The Universe - Empirical Science / Empirical Faith

Mere Christianity 
C.S. Lewis (1952)

"The position of the question, then, is like this. We want to know whether the universe simply happens to be what it is for no reason or whether there is a power behind it that makes it what it is. Since that power, if it exists, would be not one of the observed facts but a reality which makes them, no mere observation of the facts can find it. There is only one case in which we can know whether there is anything more, namely our own case. And in that one case we find there is. Or put it the other way round. If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe--no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. And that is just what we do find inside ourselves. Surely this ought to arouse our suspicions?

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My Take: Science and spirituality should be friends

Editor's Note: Deepak Chopra is founder of the Chopra Foundation and a senior scientist at the Gallup Organization. He has authored over 60 books, including The Soul of Leadership, which The Wall Street Journal called one of five best business books about careers.

 
By Deepak Chopra, Special to CNN

For most people, science deserves its reputation for being opposed to religion.

I'm not thinking of the rather noisy campaign by a handful of die-hard atheists to demote and ridicule faith.

I'm thinking instead of Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution has proved victorious over the Book of Genesis and its story of God creating the universe in seven days. Since then, God has been found wanting when measured against facts and data. With no data to support the existence of God, there is also no reason for religion and science to close the gap between them.

Yet the gap has indeed been closing.

Hey, St. Nicholas, DBAD!

Port Authority Is Sued Over Church Destroyed on 9/11

The New York Times
by The Associated Press

The Greek Orthodox church filed suit on Monday against the public agency that owned the World Trade Center over stalled plans to rebuild a church that was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001.

The church said the agency, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, reneged on a 2008 deal to rebuild St. Nicholas Church at a new location down the block from its old site. It also said the Port Authority sent construction equipment onto its property without permission in connection with the new business and transportation complex at the World Trade Center site.

It filed the suit in federal court in Manhattan.

The Port Authority said it called off negotiations in 2009 because the church was asking for too much money.

[Also - The London Daily News]