Contact - Carl Sagan [56]
"The scientists keep their findings to themselves, give us little bits and pieces-enough to keep us quiet. They think we're too stupid to understand what they do. They give us conclusions without evidence, findings as if they were holy writ and not speculations, theories, hypotheses-what ordinary people would call guesses. They never ask if some new theory is as good for people as the belief that it tries to replace. They overestimate what they know and underestimate what we know. When we ask for explanations, they tell us it takes years to understand. I know about that, because in religion also there are things that take years to understand. You can spend a lifetime and never come close to understanding the nature of Almighty God. But you don't see the scientists coming to religious leaders to ask them about their years of study and insight and prayer. They never give us a second thought, except when they mislead us and deceive us.
"And now they say they have a Message from the star Vega. But a star can't send a message. Someone is sending it. Who? Is the purpose of the Message divine or satanic? When they decode the Message, will it end `Yours truly, God'… or `Sincerely, the Devil'? When the scientists get around to telling us what's in the Message, will they tell us the whole truth? Or will they hold something back because they think we can't understand it, or because it doesn't match what they believe? Aren't these the people who taught us how to annihilate ourselves?
"I tell you, my friends, science is too important to be left to the scientists. Representatives of the major faiths ought to be part of the process of decoding. We ought to be looking at the raw data. That's what the scientists call it, `raw.' Otherwise… otherwise, where will we be? They'll tell us something about the Message. Maybe what they really believe. Maybe not. And we'll have to accept it, whatever they tell us. There are some things the scientists know about. There are other things-take my word for it-they know nothing about. Maybe they've received a message from another being in the heavens. Maybe not. Can they be sure the Message isn't a Golden Calf? I don't think they'd know one if they saw one. These are the folks who brought us the hydrogen bomb. Forgive me, Lord, for not being more grateful to these kind souls.
"I have seen God face to face. I worship Him, trust Him, love Him, with my entire soul, with all of my being. I don't think anyone could believe more than I do. I can't see how the scientists could believe in science more than I do in God.
"They're ready to throw away their `truths' when a new idea comes round. They're proud of it. They don't see any end to knowing. They imagine we're locked in ignorance until the end of time, that there's no certainty anywhere in nature. Newton overthrew Aristotle. Einstein overthrew Newton. Tomorrow someone else'll overthrow Einstein. As soon as we get to understand one theory, there's another one in its place. I wouldn't mind so much if they had warned us that the old ideas were tentative. Newton's law of gravitation, they called it. They still call it that. But if it was a law of nature, how could it be wrong? How could it be overthrown? Only God can repeal the laws of nature, not the scientists. They just got it wrong. If Albert Einstein was right, Isaac Newton was an amateur, a bungler.
"Remember, the scientists don't always get it right. They want to take away our faith, our beliefs, and they offer us nothing of spiritual value in return. I do not intend to abandon God