I believe in God, but I also believe in science. Many people try to pit these two beliefs against each other. Some scientists belittle religion, and some religious people speak disparagingly of science, but I see no conflict and stand comfortably in both realms.
I have no problem believing in a Creator who fashioned this world, this universe, this great cosmos for our benefit.
“But science proves there is no God,” I’ve been told.
Really? People who say that don’t understand how science works.
A professor named Ernest W. Adams outlined the scientific method this way:
1. Notice a phenomenon that you don’t understand.
2. Research the existing literature to see if someone has already studied it.
3. Propose a hypothesis that might explain the phenomenon.
4. Devise a test to see if your hypothesis is correct. Repeat it to make sure you didn’t make a mistake.
5. Document the results carefully.
6. Talk to other scientists about it to see if they agree.
7. If you have a firm conclusion, publish the results. If not, refine your test. You may have to do this several times.
That’s science. But science is not the only way of knowing and understanding.
Religion relies on faith. Faith is spiritual and is experienced subjectively. It cannot be measured or observed the way the natural world can. That does not make it less valuable as a source of knowledge.
Science seeks to answer what; religion seeks to answer why. Both are worth knowing.
Success in scientific thinking and research does not make a person an expert in spiritual matters.
It is fine if a scientist personally believes there is no God. It is also fine for a scientist to publicly announce that belief. It is also fine for a scientist to say that certain aspects of the natural world cause him to disbelieve in a Creator.
But it is not fine for a scientist to declare that science proves there is no God. That is not something the scientific method can prove or disprove. A scientific assertion about something that can’t be determined by science is neither scientific nor valid.
Take this statement by a particle physicist named Victor Stenger: “Empirical data and the theories that successfully describe those data indicate that the universe did not come about as a purposeful creation. Based on our best current scientific knowledge, we conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that a God who is the highly intelligent and powerful supernatural creator of the physical universe does not exist.”
Really? Empirical data tells us God does not exist? I don’t think it can. It seems that Stenger is masquerading his personal opinion as science.
Dr. Christian Smith, former director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame, put it this way:
“Scientists . . . have no legitimate intellectual grounds for making many of the dismissive metaphysical and theological claims that they make, supposedly on the basis of the findings of science itself.”
Amen.
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