The Wisdom of Dr. Henry Eyring

I've been reading the book Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring, written by his grandson, Henry J. Eyring. I feel a kind of connection to Dr. Eyring, given the amount of time I spent in the building named after him at the University of Utah (and the fact that I took Thermodynamics from his son, Dr. Ted Eyring). I like the fact that he saw no inherent contradiction in being a scientist and a man of faith. He was very good at both.

Here are couple of quotes from Dr. Eyring on the subject of science and faith:

"So I do not worry in the least about problems like which one of my ancestors was a monkey, if any of them. However the Lord did these things suits me fine. There is nothing I can do about it anyway. It is all over, and I am just exactly like I am however He did it. And so for the life of me I am never able to worry along with the people who think science is a threat to their religion. It just is not. It could not be, and if it is, you had better fix your religion, or your science, or both." (p. 170)

In response to a man who wrote him calling for a conference of LDS scientists for the purpose of 'dismantling Evolution once and for all', he wrote this:

"As a devout Latter-day Saint, the important fact for me is that the Lord is directing the affairs in His Universe, not exactly how he does it. Whether or not some organic evolution was used or is operating seems to me to be beside the point. He is infinitely wise. I just work here. If He told me in detail how he works I'm sure I wouldn't understand much of it. The effort spent on the crusade you envision would be better spent trying to understand a little better how God works. Sorry if we see things a little differently." (p. 173)

This approach seems perfectly sensible to me.