This is a follow-up to our article about famous living scientists who are Christians:
Larry Wall, creator of the programming language Perl, is a Christian. In a recent interview on Slashdot he was asked the following question:
I remember reading at some point that you are a Christian, and there have been suggestions that some of your early missionary impulses (a desire to do good, help others) are perhaps part of the zeal you have put into Perl over the years.
Preferring a scientific view, I am not religious, and have no desire to be. Perhaps there is a God, but if there is, I think he/she has no opposable thumbs; in other words, has no power to change anything; reality is just playing out according to the laws of physics (whatever those are).
Please tell us how in the world a scientific or at least technical mind can believe in God, and what role religion has played in your work on Perl.
If you’re a scientific sort of person, I encourage you to read his answer. It’s question number 7 in the interview.