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The
End of the World - I Think Not! |
It was with great sadness that I
read in the times newspaper than an Indian girl of 16 took
her life because she was frightened by the outcome of events
in Switzerland with the CERN project. She was not alone -
thousands of people around the world ate their last meal,
started to pray or were fasting when the experiment began.
For me it was the realisation
that a great journey was beginning, like the exploration of
the universe by astronauts or deep sea divers diving to the
depths of the earth. Western Protestant churches have been
at the forefront of inventions and new discoveries, unlike
so many in the churches in the East. How good it is to be
Rector of Fakenham, at a church with the Trinity College as
it patrons, knowing that Isaac Newton lead the way for
Trinity College to gain the largest number of Nobel prizes
for science of any college in Cambridge, and has actually
won as many prizes as all the other Colleges put together!
Without criticising the Vatican
too much, it has spent generations trying to stop new
thought and has had thousands of books banned because their
content might challenge Christian thought. All are housed in
the section of the Vatican library not open to scholars.
I would say let’s go on this
journey to find out the origins of the universe and along
the way we may find cures for illnesses, new ways of using
energy, and providing food, so that we can provide for the
billion people estimated to be living on earth by the end of
the century.
To shut the door on scientific
experiment, and to close our minds to new ideas will see the
end of Christianity and civilisation, and we will develop
into a small nutty group of Christians who takes everything
in the Bible literally true.
I have two sons and I have
brought them up to question everything and anything, and
isn’t miraculous that they still believe and still attend
church. However, they still disagree with my sermons at
times, and think Dad dreadfully old-fashioned, and hopefully
will always do so.
As a clergy we are put on this
earth to help people open books, open minds and open hearts.
The CERN project is exciting, of course a little scary, but
the enquiring mind will always enquire and scientific
achievement is all about asking the questions and seeking
the answers. Whether this project finds out how the world
was created or when I do not know, but like Professor
Hawkins I still believe is God the creator of universe. May
be if we take our heads out of the sand the Church might
just learn something about the origins of our world and the
hand of its creator through this project..
Adrian Bell
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