A Brief Encounter with a Christian Under the Stars

[Jakes Progress]

16. I do my outreach with an 11 inch SCT.

With groups of boy scouts from rural areas often in attendance I frequently get a question or two in that vein, usually when I have stated that the light from Andromeda Galaxy left there two and a half million years ago and just arrived here. The question usually takes the form of how that can be when the universe is not that old.

I usually refer to the 16th century monk, Giordano Bruno mentioned in the recent version of Cosmos. For those that prefer faith, it is a way to open up from fundamentalism and absolutism. Bruno posited that neither the earth nor the sun were the center of the universe - the views of the "enlightened" scholars of the time. His argument was that "god is limitless and unbounded, so why shouldn’t the universe be? 'Your god is too small!' he cries to those who brand him a heretic."

I don't feel the need to proselytize either faith or atheism. But when I argue that it wouldn't be consistent with faith to put limits on something that you say is without limits. In these situations, my role is that of helping people come to know and understand the physical universe, not debate theology.