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.