Many people think that science and religion are incompatible. They think that since you cannot formulate an empirical experiment to prove that God does (or doesn’t) exist, a “scientist” should not believe in God. Werner Von Braun, the father of the NASA space program, strongly disagrees.
Von Braun became the first director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and was awarded the prestigious National Medal of Science in 1975. In an article about Von Braun by R. Williams, published on the official NASA website, the author states: “Wernher von Braun is, without doubt, the greatest rocket scientist in history. His crowning achievement, as head of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, was to lead the development of the Saturn V booster rocket that helped land the first men on the Moon in July 1969.” Von Braun is a scientist, in fact; he is one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. He also believed in God.Von Braun directly addressed the notion that a scientist shouldn’t believe in God in a speech titled; “The Religious Implications of Space Exploration”, which he delivered at Tufts University on February 12, 1972 stating: “Science and religion are not antagonists. On the contrary, they are sisters. While science tries to learn more about the creation, religion tries to better understand the Creator.” In the speech Von Braun also points out that faith is just as essential in science as it is in religion, saying “There would not be a single great accomplishment in the history of mankind without faith.” He further pointed out that his own faith in God allowed him to accomplish more from a scientific standpoint than he otherwise could have without a strong belief in God.
Van Braun, along with many other scientists who believe in God, demonstrates time and again that creationists are not unscientific. Not only do such God believing scientists prove that science and God are completely compatible, they also prove that science would not have progressed to its present level without the invaluable work of creation scientists.
