Introduction        

            A couple yeas ago I was sitting with a few of my friends after attending a family reunion.  These friends I have known for several years through various ongoing activities and social events.  The conversation drifted along into the realm of religious belief.  What I didn’t realize about this particular set of friends was that they were all devout, serious Christians of one variety or another.  When it came time for me to say something about my religious views I casually said that I was an agnostic and couldn’t be considered a Christian because of my lack of belief in some of the essential requirements to being a Christian.  The reaction was like someone let out a cloud of carbon disulfide from some secret place.  I admit I was not prepared for this reaction.  There were many questions and remonstrances.  I stated my case in a few simple sentences and decided, because these were my friends, not to take the issues further.  I told them if they really wanted to discuss these issues they would have to do it by Email or some other non social situation.  Many of my other friends are agnostics of one stripe or another.  They may not be willing to label themselves in such a manner but some close discussions indicate where they stand.  Anyway, I learned a lot from that discussion with my friends.  I decided to organize the full extent of my beliefs so that when the situation arises I will have a cogent, effective system to present.  As I proceeded with this project I found I was woefully uninformed (still uninformed but not woefully) and needed to strengthen my background in the pertinent areas that undergird whatever a person believes.  Having only one year of college physics does not prepare a person to grapple with what has happened in science this past hundred and fifty years.  I have had to tangle with some pretty complicated subjects but the more I have worked with this project the more interested I have become.  I began to think, wouldn’t it be nice if there were a series of essays that centered on the implications of scientific advances as concerning the beliefs of people that are not deeply trained in the sciences.  Philosophers often get so far out in their discussions that the ordinary person can get completely lost.  Science and mathematics specialists are often so far removed in vocabulary and concepts that it is a real chore to read their material.  And yet it is the math and sciences that are leading the way in the understanding of what our world is all about.  We non-specialists can no longer stick our heads in the sand and ignore the advances occurring in the sciences.  We must hang in there and do what we can to keep up.  As a result of all this, I decided to embark on a project centered on the