Faith in Science

By The Christian Post, Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Two very prominent Christian scientists defended both God and evolution at separate talks over the past week.

In Texas, Dr. Simon C. Morris, a British paleontologist and professor of evolutionary paleobiology at Cambridge University, tried to emphasize the value of both science and religion, and how they are compatible. During his visit to Texas A&M and Baylor University, the award-winning Christian Darwinian and "origins" expert said, "There is no reason an evolutionary biologist could not subscribe to something transcendent," according to the Baylor Lariat, Baylor's student newspaper. "

A few days later, one of the nation's leading geneticists, Dr. Francis S. Collins, gave a lecture at Washington's National Cathedral, reconciling the Bible's creation story with evolution and sharing how science should actually bolster a person's faith instead of dismantling it

"Actually, I find no conflict here (being both a scientist and a Christian)," said Collins, who is recognized for successfully leading the effort to complete the Human Genome Project – a complex multidisciplinary scientific enterprise directed at mapping and sequencing all of the human DNA, and determining aspects of its function.

"I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome," he said.

At a time when society is becoming more anti-religious – through secularization or through aggressive efforts to remove God and religion from society – it's refreshing to hear some of the today's top scientists testify to the harmony that can and should exist between science and faith. More encouraging, as Collins noted last week, is that around 40 percent of working scientists claim to be believers.

And even among unbelievers, there are some who feel what Albert Einstein had felt – that there is undoubtedly a force behind all existence that created all the laws that the world abides by. Einstein, although not Christian, had also criticized "fanatical atheists" who he argued are missing on the very present link between science and faith.

The harmonious relationship that can exist between science and faith needs to be more evident to both the most logical of scientists and the most faithful of Christians. But too often, stubborn adherents on either of the two sides automatically reject the other blindly without a second thought.

Scientists who deny the existence of God because they say there is no irrefutable evidence fail to see that the faith they have in the absence of God is no more concrete than the faith people have in the existence of God. Actually, there is more concrete evidence of God's existence than there is not.

And among believers, those who deny certain discoveries of science because they attempt to explain the mysterious and miraculous works of God fail to see that any "explained" work of God remains a work of God. Christians should be more concerned that they are not using science as a tool to testify to God's presence but allowing unbelieving scientists to cover the fingerprints that God has left behind.

Thankfully, as mankind comes to discover more about the world in which we live, we will all come to see even more clearly the signs imbedded within creation that point to a Creator, a Designer.

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." - Romans 1:20 (NASB).

Scientists should know this, and believers should have faith in this.