From: "Rich Gauszka" 

"There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."  

Of course there is the book claiming that a math equation can prove God exists

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0761526846/102-5836298-1631369?v=
glance

The Probability of God : A Simple Calculation That Proves the Ultimate Truth

At its core, this groundbreaking book reveals how a math equation developed
more than 200 years ago by noted European philosopher Thomas Bayes can be
used to calculate the probability that God exists. The equation itself is
much more complicated than a simple coin toss (heads, He's up there running
the show; tails, He's not). Yet Dr. Unwin writes with a clarity that makes
his mathematical proof easy for even the nonmathematician to understand and
a verve that makes his book a delight to read. Leading you carefully
through each step in his argument, he demonstrates in the end that God does
indeed exist.




"Ellen K."  wrote in message
news:u1lsm11pa0jstsc6rrd1s62c5istgucqu7{at}4ax.com...
> Re intelligent design, I saw the following quote from George Gallup
> recently:
>
> "I could prove G-d statistically.  Take the human body alone -- the
> chances that all the functions of an individual would just happen is a
> statistical monstrosity."
>
> On Sat, 5 Nov 2005 08:49:57 -0500, "Rich Gauszka"

> wrote in message :
>
>>Uh Oh.  Some in the religious right might not like this
>>
>>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051104/ap_on_sc/vatican_science
>>
>>
>> VATICAN CITY - A     Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should
>>listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion
>>risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores
scientific reason.
>>
>>Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the Pontifical Council for Culture, made
>>the comments at a news conference on a Vatican project to help end the
>>"mutual prejudice" between religion and science that has
long bedeviled
>>the
>>Roman Catholic Church and is part of the evolution debate in the United
>>States.
>>
>>The Vatican project was inspired by     Pope John Paul II's 1992
>>declaration
>>that the church's 17th-century denunciation of Galileo was an error
>>resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension." Galileo
was condemned for
>>supporting Nicolaus Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around
>>the
>>sun; church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the
>>universe.
>>
>>"The permanent lesson that the Galileo case represents pushes us to keep
>>alive the dialogue between the various disciplines, and in particular
>>between theology and the natural sciences, if we want to prevent similar
>>episodes from repeating themselves in the future," Poupard said.
>>
>>But he said science, too, should listen to religion.
>>
>>"We know where scientific reason can end up by itself: the
atomic bomb and
>>the possibility of cloning human beings are fruit of a reason that wants
>>to
>>free itself from every ethical or religious link," he said.
>>
>>"But we also know the dangers of a religion that severs its links with
>>reason and becomes prey to fundamentalism," he said.
>>
>>"The faithful have the obligation to listen to that which secular modern
>>science has to offer, just as we ask that knowledge of the faith be taken
>>in
>>consideration as an expert voice in humanity."
>>
>>Poupard and others at the news conference were asked about the
>>religion-science debate raging in the United States over evolution and
>>"intelligent design."
>>
>>Intelligent design's supporters argue that natural selection, an element
>>of
>>evolutionary theory, cannot fully explain the origin of life or the
>>emergence of highly complex life forms.
>>
>>Monsignor Gianfranco Basti, director of the Vatican project STOQ, or
>>Science, Theology and Ontological Quest, reaffirmed John Paul's 1996
>>statement that evolution was "more than just a hypothesis."
>>
>>"A hypothesis asks whether something is true or false," he said.
>>"(Evolution) is more than a hypothesis because there is proof."
>>
>>He was asked about comments made in July by Austrian Cardinal Christoph
>>Schoenborn, who dismissed in a New York Times article the 1996 statement
>>by
>>John Paul as "rather vague and unimportant" and seemed to
back intelligent
>>design.
>>
>>Basti concurred that John Paul's 1996 letter "is not a very clear
>>expression
>>from a definition point of view," but he said evolution was
assuming ever
>>more authority as scientific proof develops.
>>
>>Poupard, for his part, stressed that what was important was that "the
>>universe wasn't made by itself, but has a creator." But he
added, "It's
>>important for the faithful to know how science views things to understand
>>better."
>>
>>The Vatican project STOQ has organized academic courses and conferences on
>>the relationship between science and religion and is hosting its first
>>international conference on "the infinity in science, philosophy and
>>theology," next week.
>>
>>
>

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