Is religiosity related to being a good scientist?
With so many scientists being religious, everyone agrees that religiosity is not an obstacle for scientists. But I go one step further, by saying that religiosity is actually a kind of prerequisite for science.
Let me explain my self…
As already mentioned in “Religion and Science Unification – Towards religional science” article, science has God as its starting point.
The notion of us, humans, being made in the image of God gave scientists like Newton the power and will to try to understand the universe: “if we are made in His image, then we have the ability to understand His creation”, people said from the time of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
What is more, religion had for a long time been the cradle of science. And remember that science was not even separate from religion for thousands of years – not until the fake-hero story of Galileo (read Feyerabend for the true nature of this case). It is not accidental after all that all civilization was developed by societies holding some kind of religion – from ancient Greeks to the Christian Europe. (one could mention Chinese civilization as an exception, but one cannot discard the deep spirituality of Confucianism) The first universities were monasteries and the lust of people to understand the mind of God is what drove scientific progress for centuries. Dawkins himself teaches and speaks against religion in a College of… St Mary.
Surely the advancement of science can be based on mere curiosity.
But apes and all other animals have curiosity as well.
But they did not develop science.
Trying to reach apotheosis by understanding God is surely a greater motive…
