Saturday, June 6, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Phoenix Affirmations #10
10. Claiming the sacredness of both our minds and our hearts, recognizing that faith and science, doubt and belief serve the pursuit of truth;
------------------------------------------------------------
If you haven't seen one of these before, the Phoenix Affirmations are a group of 12 ideas that help to define progressive Christianity.
Number 10 is one that still makes the news from time to time. The most recent thing I've seen about it was when Bill Nye, the Science Guy was booed at a lecture in Waco Texas. Nye had pointed out the fallacy of a strictly literalist interpretation of the Bible. He quoted Genesis 1:16 which reads, "God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars." Then pointed out that the moon isn't actually a light, merely a reflector of the sun's light. This angered several audience members who booed and some even walked out.
I'm not aware of any church that actually teaches that the moon generates its own light, but Nye's point is a good one. He's essentially saying that it's not a good practice to try and deduce the rules of physics from the study of scripture. That's the kind of thinking that caused Galileo trouble for saying the earth orbits the sun, and Charles Darwin trouble for suggesting that life evolved over time rather than being simultaneously created.
While there have been, and still are, some scientists who tout their discoveries as proof that God does not exist, they have always been a minority. Most physicists, biologists, geologists, etc. have no interest in trying to disprove God; they simply want to understand the natural world as best they are able. In their studies they have opened up insights about the universe that fill us with wonder and awe.
That's not something that people of faith should feel threatened by, and many of us are not. We understand that scripture deals with the 'who' of creation, and is not particularly concerned with the 'how'. Science, on the other hand, is not competent to say anything much about God, but is ideally suited for looking at the 'how' of creation.
Science vs. religion is an old argument, but it's one that has never made sense. Human beings have been given several very useful tools to understand the world. Some questions are best answered with scientific thought and others by faith. It's not a case of one approach being right and the other wrong. Both are essential parts of being human and we should fund ways to cultivate both in our lives.
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein
------------------------------------------------------------
If you haven't seen one of these before, the Phoenix Affirmations are a group of 12 ideas that help to define progressive Christianity.
Number 10 is one that still makes the news from time to time. The most recent thing I've seen about it was when Bill Nye, the Science Guy was booed at a lecture in Waco Texas. Nye had pointed out the fallacy of a strictly literalist interpretation of the Bible. He quoted Genesis 1:16 which reads, "God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars." Then pointed out that the moon isn't actually a light, merely a reflector of the sun's light. This angered several audience members who booed and some even walked out.
I'm not aware of any church that actually teaches that the moon generates its own light, but Nye's point is a good one. He's essentially saying that it's not a good practice to try and deduce the rules of physics from the study of scripture. That's the kind of thinking that caused Galileo trouble for saying the earth orbits the sun, and Charles Darwin trouble for suggesting that life evolved over time rather than being simultaneously created.
While there have been, and still are, some scientists who tout their discoveries as proof that God does not exist, they have always been a minority. Most physicists, biologists, geologists, etc. have no interest in trying to disprove God; they simply want to understand the natural world as best they are able. In their studies they have opened up insights about the universe that fill us with wonder and awe.
That's not something that people of faith should feel threatened by, and many of us are not. We understand that scripture deals with the 'who' of creation, and is not particularly concerned with the 'how'. Science, on the other hand, is not competent to say anything much about God, but is ideally suited for looking at the 'how' of creation.
Science vs. religion is an old argument, but it's one that has never made sense. Human beings have been given several very useful tools to understand the world. Some questions are best answered with scientific thought and others by faith. It's not a case of one approach being right and the other wrong. Both are essential parts of being human and we should fund ways to cultivate both in our lives.
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
