Science and Religion

Scientists view religious people as stupid and gullible for believing in things that can't be seen or proven, and sometimes even rejecting scientific findings; religious people view scientists as mindless, supporting a corrupt, evil system and spreading lies about the reality of the world we live in to bring people away from God.

I hate it. Please keep in mind that I do not use the word 'hate' lightly, but this is one of the few things in this world that I absolutely hate and that makes me angry. Yes, science is sometimes wrong, and there are some problems with science and some prominent scientific theories that the scientific community in general refuses to see. But you know what? There are plenty of problems with organized religion, too. Pedophilia, abortion clinic bombings, jihad, hateful words to gays. Those are just the examples that immediately sprang to mind, and they are, perhaps, a bit extreme. There are plenty of other examples that are more pervasive and less widely condemned: the intolerance of the church (tattoos? skirt too short? piercing? think something (anything) that we don't? We'll just look at you sideways until you leave), the hypocrisy (I know there are starving children all over the world, and in our community, but our church really needs a new coat of paint). Religion and science are not two things that can't mix, not really. I hate the intolerance, on both sides. Both scientists and religious people are merely seeking after truth. In Romans, Paul wrote:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20, NIV)

It is perfectly valid to look for truth in nature and the universe--God did create it, after all, and some of His nature will show through--but it is an incomplete picture without also having a knowledge of God and His sacrifice for us.* However, I think it is also true that a knowledge of God without also having a knowledge of His creation also gives an incomplete picture. 

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*I am indebted to Hugh Ross for this idea, which I discovered in his book Fingerprint of God.

"Saving Species"

I recently watched "Saving Species", part of the Planet Earth series. It's about conservation and the need for conservation, about species that are currently disappearing, and it totally made me cry. Mostly because everything they showed was just so beautiful (the whole series has amazing cinematography), but also because the destruction of nature is just so tragic, in the noblest sense of the word.

The episode also raised some really, really good points about conservation and nature. What gives us (rich white people) the right to tell them (extremely poor inhabitants of any third world country) what they should be doing with their wildlife and natural areas? Is conservation so important that we should give money to protect some butterfly, mouse, whatever instead of helping to feed hungry people worldwide? Is our concern for tigers more important than the people in India that tiger may kill? Why should we try to preserve every single species?

Why should we try to preserve every single species? I think this question is especially hard to answer with science; studies about the benefits of diversity have had mixed results. As a Christian, however, I find that the answer is relatively simple: God created this earth with species on it, and destroying any part of it means destroying God's creation. God created it that way for a reason, so we shouldn't mess with it.

What I took away from this episode, more than anything else, was that nature is awe-inspiringly, stunningly, fantastically beautiful, and we should be doing so much more to protect it.

Peace

Yesterday I was very stressed out in the morning. I had so much to do, I just wanted to wake up and charge right in. But God really wanted me to pray, so I did (rather unwillingly). And as I did so, I was overcome with an amazing sense of peace. I knew that God was in control and that He could handle my homework, just like He can handle everything else in my life. Awesome God!!