, you won’t be saved. — Gogol

"God! What kind of book is this Holy Scripture, what a miracle and what power is given to man with it!...And how many mysteries are resolved and revealed! I love this book! Death to the people without God’s Word, for the soul thirsts for this word and every beautiful perception.” — Dostoevsky

.I think that we will never give the people anything better than Scripture... The Bible is universal, it contains all of human life... This is the only book in the world - it contains everything. — Pushkin

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EVGENY VODOLAZKIN

Evgeny Vodolazkin is a writer, literary critic, Doctor of Philology, employee of the Department of Old Russian Literature of the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushkin House). Specialist in the field of ancient Russian historical narrative, exegesis and hagiography. Honorary Doctor of the University of Bucharest.

“If I am mortal, then why do everything I do? This thought shook me to the core. Why do I need everything if I leave, become grass, trees? The only answer for me was faith. Moreover, what’s interesting is that I began to believe “in something” much earlier than I thought about the vanity of existence. But it was precisely faith “in something,” a kind of personal paganism. In some tense life situations, I asked for help from something... from something that I myself did not understand. And here, by the way, we can remember that man in his development repeats the path of humanity. This is how most European peoples passed from paganism to Christianity, so I made this transition at the age of sixteen.”

“I always say that there are only two points that concern a person in the world: religion and art. Nobody takes people seriously anymore. Deals with its periphery, sphere of life and other things. But they do things differently. Of course, I see hierarchical relationships here. Because religion is the highest. Art is always inferior, I say this completely calmly and without the slightest jealousy, because in its pure form only religion deals with man. But art is concerned with discovering the undiscovered, cognizing the unknown.”

Read the full text of Vladimir Legoyda’s conversation with Evgeniy Vodolazkin on the Foma website or watch the Parsuna issue.

We also highly recommend finding out what meaning Evgeny Vodolazkin put into his first novel “Laurel”.

ALEXANDER DOBROHOTOV

Alexander Dobrokhotov is a historian, Doctor of Philosophy, professor of the Department of Cultural Sciences, School of Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, National Research University Higher School of Economics, head of the Department of Cultural Studies, Missionary Faculty of PSTGU. Visiting professor at the Catholic University of Tilburg (Netherlands), University of Friborg (Switzerland), Geneva (Switzerland).

“Scientific knowledge, unlike theology, explains specific phenomena of the visible world - no more, but no less. Thomas Aquinas later clarifies that science may sometimes overlap with theology in subject matter, but not in method. And today, in the light of accumulated experience, we can agree with them: there can be no conflict zones between science and religion at all. Basically. They talk about different things and in different languages.”

“Even when it was already possible to talk about one’s lack of faith without any danger or career consequences, we see that the majority of scientists did not renounce their faith, although their religious views were often specific. And it seems to me that for a person of science there is generally nothing conflicting in faith and knowledge. A scientist wants to see the whole and the interconnections of different phenomena and facts. And it is quite natural for him to believe, and engage in science, and live in the world of art, etc. After all, as was said above, these are completely non-conflicting phenomena.”

“The scientific world is structured in such a way that it constantly generates crises, which it then overcomes, giving rise to new ones. Otherwise, it freezes and turns into some kind of doctrinaire, ideologeme, and this contradicts the very idea of scientific knowledge. A scientist can never get enough. He will never say “enough is enough.” He is constantly looking for new problems. This is one of the most important and fundamental principles of scientific knowledge. And this, by the way, is one of the reasons why it is not so difficult for a man of science to understand a man of faith.”

Read about predestination, freedom of choice and other philosophical topics in the series “Topical Philosophy with Alexander Dobrokhotov.”

Two poles of theology

The bipolar structure of theology is inherent in the very name of the term. It suggests a double interpretation.

On the one side, this is the “Word of God,” that is, irrational Revelation.
The revelation of God is the various manifestations of God and his will in the human world. The very existence of this world is a Divine revelation. One of the important components of Revelation is sacred texts.
Each religion has its own: the Bible for Christians, the Torah for Jews, the Koran for Muslims, even Hinduism has sacred books that can be classified as revealed by God, for example, the four Vedas.

*Holy books: Torah, Bible, Koran
On the other hand , it is the “word of God,” that is, rational attempts to decipher, explain and systematize Revelation.

This bipolarity forms the main internal problem of theology. Theistic religions are characterized by personal communication with God. The believer strives to see the face of God, and the all-seeing God constantly watches over man and demands that he fulfill his will.

In such a situation, the cost of an error, an incorrect, heretical interpretation of Divine Revelation takes on a catastrophic scenario for a person, since it makes his Salvation impossible.

Logic and cold reason, called upon in theology to explain and interpret Revelation, presuppose a detached view of the subject of knowledge. But this is unthinkable for a believer, since he has too intimate a relationship with this very “subject.”

This gives rise to another point of view that theology is a dialogue between man and God .

God is incomprehensible; he cannot become the subject of logical analysis. We cannot talk about Him, but we can talk to Him.