Lewis Wolpert

I had my first interview this morning with Dr. Lewis Wolpert, former professor of Biology as applied to Medicine at University College London and vice-president of the British Humanist Association. Dr. Wolpert is an atheist and is well-known for his 2008 speech in Sweden entitled "The Origins of Science and Religion." He is also the author of Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast (which he is going to send to me since I haven't read it...oops.) I met Lewis at his home in North London but forgot to write down his address when I was drawing out a map for myself (another oops) so I had to call him and have him come out to get me. As I was expecting to meet a grim and intimidating scientist, I was pleasantly surprised to hear a friendly voice calling to me: "Hello darling, I'm over here!" He proceeded to warmly welcome me into his house where we began our discussion over coffee and chocolate--making him my new favorite person.

Lewis grew up in South Africa in a strict Jewish family. Though not truly religious, his parents were careful to observe Jewish customs and rituals and expected him to do the same. As a child, he used to pray that God would help him find a lost toy or something of that nature, and when he realized that it wasn't working, he quit. He had no further interest in religion until about 10 or 15 years ago when his youngest son Matthew had a personal crisis and subsequently converted to Christianity. Matthew was very involved in an evangelical church for a time but was eventually somewhat disenchanted with organized religion, though he still believes in God. While Lewis certainly never shared his son's beliefs, he recognizes that religion helped Matthew to overcome his personal struggles and believes that it had a positive impact on his life. Lewis is convinced that there is absolutely no evidence for the existence of God, but he is not opposed to individuals having their own religious beliefs. Some of his closest friends are religious, and he has observed the positive role that it has played in their lives.

However, when it comes to public policy and decision making, Lewis believes that religion should have as little influence as possible. He used the Catholic church's stance on abortion and most religious people's opposition to gay marriage as examples of religious values attempting to inappropriately insert themselves into public decision making. He is also concerned with the growing Muslim presence in England. He did not elaborate on this topic but mentioned a debate that he was involved in a few years ago with the Muslim society at UCL--he said they were the most aggressive audience he had ever spoken to and it made quite an impression on him. While he feels that religion should have no part in public policy making, he views the public expression of personal beliefs and symbols as completely acceptable and is not opposed to the existence of the established Church of England. At the same time, he will be understanding if the French government decides to ban the public wearing of the Muslim headdress--he strongly opposes any hint of religious discrimination against women.

Finally, as I was leaving, he gave me a collection of essays titled What Makes Us Human?. In his essay, Lewis argues that our ability to comprehend cause and effect and our use of this knowledge to craft complex tools forms a unique part of our humanity that separates us from animals. According to Lewis, as humans, we not only possess the ability to understand principles of cause and effect, we also strongly desire to know the deeper "causes" and meanings in life. In his view, religion is a tool that we have created in order to understand major underlying causes in life that we have no other explanation for. Interesting perspective...