Question

According to Charles Townes, do you find paradoxes in religion and science? Give an example for each subject.

Answer 1

Charles Townes explained about paradoxes in religion and science. He made it clear in his paper,The Convergence of Science and Religion. According to him-

" The question whether light consists of small particles shot out by light sources or by wave disturbances originated by them had been debated for some time by the great figures of science. The question was finally settled in the early 19th century by brilliant experiments that could be thoroughly interpreted by theory. The experiments told scientists of the time that light was unequivocally a wave and not particles. But about 1900, other experiments turned up that showed just as unequivocally that light is a stream of particles rather than waves. Thus physicists were presented with a deeply disturbing paradox. Its solution took several decades and was only accomplished in the mid-1920's by the development of a new set of ideas known as quantum mechanics.

In the realm of religion, we are troubled by the suffering around us and its apparent inconsistency with a God of love. Such paradoxes confronting science do not usually destroy our faith in science. They simply remind us of a limited understanding, and at times they provide a key to learning more."