Mormon Scientist

I just finished reading Mormon Scientist by Henry J. Eyring. It was a well-written, interesting read. My primary goal in reading this book was to gain some tools or insights into my science vs. religion debate and eventually come to a better understanding of how I can reconcile my personal doctrinal conflicts. Unfortunately, it only strengthened my opinions and led me further away from what could be considered a traditional LDS belief.

Although I now know much more about Henry Eyring, and take the book at face value regarding his accomplishments, the explanations of his faith are so far removed from traditional main-stream LDS beliefs as to make the "Mormon" designation in the title somewhat academic. The primary LDS beliefs Henry Eyring seems to agree with are:

• God and Jesus exist


• Jesus is our personal savior


• Joseph Smith restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our days

Most other critical doctrines of the LDS church seem to be ignored by Henry Eyring, including:

• Evolution. He even states that scientific evidence makes it obvious that there were people on earth before Adam and that life has been on the earth for at least 600 million years


• Literal interpretation of the scriptures. He quotes Brigham Young saying that the Creation story was merely a story passed down for generations that Moses used to explain things he could not understand


• The age of earth. There are numerous accounts of Henry Eyring in debates with LDS members (and even Elder Jospeh Fielding Smith) in relation to the age of the earth and clearly states that the earth is 4-5 billion years old

There are many more differences between Henry Eyring's beliefs and LDS beliefs. He appears to gloss over these as a "God will sort it all out later" approach. Although I have no problem with the science (evolution, age of the earth, etc.) I wonder how someone can merely say "my church teaches in direct creation by God thousands of years ago. I don't believe that. My church teaches in a literal interpretation of the scriptures. I don't believe that. My church does not believe in evolution. I do." and still call himself a full believer of that church.

Obviously Henry Eyring was more intelligent and hard-working than I could ever hope to be, so I don't mean anything disparaging about the person himself. In fact, I know life is more complex and interesting than most people are willing to accept. I guess I'm just a little disappointed because I was hoping to find out how a scientist can also have a strong faith in God and religion only to find out that the only way to do that is to ignore the obvious and hope that sometime down the road (billions of years from now according to Henry Eyring) God will reveal himself.

Grrrr.