Science versus God?
February 2nd, 2009 | by Geoffrey Grove | Published in Science
To begin our discussion of faith, science, and the moral and ethical issues that scientists face today, I’d like confront a frequent question I’ve had over the years… “How can you be a scientist and believe in God?” The question reveals the assumption that science is perceived as the rational, logic, pursuit of knowledge, and that since we are attempting to explain the natural word through mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etcetera; that in doing so, we are excluding God. Indeed there are scientists who are atheists, however there are also many scientists who believe in God.
Individual reasons for belief may vary widely, but scientists generally are an inquisitive sort, and we tend to challenge our own assumptions. For me, one of the most fundamental of questions of the where faith “fits” may be illustrated in the following way…
In my college years, while studying light in physics class, two familiar models were presented to me: 1) light behaving as a wave, and 2) light behaving as a particle (photon). This will be familiar to many of you I’m sure. The models and the behaviours they predict are different, and the limits of categorical thinking (wave versus particle) don’t provide an easy and satisfying solution. However, even if they did, this isn’t the point. The real point, is that this was a profound moment for me in accepting, within science, an inherent limitation resulting from the categorical, logical, and scientific way of understanding. Many scientists have come to this place, and it is perhaps what you do from here that determines whether you take the path towards atheism or theism.
In my case, I looked for other examples that could help sort out this limitation in human thought. Among the various examples I found an interesting parallel in Christ. Wholly man and wholly God. A striking similarity to the earlier contradiction between the wave and particle models for light. Two ways of presenting, naming, and identifying, both accurate, but also in conflict.
What this example did, was make me realize that some of the fundamental assumptions we need to accept within science are not so different than what people of faith accept, and that perhaps creative scientific theory and faith are not as completely at odds as some people may believe.
