[James E. Talmage]
"In the course of my studies I have naturally been brought face to face with the alleged atheistic tendency of scientific thought and the conflict usually said to exist between Science and Religion. Now, I have felt in a dilemma—and begin now to fancy I see a way out. I have been unable to see the point of conflict myself:—my belief in a loving God perfectly accords with my reverence for science, and I can see no reason why the evolution of animal bodies cannot be true—as indeed the facts of observation make it difficult to deny—and still the soul of man is of divine origin. The dilemma which has troubled me is this—being unable to perceive the great difficulty of which Scientists, and Theologians, and Scientific-theologians refer—I have feared that my investigation of the subject was highly superficial, for when such great men as most of the writers upon this subject are—find a puzzle, it would be high egotism for me to say I find no puzzle. And the fancied exit
which I see has appeared from my reading some of John Stuart Mills' writings and I feel—that if I had none other idea of a Deity that those men have, viz., that of an unknown being, whose acts as Mill says "contrary to the highest human morality"—I too would hail atheism with delight.. I could never believe in such a God as theirs, not though one should rise from the grave to declare Him to me. And just as certainly do I perceive that there can be no antagonism between the true science as revealed and made easy by the Priesthood, and the God whose attributes and passions of love and mercy are also declared by that same Priesthood [...]"
[Chronology of the Life and Work of James E. Talmage, J. Trevor Antley, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MJsHY83JZL_n6CjWq11y1trT_CVXMMXAx2uYOWAwn0c/edit#heading=h.2zfdaoa]
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