I don't think there's a person that reads this blog (that is, if there are indeed people reading this blog) regularly that doesn't know that I'm a scientist. That part of me is pretty darn public, since I happen to be a biology professor.
Maybe it's slightly less well-known that I also happen to be a Christian.
I was watching Kathryn at the end of gymnastics practice tonight when this conversation started around me:
"Yes, my daughter is enjoying middle school too. Love her homeroom teacher Ms. A. She's great."
"Oh, Ms. A is my daughter's science teacher. She's wonderful. I was worried because my daughter was at the Christian school, and they didn't teach creation there..."
(here my ears perked up. A Christian school in these parts not teaching creation?!)
"Well my family believes in creation."
"I mean, the Christian school didn't teach evolution..."
(oh boy. the E word.)
"...and I asked the teacher if this would be a problem that we believed in creation and she assured us there would be no conflict..."
"... I just tell my girls that they need to learn the answers that they're taught in school, and then we just laugh about it at home..."
"...her teacher said that the earth is millions of years old, but if you look at the timeline in the NIV bible, it's clear that it's only about 7 to 10 thousand years old..."
"...they were taught that thing about wooly mammoths in 2nd or 3rd grade, and we just laughed about it at home..."
"...my daughter was asked to draw her beliefs about where people came from in science, and she thought she'd get in trouble for drawing the Creation story... I told her her beliefs couldn't be wrong..."
(why are teachers asking about beliefs in a science class?)
"...there's nothing to lose with believing in the Bible..."
"...I think that if I didn't believe in God and Jesus I'd just be going around committing crimes and being immoral and stuff like that..."
Thankfully, practice ended at this point. I might have bled to death from my tongue otherwise.
I could write about how Christians aren't the only ones with claims to morality, but I think that one is (hopefully) obvious. The question of faith and science, however, is perhaps more troublesome.
As a (good) scientist and a (faithful, or at least trying to be faithful) Christian, I am deeply troubled by the often pervasive notion that faith and science are incompatible. And I get it from both sides. (Many) Fellow scientists imply that I'm a superstitious fool. (Many) Christians look at me as a heathen bound for eternal damnation.
This semester I have at least two students who have been quite vocal about their belief in a literal Creation story. They have offered their opinion (in writing, so far) already, 1.5 weeks into the semester. One even offered that, like the gymnastics mom I encountered tonight, she would 'give (me) the answers desired', while presumably going home to laugh at my folly. What inspired this? I'm not completely sure; I haven't covered much material beyond the components of a cell and how cells divide. (I don't imagine that she expected I was going to describe mitosis in terms of 'God causes each chromosome to move to its correct location'.) I'd be surprised if there weren't more students who shared their beliefs; I'm sure I just haven't identified them yet.
I happily reconcile both my science and my faith. I teach about molecular evolution (mutations accumulate in DNA sequence over time, and are more commonly seen in sequences not used to code for protein) and then go home and say a blessing before dinner. My research on fruit flies is based on evolution (as in, the research is applicable to humans because you're really not that different from fruit flies) and I will sing in a church choir (after a 20 year hiatus!) starting this Sunday.
Why can't I accept (not 'believe' - science is about observation, not belief) the geological evidence that the earth is millions of years old, or the biological evidence for descent with modification (a.k.a. the E word) and still believe that it was all set in motion by an all-loving God?
I can, and I do.
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I'm on the other side of the argument, but I agree with you. There doesn't necessarily need to be a conflict between faith and science. One CAN hold the view that science describes how things work while faith describes the initial motiviation and still be consistent. However, these people aren't talking about believing in a "prime motivator." Rather, they are committed to believing, verbatim, what they are told by their chosen source regardless of how outrageous. When I hear that people actually live their lives this way, I don't go home and laugh, I go home and shudder. For them, it's now about examining the evidence and making rational decisions, it's about picking which source provides them with absolute truth and slavishly sticking with it (often based on little more than what religion their parents happened to practice). When that source comes to them through other people, as all religions do, that sort of fundamentalism can lead them into serious problems. Even if one assumes that their "God" never lies or makes errors, we know for a fact that people do, and sometimes not inadvertantly. Best of luck to them. They'll probably need it.
ReplyDeleteDoug
Great post, Joyce. So excited that I get to see you and hear you singing in the choir at church! I was suspicious after your last post, but forgot to ask you about it. Oh, and congratulations on biting your tongue...I don't know that I would have had as much self control/decorum. ==Barbara
ReplyDeleteDoug - I just realized I'm not 100% sure if this is biologist Doug or rocket scientist Doug I'm talking to - I agree with you completely. In fact, you can ask John how much 'shuddering' I did at home. Vocal shuddering, even. And the other part of me feels sorry for people who are so insecure in their faith that they miss the big picture. Religion is not about absolute truth and a set of laws, it's about a journey. And I can't imagine that there's anything more important about that journey than 'Do unto others'.
ReplyDeleteBarbara - I am so excited too! My sight singing skills are so terribly rusty - practice last week was really painful - but I am so psyched to be singing in 4-part harmony again.
Great post.
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