We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
When Science Starts to Smell Like Religion
image via theologicalgraffiti.com
Most of you know that, here at ReKnew, we try to come against some of the popular antagonism between the church and science. We think it’s a shame when christians pit themselves against legitimate scientific inquiry and discovery based upon a questionable reading of scripture. ReKnew strives to be a place where good science is not feared or mindlessly dismissed.
But sometimes the unthinking antagonism flows in the other direction.
T.C. Moore wrote a thoughtful, smart review of the first episode of the new Cosmos program starring Neil deGrasse Tyson that we wanted to share here. Entitled Cosmos, Episode One: A Religious Approach to Science and an Unscientific Approach to History, T.C. does an excellent job of pointing out deGrasse’s biases that he unfortunately presents as objective science.
From T.C.’s reflections:
The reality is faith and science are not enemies! As Hess points out, “Missing were the stories of Catholic astronomers such as Copernicus and Galileo, Protestants such as Brahe and Kepler and Newton, or Fr. George Lemaître, proposer of the Big Bang.” 10 One of my personal heroes of theology is also a world-renowned physicist: John Polkinghorne. 11 He would certainly not say that science and faith are enemies, but would most certainly say they are complementary. Also, there is a whole host of noteworthy theologians and Christian church leaders who also affirm science and see no irreconcilable conflict between the two. One particularly clear space where these two worlds are both celebrated is in the BioLogos community.
We look forward to the day when people of faith and people of science can lay down their assumptions and stop insulting one another. In fact, it’s quite possible to be both a person of faith AND a person of science. These are not mutually exclusive ways of seeing the world.
You should check out Biologos if you’d like to learn more about the compatibility of faith and science.
Category: General
Tags: Biologos, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Religion, Science, T.C. Moore
Related Reading
Does Analytic Thinking Make You Less Religious?
Andrew Aghapour wrote an article that was posted in Religion Dispatches questioning the findings of studies that concluded that analytical thinking negatively affects religious belief. In the article, Does Analytic Thinking Erodes Religious Belief? Aghapour argues that there are flaws in the studies and that the biggest culprit was the most likely the population used…
Theo Graff Podcast: Featuring Jessica Kelley
We have a special treat for you today. T. C. Moore is a great friend of ReKnew and he’s recently started a “Jesus-centered, hip hop flavored, geeky, theological, kingdom exploration” called the THEO GRAFF PODCAST. He’s published four podcasts so far and you’ll want to listen to them all when you get a chance, but we wanted…
Can Science Inform Our Theology?
Over the last century, we have witnessed a revolution in various areas of science that relate to how we see the world and even God. For example, the Platonic notion that time and change are less real than timeless stability is being abandoned in light of the fact that physicists work from the assumption that…
Let Us Pray
Per Ola Wiberg via Compfight It’s appropriate to pray and reflect and run to God when tragedies like the one in Newtown, CT take place. We wanted to share a couple of things we found helpful around the blogosphere as we struggle through our sadness. T.C. Moore shared some thoughts on Darkness, Advent, and Newtown CT on…
Evolution as Believers-A Clarification
Hi friends, We received an unusual amount of e-mail and quite a few comments on my Facebook page in response to my little post on evolution a few days ago. I appreciate all of it, including the critical comments. Thank you! As I reflect on my post in light of this feedback, I can see that I…
Open2013 Reflections
Both participants and leaders share about what was happening at Open2013 and some of their thoughts on Open Theism. Listen in and hear from Greg Boyd, John Sanders, Tom Oord, T. C. Moore, Jessica Kelley and many more.