I am often perplexed by the so-called wars between religion and science. From my perspective, there is only Truth. There are ways of coming to realize that Truth that are more or less credible, that are more or less prone to error. However, in the end God is the ultimate scientist. He knows more than any of us, and because he knows more, he influences or controls more. Much, more more, in fact.
When we consider whether our religious beliefs and our empirically-derived beliefs can co-exist, we can easily end up confused. Often there appears to be a conflict.
Of course, there are many ways to resolve those apparent (or real) conflicts. In some cases, we might decide either a scientific or religiously-based belief was incorrect, over-simplified, or misapplied. Other times, we might go to great and creative lengths to build a framework in which both sets of beliefs hold. I have done this myself many times. Maybe I will share some of those conjectures sometime in this blog.
Essentially, science and religion may appear to conflict because one or the other may be in error. But it also may simply be that both sets of theories are simplifications of a greater Truth that is beyond our current understanding. It may be, for example, that the theory of evolution and the theory of creationism are to the history of the Earth as Newtonian mechanics is to physics--simplified models that are each useful within certain bounds.
Beyond whether or not religion and science can peacefully co-exist, we might wonder whether or not they should. Atheists often claim that science explains reality in such a way as to make religion unnecessary. In fact, they might argue that religion does more harm than good to mankind.
Similarly, the most religiously devoted might suggest that science is, at times, a faulty endeavor because it draws us away from God and causes us to place more confidence in reason than in faith. They might believe that too much focus on learning through reason alone has led to increased evil in the world.
As a Christian, I believe that a measuring stick of the rightness of something, is whether it leads to good fruit (Matt. 7:15-20). Though the simplified theories of science and religion are not yet complete, both may be helpful to us in improving this world and the lives of the creatures who share it. And, either might be used to do harm.
These are the kinds of issues I intend to explore in this blog, as an individual who is devoted to both reason and faith as valid processes. I welcome you as a reader.
