Can an Engineer Believe in God?

Recently, in Bahen, I have noticed (and instantly thereafter became enraged at) some signs posing the question "Can an Engineer Believe in God?"

Bahen is utterly plastered with pro-religion posters (for reasons unknown to me, no other building appears to have contracted this infection) but on the whole, the posters themselves are relatively harmless- and rarely thought provoking. But can an engineer believe in God? I thought that it would be relevant to the topics discussed in this blog to give my answer to the question. In this post, I hope to convince you that the religious engineer is no engineer at all.

Engineers are practical people. They look at facts and the rules, and they question them. Engineers don't just "hope" that structures will stand- they test, they inquire, they fully understand the inner workings of the problems before putting their trust in their solutions. These are the fundamental principles of engineering. In many cases, the difference between a working and failed design is the difference between life and death, so an engineer can't trust anything but verifiable, reproducible, scientific evidence.

The principles of religion are exactly perpendicular to those of an engineer. If the fundamental tenant of engineering is questioning and understanding, the fundamental tenant of religion is faith. Faith is belief in the absence of evidence. Faith is the statement that "no matter what, I'll believe it."

Religion cannot be in the mind of an engineer, first and foremost, because it is an open statement of closed-mindedness. "You can't challenge my beliefs," says the religious engineer. "I will always believe, no matter what." This philosophy of arrogance and immunity to logical discussion is exactly what puts lives in danger when important work is at hand, and is exactly the opposite of an engineering mindset.

It is irrelevant whether this philosophy of arrogance and immunity to logic is confined to the spiritual aspects of an engineer's life- the presence of the dichotomy is a dangerous thing to play with. Which philosophy is the "right" one if they contradict? It is silly and illogical to think that different aspects of life require different, fundamentally contradictory mindsets. Imagine the day that religious thinking manages to pervade into engineering, buildings will be held up by nothing more than "the hand of god-" rather than the careful and rigorously logical calculations of a real engineer.

Now, some religious people actually think that they have carefully weighed the evidence for their religion and their faith is based on that evidence. But as any engineer knows, anecdotal, wishy-washy, "feelings-based" evidence is never strong enough to support ANY claim. Would you build a bridge based upon a single measurement made on a single piece of wood? Of course not! A true engineer requires repeatable, indisputable, time-tested and independently verified evidence before he puts his trust in something.

The fact is- not a single part of our vast, indisputable, time tested, and independently verified knowledge of the universe requires a creator or a god (unless you're an evolution denier[1], aka someone who hasn't read much). Any scientific tests on religion, for example, on the efficacy of prayer, have come up empty-handed. To trust in a god is to turn your back on the whole methodology of engineering.

I don't know about you, but I sure as hell hope that the people I trust to make the world run on time checked their superstitions at the door a long time ago.

[1] There are more historians that deny the holocaust[2] than scientists that deny evolution.
[2] Nested footnotes!