It made me smile

Was watching a new series on National Geographic channel, "The Known Universe" I think it was called. I am please to say that I have been pleasantly surprised twice in the past few months, once by an article in Scientific American and now an episode of this series.

I fully expected the same pop-science rhetoric from this program, especially because the scientists ON the program were the same ones I've seen on other programs that glorify theories as tho' they are writ.

No. When this program ended I found myself smiling. Why? Simple. This episode dealt with the creation of the universe. While all the usual theories were covered, the show ended with one of the scientists saying this (paraphrase): We can never know how the universe was created. There is no scientist who can grasp any more than a small part of the current theories being put forth.

And there it was. The truth. We can never know - we can only guess based on observation and mathematical formulae trying to describe (and tie together) the effects of the forces we can see and feel.

-- begin rant --

I am not anti-science. I know it seems like I "pick on science" from time to time but that isn't the case. I pick on the idea that in our culture today science (and technology) is portrayed as the solution to all our problems, past, present and future. Scientific theory is taught unabashedly as fact in our schools, and portrayed in the media in the same light, when in FACT many of the theories taught are simply worth little more than guesswork. The origin of the universe? What I was taught 30 years ago is completely different now.

In a way that's O.K. Much science is about putting forward an idea that supports what we can observe. When we can observe more, what we put forth naturally changes. Science is a process, a method of understanding the world around us. But it seems as tho' kids aren't taught this today.

-- end rant --

You know, I really want my own children to be free-thinkers. I want them to be able to find truth for themselves. I don't want them weighted any which way, but instead be balanced. Sometimes I fear that they don't have a chance to be that way, since I weigh them down with my own concepts and feelings on both science and faith. I want them to understand that they have choices to make in life, and that they should be discerning and honest in how they go about making them - both to themselves and to anyone else their decisions might affect.

It's late, I am tired and rambling. Good night!

Reconciling Science with Faith

I am really into science.  I enjoy it, I think it is a great and powerful methodology.  It amazes me that we, as a species, can so study and discern a growing number of physical truths from our observations.  I am also a Christian.  I have friends who ask "how on earth can you believe in that stuff?"

Most people seem to believe that science and religion cannot coexists, that they are like matter/anti-matter, when they come together *BOOM*.  To me science and religion address completely different things.  Science is the how, religion is the why.  More than that, to me, religion has nothing to do with hard science and everything to do with relationships.  Religion is about our relationship with God (which many people find hard to believe in) and our relationships with EACH OTHER.  In my faith, what makes God happy is loving and caring for one another.  I think you might agree that not enough of that is going on.  Science is about a passion for knowledge, but not so much about compassion for your fellow man.

That is how I reconcile the two.  I am also not a literalist.  I read the Bible and see truth in it, but not literal, historical truths, but truths about how we grew and related to God and each other over time.  Sort of our socio-spiritual evolution.

I am not the only one either.  Did you know that the person who proposed the "Big Bang Theory" (to Einstein himself, btw) was a Catholic priest?  Lemaitre was his name.  Sadly, because of his position as a priest at the time, many scientists immediately and automatically dismissed his idea.  Turned out he was right (as far as we know today, anyway).

There are physicists alive today who are also priests, John Polkinghorne and Lorenzo Albacete for example.  They two have reconciled faith and science.

I know this post won't convince anyone who is an atheist or even an agnostic to suddenly become religious and that is not my goal here.  This is a blog.  I am sharing an intimate part of myself.