What A Scientist Believes – Some problems and perceptions. – Charles Stirling (Dept. of Chemistry – University of Sheffield)-4th August 2014

Professor Stirling put forward the proposition that scientists make decisions based on good evidence. This gave him a problem when considering religion, creation, and all the literature surrounding it. That was the thrust of todays talk.

Brought up as a Presbyterian in Scotland, but now attending a Church of England Church, Charles professed to believe in a Christian pattern Christianity where there was an engagement with social problems and where love was the glue that bound people together.

He discussed Atheism, Humanism, and Agnosticism and the authority of the Bible and concluded that Faith is Hope not observation.

Still doing research, at 71 years of age in collaboration with the medical profession, he is a Fellow of The Royal Society, which was started in 1655 by the Bishop of Chester and given a Royal Charter in 1660 by Charles II. This centre of scientific excellence coincided with the beginnings of an open questioning of religious dogma.

Professor Stirling was well read and had considered Christianity, both from historical and contemporary writings. He had concluded that as the Earth had formed from dust, stars and matter coming together, that the Bible needed upgrading to reflect good evidence and contemporary thinking.

Where the matter had come from that coalesced to form the Earth, he deemed it to be irrelevant.

We wait with bated breath, for the new edition of the Bible by Professor Charles Stirling FRS.