"I want to be an astrophysicist to prove God is real using science."

[Karpatsky]

Kind of defeats the purpose of science when you set out from the beginning with such dogmatic priors. Hopefully as he matures he will gain more perspective on this issue.

[Karpatsky]

He might never prove that god exists, but he did prove that geniuses don't have to be very wise.

Mmmmk.

Is "I want to be an astrophysicist to prove God is real using science" wise? I mean, I don't really blame him- he might be a genius but he's still just a child who was indoctorinated into a religion by his parents.

(just realized days later that my previous comment was incomplete )

Fair enough, but while I agree that 'proof' really isn't the right term for what we're working with here, it is true that various theistic arguments are based on research into cosmology and quantum mechanics (regarding origin of universe and free will/determinism), so it doesn't seem that far-fetched for someone to go into physics in part to look for evidence for their faith.

Going into a scientific investigation with the intent of proving something you already believe, rather than finding the truth, is how you get terrible science.

[Karpatsky]

My post appeared to garner significant reaction in my absence.

Maybe the Syrian War example wasn't the best example, given potential unintended consequences of suddenly stopping a war, but if an omnipotent god existed I'm sure he could figure it out. Add to that most the people getting killed are cannon fodder and collateral damage, not the ones who caused the conflict, it wouldn't be someone else swooping in to solve "their" problem.

But right now this same forum is full of people denouncing leaders in the Catholic Church for their lack of action in regards to the sexual abuse within the church. If the god they believe in existed, he'd be just as guilty. The "you shouldn't expect other people to swoop in and fix your problems" defense isn't really valid when you're talking about helpless children.

How is God guilty for what human beings do on their own free will?

An omnipotent god is responsible for literally everything that happens. Presumably, even if it chooses not to intervene in the dominoes it set up after knocking the first one down, it still arranged it such that some people would want to engage in child abuse.