In his Oct. 23 letter, Vernon H. Naffier misrepresented what was said at the Oct. 18 forum.

According to Mr. Naffier, “it was contended that no authentic scientist can be a believer in God.”

But I explicitly stated that very opposite, namely that the vast majority of scientist past and present – including some of the best ever – were not atheists, but devout Christians. As specific examples I cited Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell and Michael Faraday, but could have extended the list almost indefinitely.

This is important because it attests to the remarkable power that atheism and atheistic ideas possess, particularly in science. Despite the fact that believers have always outnumbered nonbelievers in science, all the God-based paradigms that once dominated Western science have one by one been overthrown and supplanted by vastly superior atheistic ones. Every acceptable description, explanation and interpretation in science today is completely Godless, i.e. completely atheistic.

I won’t repeat all the background on how and why this came about, but it was not because believers were out of the loop. Devout Christians were on hand every step of the way, often enjoying a commanding presence, as science proceeded to cleanse itself of all its former God-based paradigms and then went on to adopt the highly superior atheistic ones we have today.

Atheism and modern science may not explain everything, of course, but theology and religion explain nothing.

John Patterson

Retired professor

Materials science and engineering