Many people think you can be religious or scientific, but not both.  That is simply not true.  So with this post I am starting a new series on people who were both.

Blaise Pascal was born in France in 1582.  A time when the Philosophy "Who needs God?  Man can make it by his own reason." was popular and championed by Descartes and Voltaire. 
Pascal didn't buy it.  He stated "Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it." and "The heart has it's reasons , which reason does not know at all".

At age ten, Pascal was already conducting experiments in mathematics and physical sciences.  He invented a calculating device to help his father, a tax collector.  Some consider it the first computer and is probably why a modern computer language is named Pascal.  He developed the famous law of hydraulics and the theory of probability still in use today.

At the same time he was making all these scientific advances, Pascal was exploring his spiritual side.  He explored Jansenism, a form of Augustinianism, along with his sister.  His sister eventually joined a convent of Jansenism, but Pascal continued to struggle with his spiritual side.

On November 23rd, 1654, he experienced a vision that led to a definite conversion.  He wrote "Memorial" about the experience on a parchment, which he carried, sewed into his coat, for the rest of his life. 

Following that vision, he wrote a number of books on religion and spirituality.  In Pensees he argues that since reason cannot give one absolute certainty, we all must risk belief in something.