Really Smart Christians: A Frosh Faithlifter
This is basically a tweaked, sugarcoated version of our previous article Famous Living Scientists Who Are Christians. That article lists many more scientists and provides links to source documentation.
Are Christians Stupid?
Chris Carter (the creator of the X-Files) once met with Penn & Teller (the funny magicians). Carter knew that Penn & Teller are very outspoken atheists, so he asked them if any scientists believed in God.
They answered, “None of the important ones.”
That comment reflects a widespread assumption that smart people don’t believe in God, and they most certainly don’t worship Jesus as God.
In fact, maybe you’re worried that they’re right—that once you come to Stanford you’ll learn some deep, dark secret that will tear your faith to shreds. Maybe you’re even worried that you’ll be one of the only Christians here.
There Are Lots of Smart Christians
First, let me reassure you that you won’t be the only Christian at Stanford this year. Somewhere around 10% of the student body is involved in a Christian campus ministry on a weekly basis.
So relax—you’re not alone. Many of your peers believe.
Moreover, some of the greatest scholars in the world are devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Whether you’re majoring in the hard sciences, the social sciences, humanities, or the arts there are believers at the intellectual forefront of your field.
Consequently, I’d like to directly address the claim made by Penn & Teller that none of the “important” scientists believe in God.
Lots Of Important Scientists Believe In God
The easiest way to rebut such a claim is to produce a verifiable list of important scientists willing to publicly affirm their belief in God, so we’ve done just that!
Here are some highlights:
Dr. Charles Towns is a Nobel laureate, invented the laser, and almost won a second Nobel for some cosmological work.
Dr. Henry Schaefer is a Nobel nominee and the third-most quoted chemist in the world.
Dr. Allan Sandage is considered to the world’s greatest observational cosmologist. The list of his awards would require a ridiculous amount of space.
Dr. Francis Collins is the director of the Human Genome Project, the attempt to identify every gene in human DNA.
These sound like pretty important scientists to me—what do you think?
It makes sense that these outstanding scientists are believers. Increasing our knowledge about the world should increase our understanding of God. As Paul says in Romans 1:20, “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”
May your time at Stanford lead you to a deeper knowledge of God as you gain a deeper knowledge of this world He has made!