Science versus Religion

Should we think of science and religion as opposites? Or have some in both the scientific and religious communities presented us with a false choice, a mere illusion of opposites? The recent Mars Pathfinder mission, and movies like Contact, have revived this age-old debate. Maybe the problem arises only when we seek to use science or religion in the exclusive province of the other. For example, in the Middle Ages, the Church sought to limit scientists’ descriptions of the universe with religious dogma, teaching that the earth, not the sun, inhabited the center of our solar system. Today, many use pseudo-scientific fantasies of space-ships and creatures from other planets to explain the origin of life on earth, rather than seeing divine hands at work in the magnificence of creation. Better that we should leave to science the description of tangible reality, and to faith the ultimate questions.

Or better yet, as the twenty-first century arrives, we can learn to combine our ancient spiritual traditions with the best in modern thought. If we choose, we can move beyond the limitations of "either/or" concepts concerning science and religion, and embrace a "both/and" view. We can consider science not as the enemy of faith, but as an attempt to study and describe the natural laws set into motion by that which is greater than all, yet present in each - that that people of faith call "God." Now imagine that God has created these natural laws to take care of the details while He attends to yet greater things. Like setting the timer on the sprinklers to water the lawn while we’re occupied elsewhere, so God uses the materials and processes of our physical world to act on our behalf. While science and religion use different languages, both represent our yearning to describe and understand what we can see, and what we can’t. Though we often fail, with our imperfect human vision, to see Him in the inner workings of a cell, the faint light of a distant galaxy, or the kindness of strangers, He is always and truly there. Remember the story of a man trapped on his roof while flood waters rose? Three times, a fisherman came by in a rowboat and offered to carry him to safety. Each time he refused, saying "I am a man of faith - God will provide." The rising waters eventually carried him away. Now, beyond this earthly life, he stood confused and forlorn before his Maker. "I had faith in you, Lord. Why didn’t you save me?" he whined. "Are you kidding?" said God. " I sent the boat by three times!"