Faith Quotes
This quotation is familiar, but there is a question concerning its veracity and source. It does not appear in Heisenberg's written works, but it is cited by Ulrick Hildebrand in 'Das Univerzum - Hinweis auf Gott?' in 'Ethos. Die Zeitschrift fur die Ganze Familie', Berneck, Schweiz: Schwengeler Verlag AG, No 10, Oktober 1988, 10
One Islamic belief that has stood since the inception of the religion is that if a true believer who is defending the faith in a jihad is killed, he will immediate be transported to Paradise where he will receive the best of the other world. If a Muslim dies under normal circumstances, he is judged and may or may not attain Paradise depending on his past life. However, if he dies in jihad, all past sins are immediately erased and he is guaranteed Paradise. This quotation is exactly what is told to Muslim fighters and suicide bombers today (see {635766}, {588728} and {590762}) and it is just as effective as ever in persuading men to fight and sacrifice themselves. The Roman Catholic Pope issued a similar edict in the Crusades and fights of both religions were willing and almost anxious to die in battle. In modern times Christian leaders do not make such appeals and if they did, few would believe them.
This was Jefferson’s definition of Christianity. However, for orthodox Christians, this was insufficient as Jefferson did not believe in the Trinity or in the divinity of Jesus. Nor did he believe in the Biblical narrative of most historical events. He was a Christian in the sense that he thought the ethics and philosophy of Jesus was as good as he had seen. See {629222}. In this sense, a number of the Founding Fathers were “Deists” including Jefferson’s conservative rival, John Adams.
One of the reasons that this quotation is so significant is that the Roman Catholic Church had been historically antithetical to science and scientists. It took hundreds of years before the church would admit that Galileo was right and the church wrong about the earth revolving around the sun. But Pope John Paul II, along with his other major accomplishments removed the traditional Catholic hostility in theology and tradition. He even acknowledged the validity of the Theory of Evolution and taught that there was nothing inherent in evolution that denied God or scripture.
The Barbary Pirates of Algiers, led and controlled by the Bey or Dey (king) had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. The only thing that the Algerians seemed to be interested in was money and religion.
