...on being a fundamentalist

So I'm reading a very interesting article about the recent discovery of the Higgs particle and how it may indicate that our universe is unstable and (according to Hawking) we might be gone in an instant.  And then comes this quote from the author:

"A leading physicist dubbed it the "God particle" -- a name I wish would disappear, as the particle and the laws of physics tell us nothing whatsoever about God, and God, if she exists, has not opined about the Higgs particle."   -Meg Urry, Director, Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics

The quote caught my eye because I find it deeply representative of modern-day scientific orthodoxy when it comes to God.  Namely, that a created (by God) universe and a scientific universe are mutually exclusive, even diametrically opposed.  The universe is a zero sum game, in which each new scientific discovery erodes the possibility of God's creative role, or even existence.

I find this reasoning so problematic as to be nonsensical.  News programs seeking ratings can (and do) find a Bible-thumping religious  fundamentalist to take one side of this argument, but it never ceases to amaze me that distinguished scientists with high IQs and PHDs will voluntarily wade in and take the other side.

So physics tells us nothing about God?  The writing between the lines here is that God and physics have nothing to do with one another.  But why not?  Surely we can agree that science has not disproven the existence of God.  So, if God were to exist, and if God were to "create" the universe, why couldn't--indeed, why wouldn't--physics be a law of that universe?  Surely it would!

Or must we suppose that God is nothing more than a magician?  But less than that really, for the straw man God that scientists too often set forth is one who has no laws beyond His own will and whimsy.

What if God and science are not only not mutually exclusive, but essentially connected?  What if God is the greatest scientist of them all, and the laws of science are His laws?

Is it a lack of imagination that keeps both sides from envisioning a universe where God and science coexist?  Or is it an entrenched adherence to dogma, be it religious or socio-scientific?  I suspect the latter.

I strongly believe that there is a union between God and science.  If both God and the laws of science exist, it's a certainty!  That said, there's so much that I don't know, and I'm comfortable admitting as much. Thus, as a religionist, scientific discovery holds no fear for me.  It fascinates me.  And while I try not to draw premature, too-easy conclusions, I do believe it tells me a lot about God.

But the purveyors and mutually exclusive adherents of science too often think and behave like the wild eyed religious zealots that they disdain.  Exclusive, over confident and condescending, they place themselves at the same level as the fanatics they deride.  They are, in a very real sense, fundamentalists.

Here's what I think: It's OK not to know all the answers now.  Stay calm and keep learning.