On faith, science and the human mind...

I received this in a mail from a friend today. Very interesting, so please do read through it.

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?
Student: (Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?
Student: (Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?
Student: (Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No , sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn't. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn
of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
Prof: (The Professor shakes his head with a smile,beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching
your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
Prof: (The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
Prof: (The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?.....No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

Prof: (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it sir.. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

I enjoyed this tale, but I only pity the professor for not cultivating a sound rebuttal to a slightly flawed set of examples that the student provided, although what the student had to say had truth intact. But that is besides the point.
This mail reminded me of a conversation I had had with a friend into the night. We spoke long enough to exhaust the charge in her mobile! We were discussing purpose, destiny and the like, God not spared! Its not the content of the discussion and this mail that are similar but the whole nature of the human mind and the various things we have constructed for ourselves.
Man created a stream of scientific thought and pitted it against a creation of belief which stems from the same source of human creations - the brain. Countless men and women walk this earth and can swear by miracles that they have seen happen in front of their eyes, but are ridiculed because these miracles cannot be reproduced in vitro. We create a stream of thought and expect everything to be encompassed in it. The religious man wants the illness to be healed by a miracle, and the scientist wants to explain why every healthy member of the family died in the earthquake, save the 8 month old babe. Many philosophies were created and some got transformed into religions and soon we expect everyone to agree with "my religion". We create boundaries on undivided land and train our armies against each other. The natural phenomena would have existed without science and miracles would happen without religion and god. We push these to the extreme and create a little good and a lot of unacceptable results.
After the conversation with my friend, I tossed on my bed trying to figure out what was wrong. What she held as her belief didn't appeal to me and couldn't stand the onslaught of my barrage of questions, prepared of years of clever conversations and sophistry. I felt stupid at the end of it all. Simply stupid. To think that her belief, and her beat must stand true to the touchstone of my understanding was the most stupid thing I could ever indulge in. I spent another hour retracing the discussion and trying to figure out where I had broken away and took that stance. It helped, although it was very exhausting.
I don't think the entire world will ever agree about nearly anything and it takes a lot of discipline and tolerance to realise that and quit imposing our views and our beliefs on others. The popular sport of ridiculing another person's ideas or beliefs is best left as a sport to tease someone very close to you, who is aware of the prank you are playing on her/him. Science might insist that this is the best means of establishing the truth and thereby forcing empirical means of proving something on demand. I think the world does not go round because science is able to establish something or not. Science is still not able to predict natural calamities, and the world has been around for billions of years. We really think we and our beliefs are so important? To discuss is healthy when both parties are open to discussion, but establishing our point of view is not always essential. I was striving to do so over the conversation, although I was telling myself that all I was trying to do is help my sweet little friend understand what she was saying and see things from a different POV. It seems to have gotten her thinking!! :-D But...
The world really doesn't need me to establish anything nor is it looking towards me to provide any definitions and/or tenets.