tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post8570430518954229344..comments2023-06-15T09:13:45.467-04:00Comments on Liberty's Torch: A Maxim, The Law, And The State Of ReligionFrancis W. Porrettohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-14075336832673350362014-03-05T19:13:20.944-05:002014-03-05T19:13:20.944-05:00"Islam is explicit on the subject: in the Isl..."Islam is explicit on the subject: in the Islamic view, Allah can and does tinker with reality continuously, entirely according to its whim, such that no item of human knowledge or belief can be regarded as accurate at all places and times."<br /><br />I spent 2 semesters as a visiting professor in the School of Engineering at Marmara Univ., Istanbul. It still puzzles me how my Turkish students, all Muslims, could accept not only the statement above, but also what I was teaching them about engineering statistics. I still wonder about the extent to which a Muslim learning science or engineering is undermining his own faith in Islam. Central to all science and engineering is the idea that there are laws of nature. As a Catholic, I believe that while God sustains the universe, He sustains it in its integrity. He doesn't keep changing it around, as Allah is supposed to do. There are secondary causes in nature; we can learn what they are; we can use them for our purposes. But at rock bottom, there are laws because the universe was created by a rational God. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com