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by Firpo Carr (Author)
"Just as I can't believe there was a Creator, I can't believe that this all happened by chance, which implies there was a Creator. So, you see, I am in a completely hopeless bind, and I've stayed there."-The late Dr. Robert Jastrow, astrophysicist extraordinaire, Chief of the Theoretical Division at NASA, founding director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
As brilliant as Jastrow was, from a psychological perspective he was, by his own humble admission, "in a completely hopeless bind," and he stayed there because he refused to acknowledge the Creator of the universe despite overwhelming evidence of His existence.
Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, ambivalent atheist and avid Jastrow fan, has placed himself in the same "completely hopeless bind" (an uncomfortable modern psychological condition called atheistastroagnosis or "ATG") as he attempts to hide God among the galaxies in his delightfully engaging book, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017).
The endeavor has called for the introduction of a new branch of study: Astrophysical Psychology. With this in mind, the full title of the present book is, Is Neil DeGrasse Tyson Hiding God in Galaxies?: Astrophysical Psychology Arises.
The hope is to assuage the Belief Bias, Cognitive Dissonance, Cognitive Dissonance Theory, and Denial-the sum of atheistastroagnosis-of atheistic and agnostic astrophysicists. The astrophysical psychologist recognizes that scientists who are atheist or agnostic in the interdisciplinary fields of astronomy, astrophysics, atmospheric sciences, biology, chemistry, earth science, microbiology, oceanography, organic chemistry, physics, and other disciplines also experience atheistastroagnosis.
Dr. Firpo Carr is a member psychologist of the American Psychological Association (APA) who specializes in Health Psychology, which includes the field of mental health. His APA membership extends to other divisions such as:
DIVISION 3: Experimental Psychology, which "represents the interests and concerns of psychologists whose principal area of study or research lies within the field of general experimental psychology" (APA).
DIVISION 24: Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, which "encourages and facilitates informed exploration and discussion of psychological theories and issues in both their scientific and philosophical dimensions and interrelationships" (APA).
DIVISION 36: Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, which "promotes theory, research, and clinical practice to understand the role of religion and spirituality in people's lives" (APA).
DIVISION 38: Health Psychology, which "advances an understanding of health and illness and encourages the integration of biomedical information with current psychological knowledge" (APA).
While maintaining the dignity and professionalism that a book like his calls for, Carr adopts a light-hearted approach to the challenging subjects of astrophysics, atheism, agnosticism, spirituality, biblical scholarship, and religion, which in combination makes for an inviting read.
Both books by Carr and Tyson are framed as edutainment, hence, are designed to be educational and fun reads.
