当NASA新视野号探测器拍摄的冥王星照片近期公布时，许多网友在网上纷纷表态："我爱科学！"并盛赞科学是多么神奇、令人敬畏、值得称颂。欣赏科学，甚至热爱科学，本身并没有什么错。但是，人们是否意识到，创造冥王星的并不是科学？科学与冥王星的存在毫无关系吗？

When the NASA New Horizons pictures of Pluto were recently published, many people online reacted with declarations of: “I LOVE SCIENCE!” and of how amazing, awe-inspiring, and praiseworthy science is. There is nothing inherently wrong about appreciating science, loving it even. But, do people realize that science did not create Pluto? That science has nothing to do with the existence of Pluto?

你或许会认为，人们公开表达对科学的热爱这一现象与以物配主（shirk）毫无关系，完全无害。在许多情况下，我确实同意这一点。但在我们当下的文化环境中，越来越多的人离开宗教，变得不可知论者和无神论者，并普遍否认真主的相关性与力量，这些言论便不无更深层的意义。

You might think that this phenomenon of people declaring their love of science has nothing to do with shirk and is absolutely harmless. And in many cases, I would agree. But in our cultural circumstance, where people are increasingly leaving religion, becoming agnostic and atheist, and generally denying the relevance and power of God, these statements are not without a deeper significance.

普遍而言，人类在看到大自然壮丽奇观时，都会本能地心生敬畏，为自然世界的辉煌而目瞪口呆。同样，人类也普遍会觉得，有某个主体在背后造就了这份壮丽，它不是凭空而来，也不是自己造就了自己，于是便会赞美并感激那个主体。对于不信神的人来说，这些发自内心的情感必须有所寄托，于是人们便把对崇拜的表达转向科学或“大自然母亲”等事物。显然，这些人并不相信“大自然母亲”真的是一个实体或神明，他们也不会、也不可能相信科学是自然现象的创造者或维系者（毕竟，科学并不具有能动性或意志）。那么，看到冥王星的影像时，人们为何会为一门人为建立的学科而产生如此的欢欣、喜悦、崇敬、激动与热爱？换个角度说，如果人们因为科学能够呈现自然世界的图像、揭示其中的细节，就对科学表现出如此多的热爱与感激，那么对于那些细节的创造者、以及那些图像所描绘之物的造物主，又该怀有怎样的情感呢？

The universal human response upon seeing the sublime wonders of nature is to be in awe, to be dumbfounded with the splendor that is the natural world. Also, universally it is human to feel that someone, some agent, is responsible for this splendor — that it did not just come from nothing, that it didn’t just create itself — and then to praise and appreciate that agent. For those who do not believe in God, these involuntary sentiments have to be directed somewhere. So people divert their declarations of adoration to science or “Mother Nature,” etc. Obviously, these people do not believe that there is an actual entity or deity of Mother Nature. And they do not and could not believe that science is responsible for the creation or preservation of natural phenomena (science does not have agency or will, after all). So in what sense should the sight of Pluto elicit that kind of glee, joy, adoration, excitement, and love toward a man-made academic discipline? Or put another way, if people show this much love and appreciation toward science for its ability to produce images of or to discover details about the natural world, then what about the Creator of those details and the objects of those images?

多么愚蠢、多么无意义啊！人们赞美科学对自然界所见的一切，实质上是在赞美他们自己的头脑，却不承认，至少不对造物主的可能性有所认识，甚至不确定其存在。你可以想象这样一个人：他对大自然毫无欣赏之情。你给他看冥王星的照片，带他去看最美丽的日落等等，他却说：“那又怎样？有什么了不起的？这些并不令人惊叹。”这样的态度在理智上还更加一致。同样，更加理智一致的做法是赞美和热爱冥王星本身。而纵观历史，自然崇拜正是如此。太阳系中所有行星都以希腊和罗马诸神的名字命名，这并非巧合。但是，按照现代唯物主义，去赞美、热爱或崇敬一块无生命、无意识的太空岩石毫无意义，于是这条路也被堵死了。所以人们转而赞美科学，仿佛这样就说得通似的。

How utterly stupid and senseless is it for humans to praise science for what they see in the natural world, in essence praising their own minds, without at least acknowledging, if not being certain about, the possibility of a Creator? You could imagine a person who does not show any appreciation for nature. You show him these pictures of Pluto, take him to see the most beautiful sunset, etc., and he says, “So what? What’s the big deal? These are not impressive.” That would be a more intellectually consistent attitude. Also, more intellectually consistent would be to praise and love Pluto itself. And that is what nature worship throughout history has been. It is no coincidence that all the planets in our solar system have the names of Greek and Roman gods. But since, according to modern materialism, it would make little sense to praise, love, or show devotion to a lifeless, unconscious rock in outer space, that option is also closed. So people praise science instead, as if that makes any sense.

而我们其余的人则不免疑惑：否认造物主却又赞美科学，这是何等愚蠢。科学至多不过是一面透镜。假如你读一个美食摄影博客或建筑设计博客，对其中所见印象特别深刻，你难道会只对摄影师赞不绝口，却无视厨师或建筑师吗？那将完全不合逻辑。而且，如果你相信根本没有厨师或建筑师，美食或建筑奇迹是自行形成的，那么，又为何还要赞美任何东西呢？摄影师，或者摄影这门艺术，与被拍摄的对象毫无关系。如果让你心生敬慕的是摄影，那就去读一本关于摄影的书。如果科学才是真正值得赞美的，那就去读牛顿的《原理》。不要一边浏览太空照片，一边滔滔不绝地说科学是多么令人震撼地神奇。

And the rest of us are left wondering, how idiotic to deny a Creator but also praise science. At most, science is a lens. If you were to read a food photo blog or architectural design blog and were particularly impressed with what you saw therein, you wouldn’t gush over the photographer and ignore the chef or the architect, would you? That would be completely illogical. And if you believe that there is no chef or architect, that the cuisine or the architectural marvel built itself, then, still, why praise anything? The photographer or photography in general has nothing to do with the object of the photograph. If photography is what is spurring this adoration, read a book on photography. If science is what is really praiseworthy, go read Newton’s Principia. Don’t browse space photos and spurt on about how mindblowingly amazing science is.