Editing Max Planck (section)

== Religious views ==
[[File:DBPB 1952 99 Max Planck.jpg|thumb|Planck on a West German stamp (1952)]]
Planck was a member of the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran Church]] in Germany.<ref>Erich Dinkler, "Planck, Max", in ''Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', Third Edition, Volume V, Tübingen (Germany), 1961, col. 404–405</ref> He was very tolerant toward alternative views and [[religions]].<ref name="adherents.com">{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20170810130831/http://www.adherents.com/people/pp/Max_Planck.html The Religious Affiliation of Physicist Max Planck]}}. adherents.com. Retrieved on 5 July 2011.</ref> In a lecture in 1937 entitled "Religion und Naturwissenschaft" ("Religion and Natural Science") he suggested the importance of these symbols and rituals related directly with a believer's ability to worship God, but that one must be mindful that the symbols provide an imperfect illustration of divinity. He criticized atheism for being focused on the derision of such symbols, while at the same time warned of the over-estimation of the importance of such symbols by believers.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Max_Planck.aspx The Life Max Planck] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102190708/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Max_Planck.aspx |date=2 November 2012 }}. encyclopedia.com. Retrieved on 7 March 2012.</ref>

In "Religion und Naturwissenschaft", Planck expressed the view that God is present everywhere, and he held that "the holiness of the unintelligible Godhead is conveyed by the holiness of symbols." Atheists, he thought, attach too much importance to what are merely symbols. He was a churchwarden from 1920 until his death, and believed in an almighty, all-knowing, beneficent God (although not necessarily a personal one). Both science and religion wage a "tireless battle against skepticism and dogmatism, against unbelief and superstition" with the goal "toward God!"<ref name="adherents.com"/>

Planck said in 1944, "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent spirit [orig. ''geist'']. This spirit is the matrix of all matter."<ref>"''Das Wesen der Materie''" [The Nature of Matter], speech at Florence, Italy (1944) (from Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Abt. Va, Rep. 11 Planck, Nr. 1797)</ref>

Planck argued that the concept of God is important to both religion and science, but in different ways: "Both religion and science require a belief in God. For believers, God is in the beginning, and for physicists He is at the end of all considerations … To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view".<ref>"Religion and Natural Science" (Lecture Given 1937) ''Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers'', trans. F. Gaynor (New York, 1949), pp. 184</ref>

Furthermore, Planck wrote, <blockquote>..."to believe" means "to recognize as a truth", and the knowledge of nature, continually advancing on incontestably safe tracks, has made it utterly impossible for a person possessing some training in natural science to recognize as founded on truth the many reports of extraordinary occurrences contradicting the laws of nature, of miracles which are still commonly regarded as essential supports and confirmations of religious doctrines, and which formerly used to be accepted as facts pure and simple, without doubt or criticism. The belief in miracles must retreat step by step before relentlessly and reliably progressing science and we cannot doubt that sooner or later it must vanish completely.<ref>Max Planck, Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers</ref></blockquote>

Noted historian of science [[John L. Heilbron]] characterized Planck's views on God as [[deist]]ic.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science|year=1986|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-00439-9|author=J. L. Heilbron|page=198|quote=On the other side, Church spokesmen could scarcely become enthusiastic about Planck's deism, which omitted all reference to established religions and had no more doctrinal content than Einstein's Judaism. It seemed useful therefore to paint the lily, to improve the lesson of Planck's life for the use of proselytizers and to associate the deanthropomorphizer of science with a belief in a traditional Godhead.}}</ref> Heilbron further relates that when asked about his religious affiliation, Planck replied that although he had always been deeply religious, he did not believe "in a personal God, let alone a Christian God".<ref>Heilbron, 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=d5zKH2Bx2AwC&pg=PA198 page 198] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417074505/https://books.google.com/books?id=d5zKH2Bx2AwC&pg=PA198 |date=17 April 2018 }}</ref>