Rev. Joe's Weekly Blog Stuff

February 2026

Hello,

I was listening to Desert Island discs last week and the guest was Professor Michelle Dougherty, Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College, London. In her spare time she is leading uncrewed exploratory missions to Saturn and Jupiter, and is principal investigator for a highly sophisticated magnetometer on board the European Space Agency’s 'Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer'. Quite, wow.

During the mission to Saturn, her magnetometer discovered signs of water flumes under the surface of the Enceladus moon. She persuaded the mission to change its orbiting plans to go once more around the moon (which is up to 1.03 billion miles from Earth) for a closer look. Water, along with a heat source and organic material are the building blocks for life, so to find water was terribly exciting for all the scientists involved.

What caught my ear was how Professor Dougherty, first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years, etc, introduced the discovery. She said,

“Our understanding of how life forms is that you need….”
It wasn’t “This is how….” or “Obviously life is formed by….”, but “Our understanding is…”

There is such humility in that statement. She is not claiming truth or certainty, she is not claiming eternal knowledge, mystical or otherwise. Professor Dougherty is saying that, ‘at the moment this is how we understand how life forms’. I love the way science is prepared to change its mind, even contradicting historical greats like Newton, Darwin and Galileo, without disrespecting their earlier insights. Contrast that to most religions, which, once they have agreed on something, turn it into a dogma, creed or Truth. People who try to build an alternative hypothesis become heretics and, in darker times or places, were – or are – persecuted, ex-communicated or executed.

Take Edward Wightman, for example. Known for his non-Trinitarian views, he was the last person to be executed for heresy in England, burnt at the stake in Lichfield Marketplace on 11th April 1612, despite producing a compendium of his theology for the clergy, King and Bishop of Lichfield.

It is not so different today. Threatened by division and financial damage, over the years the General Synod of the Church of England has been sluggish to engage properly in alternative hypotheses on several issues, including sexuality, safeguarding and the theology of the Eucharist, closing down discussions rather than exploring the possibilities. I tend to avoid Lichfield Market Place if I can help it.

Science tries to gain a fuller understanding of the laws of the universe. Maybe creeds, dogmas and beliefs - agreed upon hundreds of years ago - need to be open to a different hypothesis. It wouldn’t make them ridiculous, laughable or valueless but at least properly debateable. Knowledge builds on knowledge, to gain a fuller understanding. Or, as Isaac Newton said,

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”.
Or, in the words of Jesus,

“‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.” (Matthew 5:17, NRSV)
Peace and prayers, Joe
JOKES OF THE DAY
What’s the bone most often broken by heretics?
The blasfemur.
****
How many heretics does it take to change a lightbulb?
We're not sure, they've yet to see the light.