All Hail Science: how one girl’s quest for spiritual meaning was resolved by the undeniable truth

Claire GoldbergStaff Writer The story of Jesus Christ is one of inspiration and acceptance. The belief of Buddhism gives hope and unification. But all religions lack one central necessity--a solid truth. Who knows how many times the Bible has been written and rewritten? Who can tell truth from fiction when talking about events that could or couldn’t have happened thousands of years ago? These questions have always driven me crazy and having a Jewish father and a Christian mother has always confused me in the question of “what do I believe?” Luckily I found something where everything added up. Literally. I found Science and I’ve stuck with it ever since.One thing in my life that I am certain I will never like or approve of is war. I find it disgusting that people have to kill each other for reasons as a disagreement that originated back in the B.C.E. From the Crusades to the Thirty Years’ War, examples of religious wars are predominant throughout history. This is not true for scientific beliefs, though. Never in history, at least to my understanding, has there been a bloody battle over science. There have been scientists, like Galileo, who were condemned by the Catholic Church due to supposed acts of heresy, but never has there been a war over whose theory of evolution is stronger. Let’s just put it out there, science isn’t a giant massacre over how the sun is supposed to work, it’s a constant stream of ideas and facts that keep getting more exact as time goes on and technology advances.The best thing about science is that there is proof. I don’t have to ponder over who and who didn’t exist and who wrote what and when. I know that Isaac Newton came up with the three basic laws of motion, I know that Albert Einstein discovered the theory of relativity and I know that Nicolaus Copernicus is the one who discovered that the sun is the center of our solar system. I can’t look into the sky with a telescope and see God in a white robe on his throne in heaven smiling down on me and say “Phew! Good thing I can check these things!” On the other hand, I can look into the sky, see the stars and know that I believe in science.Now comes the fun part: Quantum Physics. In seventh grade I was told of the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment and was interested beyond belief. I was also incredibly confused and had to read about a dozen articles to finally understand what it meant. To put it in words I understand, the paradox deals with considering a cat that’s put in a permanently sealed box alive and dead...at the same time. That led me to click on several different Wikipedia links until I finally got to Quantum Physics, which deals with the interactions between energy and matter. I started (to try) reading books on theories of the universe and then decided I knew what I believed in.The paradoxes and theories are the parts of this belief that act as my inspiration. Where some people look to Jesus’s crusification in times of need, I look to the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Instead of going to Mass, I go to lectures. For me, its more of knowing there are possibilities in outer space and trusting leading astronomers and physicists than reading the Bible and trusting my priest. I have never needed the reassurance that God is watching over me or the belief that someone is guiding me through life. I will just believe what science proves to be true.One of my favorite things about science is that there is so much to learn. We have only uncovered four percent of our universe, which is believed to be absolute. My favorite question to ask is “What else is out there?” Hopefully, someday, someone will answer me.cgoldberg@thesamohi.com