WERNHER VON BRAUN : Theistic Scientist

[Gauracandra]

I was watching a 'Memories' videotape with Caru Prabhu (temple president of Utah). He told a story where Werner Von Braun, the father of the U.S. space program openly declared his belief in God. Srila Prabhupada was very pleased to hear this. So I decided to look up some things on him. First here is a quick write-up of the man. Following that are some quotes by Von Braun (best known to me for his Von Braun wheel design for a space station).

 

WERNHER VON BRAUN (1912-1977)

 

One of the world’s top space scientists was a man by the name of Wernher von Braun. He attended the University of Berlin, and after his graduation began developing rockets for his native country of Germany. However, in 1945 he came to the United States, and ten years later in 1955, he became a U.S. citizen.

 

Dr. von Braun was the leading force behind America’s own space program. He and his team helped invent and produce the four-stage Jupiter rocket that launched Explorer I, the first United States satellite. In another of his projects, the Saturn V rocket was constructed, eventually putting the first astronauts on the Moon. He directed America’s program of missile development for many years, and eventually became the Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). His office was in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

During his lifetime, Dr. von Braun received many important honors and awards. But he always gave God credit for his achievements. He believed that the evidence for God’s existence could be found all around us in nature. He also believed in the concept of creation as taught in Genesis 1; he did not believe in evolution. He once said that science and religion work so well together that they should be considered as "sisters." The more he studied the heavens, the more evidence he saw of the Creator.

 

Dr. von Braun was never ashamed of his faith in God. When he died in 1977, co-workers found in his files many letters he had written to other scientists (like the famous medical doctor, Albert Schweitzer), in which he tried to show them why they, too, should believe in God. He tried to share his faith in God with everyone around him. Today he is remembered as a "giant" in the scientific community, but he also is remembered as a "giant" for his belief in God. We should want to imitate him in this way.

[Gauracandra]

Here are some quotes from Von Braun:

 

“For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all. In the world around us, we can behold the obvious manifestations of an ordered structured plan or design. We can see the will of the species to live and propagate. And we are humbled by the powerful forces at work on a galactic scale, and the purposeful orderliness of nature that endows a tiny and ungainly seed with the ability to develop into a beautiful flower. The better we understand the intricacies of the universe and all it harbors, the more reason we have found to marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based.

 

While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question of a Designer (a subject outside of science), the scientific method does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion—that everything in the universe happened by chance—would violate the very objectivity of science itself. Certainly there are those who argue that the universe evolved out of a random process, but what random process could produce the brain of a man or the system of the human eye?”

 

“... admit that many of the miracles in the world around us are hard to understand, and they do not deny that the universe, as modern science sees it, is indeed a far more wondrous thing than the creation medieval man could perceive. But they still maintain that since science has provided us with so many answers, the day will soon arrive when we will be able to understand even the creation of the fundamental laws of nature with a Divine Intent. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But, must we really light a candle to see the Sun?”

 

“The more we learn about God’s creation the more I am impressed with the orderliness and unerring perfection of the natural laws that govern it. In this perfection, man — the scientist — catches a glimpse of the Creator and his design for nature.

 

The man-to-God relationship is deepened in the devout scientist as his knowledge of the natural laws grows.”

 

“I consider it one of the greatest tragedies of our times that this dangerous error is so widely believed... By not telling the children about nature’s mysteries, its infinite number of unexplained and unexplainable miracles, we deny them the most important dowry for their future life… By adorning our own scientific achievements we kill humility, the mother of any true scientific progress…”

 

“There is no reason why God cannot retain the same position in our modern world that He held before the natural sciences began to pierce through the wall of dogma erected by the Church.”

 

“I have discussed the aspect of a Designer at some length because it might be that the primary resistance to acknowledging the "Case for Design" as a viable scientific alternative to the current "Case for Chance" lies in the inconceivability, in some scientists’ minds, of a Designer. The inconceivability of some ultimate issue (which will always lie outside scientific resolution) should not be allowed to rule out any theory that explains the interrelationship of observed data and is useful for prediction.

 

Many men who are intelligent and of good faith say they cannot visualize a Designer. Well, can a physicist visualize an electron? The electron is materially inconceivable and yet, it is so perfectly known through its effects that we use it to illuminate our cities, guide our airliners...and take the most accurate measurements. What strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable electron as real while refusing to accept the reality of a Designer on the ground that they cannot conceive Him? I am afraid that, although they really do not understand the electron either, they are ready to accept it because they managed to produce a rather clumsy mechanical model of it borrowed from rather limited experience in other fields...”

 

“More scientists will get off their ivory towers and publicly say what I am saying here...with all the modern means at our disposal, with schools, churches, educational institutions, press, radio, and television, they should tell the world that religion and science are not incompatible; that, to the contrary; they belong together.”

 

“We in NASA are often asked what the real reason was for the amazing string of successes we had with our Apollo flights to the Moon. I think the only honest answer we could give was that we tried to never overlook anything. It is in that same sense of scientific honesty that I endorse the presentation of alternative theories for the origin of the universe, life and man in the science classroom. It would he an error to overlook the possibility that the universe was planned rather than happening by chance.”

 

“... the laws of creation and the divine intentions underlying the creation. Through science man attempts to understand the laws of creation; through religious activities he attempts to understand the intentions of the Creator. Each approach is a search for ultimate truth.”

 

“Science in its drive to understand the creation, and religion in its drive to understand the Creator, have many common objectives. Nevertheless, there have been conflicts in the relationship between science and religion... Personally, I find this state of affairs unsatisfactory, for I wish to regard the Creator and His creation as an entity... [To von Braun] science and religion are like two windows in a house through which we look at the reality of the Creator and the laws manifested in His creation. As long as we see two different images through these two windows and cannot reconcile them, we must keep trying to obtain a more complete and better integrated total picture of the ultimate reality by properly tying together our scientific and religious concepts.”

 

“We cannot live without ethical laws and some belief [that they are from God]... More than ever, our survival depends upon adherence to some basic ethical principles... It seems to me that two stimuli are necessary to make man endeavor to conform to the accepted ethical standards. One is the belief in a last judgment, where every one of us has to account for what we did with God’s precious gift of life on Earth. The other is the belief [that we]...can cherish the reward or suffer the penalty decreed in the Last judgment.”

 

“While technology controls the forces of nature around us, ethics try to control the forces of nature within us... I think it is a fair assumption that the Ten Commandments are entirely adequate — without amendments — to cope with all the problems the technological revolution not only has brought up, but will bring up in the future. The real problem is not a lack of ethical legislation, but a lack in day-to-day guidance and control... When science freed itself from the bonds of religious dogma, thus opening the way for the technological revolution, the Church also lost much of its influence on the ethical conduct of man”

 

“I certainly prayed a lot before and during the crucial Apollo flights, and I also prayed during the last days in Germany — when things collapsed all around me. Indeed, during those hours of decision, when we decided to surrender to the Americans, my anxiety was at the bursting point. I prayed then that our surrender would be accepted in good faith”

 

“Manned space flight is an amazing achievement, but it has opened for mankind thus far only a tiny door for viewing the awesome reaches of space. An outlook through this peephole at the vast mysteries of the universe should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator. I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science”

[Guest guest]

That this person had personal and favorable relationship with brutal nazis, Mengele, Speer, Hitler, etc, and was protected under a program where US imported many of these scientists with a blind eye toward utter human abuse and atrocity. mahak

 

There is no love of God without love for neighbor to the degree of love of self.

[Gauracandra]

I don't have any specific information about personal relationships with the mentioned individuals. He certainly was the head of the Nazi missile program. But then again virtually every single German was a member of the Nazi party. If you are aware of a specific atrocity he committed, outside of general warfare, please post a source.

 

Here is what I found on one site:

"Heinrich Himmler saw the military potential of Braun's research and took over control of the research station. Himmler became increasingly concerned about the motivation of Braun, considering him more interested in space travel than developing bombs. In March, 1944, Braun was arrested by the Gestapo and was only released when they became convinced that Braun was willing to use all his energies to develop this bomb that Himmler believed had the potential to win the war."

 

And another site:

"The SS and the Gestapo arrested von Braun for crimes against the state because he persisted in talking about building rockets which would go into orbit around the Earth and perhaps go to the Moon. His crime was indulging in frivolous dreams when he should have been concentrating on building bigger rocket bombs for the Nazi war machine. Dornberger convinced the SS and the Gestapo to release von Braun because without him there would be no V-2 and Hitler would have them all shot.

 

On arriving back at Peenemunde, von Braun immediately assembled his planning staff and asked them to decide how and to whom they should surrender. Most of the scientists were frightened of the Russians, they felt the French would treat them like slaves, and the British did not have enough money to afford a rocket program. That left the Americans. After stealing a train with forged papers, von Braun led 500 people through war-torn Germany to surrender to the Americans. The SS were issued orders to kill the German engineers, who hid their notes in a mine shaft and evaded their own army while searching for the Americans.

 

Finally, the team found an American private and surrendered to him. Realizing the importance of these engineers, the Americans immediately went to Peenemunde and Nordhausen and captured all of the remaining V-2's and V-2 parts, then destroyed both places with explosives. The Americans brought over 300 train car loads of spare V-2 parts to the United States. Much of von Braun's production team was captured by the Russians."

 

I mean if you are told you and your family will be killed by Hitler what are you going to do? Again, every German was a Nazi. As far as I see his crimes were the same as the crimes as the German people being caught up in the wave of Hitler's world.

[Kulapavana]

"this person had personal and favorable relationship with brutal nazis, Mengele, Speer, Hitler, etc, and was protected under a program where US imported many of these scientists with a blind eye toward utter human abuse and atrocity."

 

calling Speer "a brutal nazi" reveals your ignorance of the subject. Werner von Braun (and many, many more German scientists) was an American "spoils of war" prisoner, not an "import" graciously allowed to live in US... and the American and British carpet bombing raids killed enough German civilians to certainly qualify as a genocide.

[Kulapavana]

from:

 

How UFO's Relate To The New World Order

 

By Henry Makow Ph.D.

February 05, 2005

 

... According to the testimony of Dr. Carol Rossin, which is on line, Werner Von Braun warned her about it in 1974. He said the aim was "to control the Earth from space and space itself."

 

Dying from cancer, Von Braun enlisted Rossin to help educate the public and decision-makers. He regarded space-based weapons as "dumb, dangerous, destabilizing, too costly, unnecessary and unworkable."

 

Significantly he outlined the five-step "scare tactics" used to justify them. First the public has been made to fear the Communists; then "terrorists"; then "rogue nations"; then "asteroids" and finally "extraterrestrials."

 

"Remember Carol, the last card is the alien card. We are going to have to build space-based weapons against aliens and all of it is a lie," he told her.

 

The program is slowly unfolding as Von Braun predicted. We are at the rogue nation-terrorist stage.

 

 

[theist]

Actually Reagan already brought up the Aliens in a speech to I think the UN.

[Kulapavana]

the amount of money US spends on such devious programs arranged by demonic people could easily turn the entire country into a great place to live for everyone. Instead, that money goes into the pockets of greedy asuras...