Everything Old is New Again

Everything Old is New Again

by

Rick Brand

Even the Roman Catholic Church has come around to apologize to Galileo. Some of the old wars between science and religious dogma have been settled and peace treaties have been signed.  There may be some people who still believe in the flat earth, but we do not teach that in school.  There are still a lot of old home remedies that are used, but most people still go to the medical community for treatment.

The two approaches to live: science and religion, have been in debate for a long time, and there are still very important areas where that debate may continue.  Is there a purpose for creation?  Are there signs of existence beyond death?  What is the nature and purpose of life?  When do we become Humans and when do we cease to be human?  Are we created to be in conflict with each other or is life meant to be cooperation?  But it seems to me that there is a very fast growing part of our society that is at war with science, and most of them are religious people.

There is the issue of global warming.  From all the literature I have read the majority of the scientific community is firmly in agreement that global warming is happening. Others want to call it “weather weirding” because winters are colder, storms seem to be stronger, tornadoes more violent.  Science can show you the data that the weather patterns are changing.   And most of those scientists are of the opinion that the changes are being caused by human activities.  But there is a very stubborn and vocal part of society that claims it is not happening. This is just normal weather variations.  We don’t have a long enough record to be able to say that humans are causing it.

There is an even greater and most hostile fight with science in the area of the origin of the universe. Science traces the beginning back into the millions of years and tracks the changes in temperatures, gasses, formations over those millions of years. The most avid of the religious people still hold out for seven days which often sound like 24 hour days.  The evolution of the earth and universe is an explanation from science that makes the best use of the physical data that has been discovered. 

If these fights between science and religion were just intellectual combat it would be less of a concern, but these issues result in policy decisions which will affect the whole of creation and which will also affect our nation’s place in the world. Asia, China, and Europe are already miles ahead of the U.S. in alternative energy research. Medical science has been slowed by the religious concerns about the use of abortion material for research. 

I am a person of faith, but the creator put us here to be stewards of this creation which means we are suppose to take good care of creation by using our best mental abilities.  Our minds are also gifts to us as humans. Faith wrestles for me with the question of from who did we come, why are we here, where do we go, what are we to do, and science explores how does it work, what makes it tick, what are the principles involved in its functioning. How can we use what we have learned to make creation safer and more enduring?

It saddens me greatly to listen and watch the constant battles between science and segments of the Christian faith.  But the old conflict seems to be new again.